Ed Pollard
Partner
Manchester
ed.pollard@brownejacobson.com
+44 (0)330 045 2107
Ed heads up the Manchester office Health Advisory and Inquest team. He is regarded as a national leader in coronial law, the Mental Capacity Act and the Mental Health Act. His down-to-earth, pragmatic approach is highly valued by clients, leading to frequent descriptions of him and the team as being an extension of clients’ own in-house provision.
Ed’s entire career has been devoted to assisting the healthcare market with him representing NHS Trusts, Integrated Care Boards, national commissioning bodies, local authorities, private healthcare organisations and individual medical practitioners.
Ed has vast experience in complex mental capacity issues at both the Court of Protection and under the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court, undertakes inquests nationwide to include advocacy in both Article 2 and jury inquests, assists organisations with Mental Health Act matters including representation at Tribunals, supports health individuals/organisations at national inquiries (Hillsborough, Redfern, Manchester Arena) and advises on all aspects of patient-facing issues. Ed frequently leads on complex, reported cases, recent examples being: Re KM [2021] EWCOP 42 and Re BN [2022] EWHC 663 (Fam).
His client care is central to everything he does, and Ed consistently supports healthcare organisations to ensure quality governance is maintained, and improved, which has a marked contribution to the overall reputation of the organisation with national regulators.
Expertise
Featured experience
Deprivation of Liberty of a child
Wigan BC v Y (Refusal to Authorise Deprivation of Liberty) [2021] EWHC 1982 (Fam) (14 July 2021) concerning the deprivation of liberty of a 12-year-old child with mental health issues
Declaration of Death in an Adult
Re BN [2022] EWHC 663 (Fam) – concerning declaration of death in an adult (first reported case of its kind)
Inquest regarding eating disorder death
Represented a national healthcare organisation following a death from eating disorder. Dealt with complex issues of mental health and interplay with acute healthcare. Multiple regional and national organisations involved.
Inherent Jurisdiction proceedings – MHA/DoL interplay
Represented an NHS Trust in proceedings which included MHA issues, deprivation of liberty allegations, human trafficking and modern slavery.
Testimonials
"Ed is calm, considered, and confident whilst always providing a reasoned and balanced view of cases. He always puts the client's needs first."
"Ed provides clear, concise and practical advice and has supported the Trust with some complex matters where his expertise has been invaluable. Ed is responsible and reliable and very safe pair of hands and this approach is reflected in his team too."
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