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.
In 2024 Sophie was awarded the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award in the category of Public Law in recognition of her work representing the families of women who die in the context of domestic abuse.
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 is a specialist in CICA awards, her clients having been awarded significant sums following the deaths of their loved ones, or in respect of their own criminal injuries. She represented the claimant in the Court of Appeal case R (AXO) v FTT (Social Entitlement Chamber) & CICA [2024] EWCA Civ 22 which has settled a complex question of law arising out of the recoverability by CICA of human rights damages where a claimant has recovered damages for failures by state agencies prior to a death.
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.
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
In April 2023 she also contributed to the BBC File on Four piece “Police Complaints: A Crisis in Confidence” which can be heard 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.
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.
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.
Sophie regularly talks to other lawyers about her work, including most 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.
