Lawyer faces misconduct action over £31m Iraq war crimes inquiry
A BIRMINGHAM lawyer will face disciplinary action after his involvement in an Iraq war crimes inquiry that collapsed.
Prof Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers must now answer misconduct claims relating to the Al-Sweady inquiry.
The £31m inquiry investigated allegations of unlawful killing and ill treatment of Iraqi nationals by British troops in Iraq in 2004. When it reported in December 2014 it found the claims to be “deliberate lies”.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has certified Prof Shiner and another lawyer John Dickinson have a case to answer. It will now be heard before the tribunal, which has the power to strike off lawyers. A request to hear the case in private was refused.
The role of the lawyers, along with three others from a second firm, Leigh Day, has been investigated since the release of the inquiry’s report. At the time the defence secretary Michael Fallon said the lawyers should make an “unequivocal apology” to the soldiers at the centre of the allegations.
Prof Shiner ran Public Interest Lawyers in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter for 15 years, until November 2014, before becoming head of strategic litigation at newly-formed NGO named Public Interest Lawyers (International). He also became a professor of law at Middlesex University in the autumn of 2014.
