Who? Steven Heffer, 49-year-old dispute resolution partner with Collyer Bristow in London.


Why is he in the news? He represented Rose Gentle at the inquest into the death of her son, 19-year-old Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who was killed in Iraq on 28 June 2004. The coroner found that Mr Gentle died as a result of injuries caused by an improvised explosive device detonated close to the vehicle in which he was patrolling.



The coroner further found that it was probable that the device would have been prevented from detonating if the escort had been equipped with an electronic counter measure known as Element B. The essential components of Element B had become available earlier that month, but a clerical error had led to the counter measure not being fitted by the time of the attack on Mr Gentle's patrol.

Effective action to recognise and rectify the error, the coroner found, had not been taken by the units responsible for storage,

issue and fitting, and efforts made by Fusilier Gentle's unit to obtain Element B had not been sufficient to alert them to its availability. These errors, actions and omissions had been exacerbated by a lack of robust tracking and back-up systems.



Background: Mr Heffer went directly from school to the College of Law at Lancaster Gate and Chancery Lane. He trained at London firm Binks Stern, becoming a partner in 1987, and a higher court advocate in 1994. He joined Collyer Bristow as a partner in 2003.



Route to the case: The client was referred to Mr Heffer by barrister John Cooper, with whom he had been working on a case - which went to the House of Lords - concerning the validity of the Hunting Act 2004.



Thoughts on the case: 'Rose Gentle waited over three years to find out the facts surrounding the death of her son. We are pleased to have been able to help her establish that Gordon's death would have been prevented had the Army fitted the electronic jamming equipment which was available and lying in Army stores when he set out on escort duty that day. The verdict confirms this.



'The case has been a difficult one, dogged by delay and the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) refusal fully to disclose documents and facts relevant to the inquiry until the very end. Our client hopes the verdict will improve the safety of other armed forces personnel, but she is sceptical.'



Dealing with the media: 'I am familiar with dealing with the media, having acted in many high-profile cases. The media interest in this case has been impressive and very useful, given the struggle we had to bring this case to court and obtain disclosure from the MoD. The MoD, citing security, put great pressure both on my firm and on my client not to disclose anything concerning the incident.'



Jonathan Rayner