Saoirse Kerrigan
Associate solicitor
Saoirse is a human rights lawyer
Saoirse Kerrigan is an associate solicitor working with partner Emma Jones in the human rights department.
Saoirse is currently acting in a group claim concerning the over-sedation and abuse of adolescents at Hill End Adolescent Unit in St Albans between 1969 and 1995.
Before joining Leigh Day she acted for families and survivors of the Hillsborough tragedy negotiating a settlement scheme to compensate 600 people for the trauma and psychiatric damage caused by the police cover up and false narrative perpetuated by the police for decades following the tragedy.
Legal expertise
Saoirse has extensive experience in claims against the police and prisons, immigration detention claims, judicial review and inquests. She has a particular interest in migrant rights and has represented many vulnerable individuals in challenging abuse of power and failures by the state.
Saoirse started her legal career as an immigration caseworker representing victims of torture and human rights abuses in the asylum and immigration tribunal. This followed six years working at the charity Refugee Council. She qualified as a solicitor in 2013 in the area of civil liberties and human rights.
Education
BA (Honours) Philosophy degree from University of Leeds
GDL and LPC (Distinction) from London Metropolitan University
Membership
- Police Action Lawyers Group
- Inquest Lawyers Group
News and blogs
Leigh Day secures compensation scheme for patients who were sedated and abused at youth psychiatric facility from the late 1960s to the 1990s
A compensation scheme has been agreed on behalf of around 90 former patients at a youth psychiatric facility in Hertfordshire who say they were unlawfully sedated and subjected to physical and sexual abuse over more than two and half decades.
Police investigation into alleged abuse at Hill End Adolescent Unit is concluded
Hertfordshire police have concluded their investigation into reports of excessive use of sedation and non-recent sexual assaults against children who had stayed at Hill End Adolescent Unit a mental health facility in St Albans.
Investigations continue into abuse claims at Hill End Adolescent Unit
Human rights lawyers are continuing their investigations on behalf of former patients of Hill End Adolescent Unit following allegations of abuse and over-sedation at the unit over a 25-year period.