Inquiry team

Chairman of the Inquiry

Sir Martin Moore-Bick was called to the Bar in 1969 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1986. He was appointed to the High Court in 1995 and to the Court of Appeal in 2005. During his twenty years as a judge he heard a wide variety of commercial, civil and criminal cases. He retired as a Lord Justice of Appeal in December 2016. He is supported by Counsel to the Inquiry and a team of civil servants, seconded to the Inquiry from a range of Government Departments.

Panel

Thouria Istephan has been appointed by the Prime Minister to serve as a member of the panel. She is an architect and a registered Health and Safety Practitioner. For the last 23 years she has worked for the internationally respected Architects Foster + Partners as a Partner and Deputy of Technical Design. She also served as a Construction Specialist Inspector at the HSE and was instrumental in the implementation of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM). Her experience and knowledge include fire safety, buildability, accessibility and inclusive design.

Ali Akbor OBE has been appointed by the Prime Minister to serve as a panel member. For over 20 years he has been the CEO of Unity Homes and Enterprise, a leading housing association supporting the BAME communities. He has extensive experience of the housing sector, having served at board level and in non-excutive roles in a number of organisations, as well as a background in local government. In December 2019, he was awarded an OBE for services to the community in Leeds.

Director General and Secretary to the Inquiry

Mark Fisher started work as Director General and Secretary to the Inquiry on 26 June 2017. He was previously Director of the Office for Civil Society and Innovation in the Cabinet Office. Mark has been in the public service for 34 years, mainly in the Department for Work and Pensions.

Counsel

Counsel to the Inquiry

Richard Millett QC has been appointed as Lead Counsel to the Inquiry. Richard was called to the Bar in 1985 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2003. He has extensive experience of handling complex commercial disputes in a range of specialist areas, with an emphasis on advocacy in court, arbitration and other tribunals. He also sits as a Deputy High Court Judge.

Richard will be assisted by Kate Grange QC and Andrew Kinnier QC.

Kate Grange QC was called to the Bar in 1998 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2017. She has particular expertise in relation to commercial, construction, public and inquiry law.

Andrew Kinnier QC was called to the Bar in 1996 and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2018. He has particular expertise in product liability law, public procurement, public and administrative law, local government law, health and safety law and environmental law.

Junior Counsel

Kerrie Ann Rowan
Naima Asif
Samantha Bonner
Aphra Bruce-Jones
Samuel Burrett
Joseph Byrne
Kate Chidgey
Hannah Curtain
Helena Drage
George Eyre
Kate Fortescue
Adam Gadd
Harriet Gilchrist
Rose Grogan
Emily Hamilton
Jamila Hassan
Emma Hynes
Zeenat Islam
Samantha Jones
Dermot Keating
Daniel Laking
Kirsty Lea
Natasha Lloyd Owen
Priya Malhotra
Scarlett Milligan
Daniel O'Donoghue
Rebecca Penfold
Ricky Powell
Bilal Rawat
Sarah Read
Marie de Redman
Timothy Salisbury
Kat Shields
Vida Simpeh
Shanthi Sivakumaran
Michael Standing
Caroline Stewart
Rachel Sullivan
Camilla Ter Haar
Rachel Troup
Alex Ustych

The Inquiry is also supported by a document review team comprising junior barristers and paralegals.

Solicitors

Solicitor to the Inquiry

Caroline Featherstone qualified as a registered nurse in 1986. She worked in the NHS until she changed career in 1998 when she was admitted as a solicitor. Having spent some years working in private practice, Caroline joined the Government Legal Department in 2006 and was most recently a Deputy Director leading a large litigation team.

Deputy Solicitors

Cathy Kennedy
Julia Dickins
Ross Howarth
Shafi Nasser

Assistant Solicitors

Hanae Bennani
Erica Berki
Luke Jacob
Victoria O'Brien
Erin Peck
Emily Schwikkard
Rosalynn Try-Hane
Anna Venturino
Holly Waldron
Hollie Waugh
Thomas Wood

Secretariat

Team

Thomas Blackburn
Laura Brooks
Hannah Bryant
Paul Edens
Sam Herrod
Lucy Johnson
Bushra Kherallah
Kathy Knox
Christine May
Curtis Moise
Aisha-Asher Morgan
Mel Peffer
Paul Soundararajah
Mike Thomas
Kana Natarajan

Inquiry Diversity Statistics

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is committed to promoting equality and diversity.

The Inquiry has conducted a survey collecting data on the gender and ethnic diversity of the Inquiry team, including the Inquiry Panel, Counsel and legal and secretariat teams. The available data on the Inquiry team as of 31 December 2020 is shown below.

Our skilled team is diverse at every level, with two thirds of the Inquiry panel being from BAME background. We will continue to monitor the diversity of our workforce and will publish a snapshot annually for the remainder of the Inquiry.

Charts