Chartered Legal Executives as coroners

Coronial work shadowing: observing a day in the life of a coroner

Louise Turner spends a day watching HM Senior Coroner for West Sussex, Penelope Schofield, at work and recounts her experiences.

About the author: Louise Turner FCILEx is membership development manager at CILEx.

See also 'In conversation with the Chief Coroner of England and Wales' in this issue.

Penelope Schofield: her professional life history

Who? When? Where? How? These are the questions every coroner asks themselves in every case they deal with. They must establish who has died; when they died; where they died; and how they died.

I learnt this from HM Senior Coroner for West Sussex, Penelope (Penny) Schofield, when I had the pleasure of work shadowing her for the day on 26 November 2019. I was first introduced to Penny by the Coroners’ Society of England and Wales. Penny told me that she had studied with CILEx which, in fact, launched her legal career.

She began working in the magistrates’ court with the legal clerk doing court clearing. Later in her career, she moved to work for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which supported her to cross-qualify as a solicitor. In total, Penny worked for the CPS for 10 years. She went on to work in private practice undertaking white-collar crime, and later housing work, before joining the multiagency, anti-social behaviour team in Portsmouth as their lawyer. It was at this time - and purely by chance - that the Portsmouth coroner was looking for an assistant to cover on an ad hoc basis. Penny had no experience, but she made up for this with her enthusiasm to undertake the role and her office was only a minute’s walk from the coroner’s office, so was available at short notice. As soon as she started undertaking the work, she knew that this was the job she had always been looking for.

Penny went on to work as an assistant coroner in Portsmouth for about three years before being appointed as the senior coroner for West Sussex. She also managed to have four children during her legal career. She reported that her maternity leave was shortly after taking up her post in West Sussex, and she returned after only six weeks, and then - having given birth to twins the following year - returned to her post after only three months! She is quite remarkable.

Penny explained that the job of a coroner will not suit everyone. It is emotional, demanding, stressful, but extremely interesting and rewarding. Every case is different, and not all cases end up with an inquest.

Early decisions involve deciding whether or not a case is a natural death, whether there needs to be a post mortem and, following the post mortem, whether the matter needs to proceed to inquest. Some inquests can involve just a family member attending, but in other cases you can have lawyers representing all the interested persons involved.

In every case you need to appreciate that there is a family grieving, and there needs to be great sensitivity. The cases are varied, and you may not always be dealing with current deaths. Penny talked about a historical death that she was dealing with from the Second World War, where a plane wreckage was being excavated and it was suspected that there would be body parts located in the debris.

Whilst there is statutory guidance given to coroners to help them in their work, much of the work is not prescribed and, therefore, the role may not suit an individual who is only comfortable working within specific guidelines.

Knowing well the CILEx route to qualify as a lawyer, Penny observed that CILEx members would make excellent coroners, due to the vocational way they have entered the legal profession and all the experience they have picked up along the way. It seems common sense and client care experience go a long way when considering whether someone is right for the job. Local knowledge too is important: coroners must know their jurisdiction and place importance on serving their community.

Penny explained that a coroner is appointed by a local authority, and whilst her salary as senior coroner is paid for by the local authority, she is an independent judicial officer and is answerable to the Lord Chancellor. Her role is vast, and when she is not dealing with cases on the papers or in court, she is completing all manner of tasks. I witnessed her answering vast amounts of e-mails, with telephone calls coming in every few minutes, making cups of tea for staff, and tidying offices: you name it and Penny has it covered.

The coroner’s office

As senior coroner, Penny is, however, assisted by other members of staff who also play vitally important roles in the work of the coroner’s court.

Assistant coroners, who are also lawyers, work with Penny to ensure that the various court hearings are covered. These range from dealing with cases on the papers to hearings in court, which are open court proceedings and often attended by the family and friends of the deceased person as well as other parties to the proceedings and the press.

During my shadowing experience, I witnessed three hearings when family members were in attendance. These hearings were conducted by a relatively recently recruited assistant coroner, Lisa Milner, who also originated from a CILEx background before cross-qualifying as a solicitor.

Lisa explained that she owns her own law firm and enjoys the variety of the work that the role of assistant coroner brings. She has committed to a minimum of 15 days’ service per annum, but is already over her quota, having started in April 2019, due to becoming immersed in the interesting and varied work.

I asked Lisa how she came to apply for the position of assistant coroner. She said she applied and was successful in securing her role in West Sussex - close to where she lives - on first application.

She provided some tips to those thinking of applying for a coronial position:

  • actively seek out work shadowing opportunities with your local Coroners Ofice, ideally attending regularly for 18 months before applying; and
  • look to attend a suitable training course, perhaps the workshops offered by the Ofice of the Chief Coroner.

The other experience Lisa found helpful was her previous work in personal injury and medical negligence, allowing her to get to grips with medical terminology, and of course her life experience.

Supporting bereaved families

It became clear to me during the hearings I observed that the law is important in the coroner’s court, but what is at the heart of it all are the family and friends of the person who has died. The coroner, coroner’s officer, support staff and volunteers are most concerned with making sure that the deceased’s family and friends are comfortable, do not find the environment intimidating and feel supported. Great emphasis is placed on allowing the family and friends to be heard, listening to their accounts with care and concern, and acknowledging the grief they are going through, and will continue to go through, after the proceedings.

Coroner's court inquests

As I listened to the first case, involving an 89-year-old woman who sadly had had a fall at a railway station and, thereafter, suffered a number of complications following surgery leading to her death; I could only imagine how I would feel if this was my grandmother or close family friend the court was concerned with. Her husband attended with their daughter, and the assistant coroner read out a beautiful summary of the deceased’s zest for life, commitment to her family and local charity work. She sounded like a wonderful lady, and my heart went out to the family who were clearly bereft and trying to begin to come to terms with their loss.

Another case was dealt with on the papers and no family or friends were in attendance. The summary was read out, which talked of a young local student who had gone missing, and when discovered her bag was on the fourth floor of a multi-storey car park and her body was on the pavement below. It took me a few moments to join the dots, and when I realised what had happened my heart sank with sadness for this young student and the family and friends she had left behind.

Later in the day, I heard further cases where suicide was suspected. One case involving a male in his 40s, who had been suffering from mental illness for most of his adult life and, seeking some sort of peace, had been purchasing prescription medication online from foreign countries. He had been found one evening by his loving partner, who had returned home after working a long shift. She gave him CPR and called for an ambulance, but sadly it was too late, and he died.

His family were desperate that a finding other than suicide was made as they truly believed he would not have intended to take his own life and, in their own words, ‘he wouldn’t have had the guts’. They further explained that, as a mechanic, he had work lined up and only the night before had been ordering car parts. The assistant coroner listened intently and ruled that his death was caused by accident due to the taking of intoxicating prescription substances in excess. You could see the look of immediate relief across the faces of the family, and a sense of justice and feeling that they could now try to find some peace. I was pleased for them.

I heard many more cases of suspected suicide, and it really hit home how sad and difficult some people find life to be.

Remember to ask your friends and colleagues: ‘How are you really?’

If you feel that topics discussed within this article strike a chord and you would like help with any of the issues raised in relation to mental health, please contact LawCare, which offers free and confidential support for those who work in the legal profession and their families. 

Helpline Support: 0800 279 6888 from Monday to Friday 9 am–5.30 pm 

Webchat: Tuesday and Wednesday 1–5.30 pm, Thursday 9 am–1 pm

If you are calling the helpline from outside the UK telephone +44 1268 921 600 

Summing up

I cannot think of a job in the law that could be more rewarding than that of a coroner. I came away feeling that you could really make a difference to people’s lives and, in general, to their experience of death.

Of course we all know that none of us are here forever; some of us go sooner than others, and it is comforting to know that there are professionals, like coroners, who will be there for the suddenly bereaved in those difficult times, to support them, explain everything to them when they are not able to take everything in as they would perhaps at other times, and try to give them answers to those difficult questions around why someone close to them has died.

Special thanks to HM Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield, Assistant Coroner Lisa Milner and Coroner’s Officer Tony Beldam for allowing me to see inside the workings of the West Sussex Coroner’s Court.

​Chartered Legal Executives as coroners

The Judicial Appointments Order 2008 SI No 2995 ('the 2008 Order') made under Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act (TCEA) 2007 s51(1) makes provision for suitably qualified FCILEx to be eligible for prescribed judicial offce.

The intention of the 2008 Order was to remove barriers to judicial appointment and encourage greater diversity. The Order made FCILEx eligible for a range of judicial posts, such as deputy district judge and judge of the Firsttier Tribunal, but not coronial appointment.

However, the Judicial Appointments (Amendment) Order 2013 SI No 3022 provides that FCILEx hold a relevant qualification in relation to the judicial-appointment eligibility condition under TCEA s50 and, on meeting the required qualification period (ie, five years), are eligible to be appointed as senior coroners, area coroners and assistant coroners under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.



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