Sophie Naftalin

Partner
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Sophie Naftalin is a partner at Bhatt Murphy in the police law department. She has expertise in all aspects of litigation relating to the criminal justice system and specialises in representing bereaved families in inquest proceedings.

Sophie’s caseload has a strong emphasis on representing victims of violence against women and girls. Her work focuses on holding the police and other state agencies to account for failing to investigate or protect, particularly in cases of domestic homicide and unexplained deaths in the context of domestic abuse. Sophie acts for victims of sexual violence and abuse in complaints and claims against the police and has successfully challenged a number of decisions not to prosecute by way of the Victims Right to Review scheme, eventually resulting in charges and convictions. Sophie also brings claims against public authorities arising out of historic child abuse.

Sophie is also a specialist in discrimination law and continues to act for victims of police misconduct and brutality.

Sophie has experience in seeking accountability for victims and their families by way of civil claims, inquest proceedings, judicial review, CICA claims and in other investigative processes such as domestic homicide reviews.

Sophie was Law Society Lawyer in the News in 2019 following her work arising out of the domestic homicide of Linah Keza. The interview with Sophie can be seen here.

In 2022 Channel 4 News interviewed Sophie about her work on the inquest of Jessica Laverack where a Coroner recognised the link between domestic abuse and suicide for the first time. The film can be watched here.

In April 2023 she also contributed to the BBC File on Four piece “Police Complaints: A Crisis in Confidence” which can be heard here

In 2023 Tortoise Media created a podcast “Landmark” about Sophie’s work on the inquest of Kellie Sutton in which a jury returned an unlawful killing conclusion following Kellie’s self-inflicted death in the context of coercive and controlling behaviour. The podcast can be downloaded here.  Channel 4 also reported on the Kellie Sutton inquest and their report can be seen here

Sophie has written about her work for Legal Action Group magazine in a co-authored article “Investigations into Suicides in the Context of Domestic Abuse” published on 15 September 2023.

Sophie regularly talks to other lawyers about her work, including most recently delivering training to the Centre for Women’s Justice Femicide Working Group, and the Discrimination Lawyers Association.

Prior to qualifying as a solicitor, Sophie was an accredited police station representative and she continues to draws on her criminal defence experience in her civil work.

Sophie convenes the Introduction to Actions Against the Police course for Legal Action Group.

Sophie is a founder member of the Femicide Working Group convened by the Centre of Women’s Justice. She is also a member of Police Action Lawyers Group, Inquest Lawyers Group and the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL). She is a former board member of Newham Monitoring Project.

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Awards & Rankings

  • Sophie Chambers and Partners

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"She is very tenacious and really good with clients."
Chambers and Partners 2021
"Sophie is superb." "She is very committed and good at pushing the other side to get the best possible result for her clients."
Chambers and Partners 2021
"A clever, talented, hard-working, thorough and caring lawyer."
Chambers and Partners 2020

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