Partner & Solicitor Advocate
Patricia Coyle is from Derry and graduated with an LLB (Hons) in law from Queen’s University Belfast in 1990. She attended the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen’s in 1992 and qualified as a solicitor in Northern Ireland in 1994. She was awarded a Robert Schumann Scholarship by the European Commission in 1991, is a certified Solicitor Advocate (National Institute of Trial Advocacy, (QUB 2007), holds a Certificate in Forensic Investigation (QUB,2010). She is a current member of the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society for Northern Ireland, a member of the Solicitors’ Criminal Bar Association for Northern Ireland and lectures in criminal law at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queens University, Belfast.
Patricia heads up the Criminal Defence and Legacy Litigation & Inquests Departments of the firm. The firm was recognised for its excellence in criminal defence in 2022 as one of the top 40 Best Law Firms in Northern Ireland for 2022-2023 (Belfast Telegraph/Statista Survey).
In the Criminal Defence Department Patricia works with experienced criminal defence lawyers Diarmaid Kelly and Chris McCann to provide expert advice to clients in custody when arrested or prosecuted. She has extensive experience in;
- Terrorism Act and PACE arrests,
- Magistrates Court cases including Youth Court proceedings,
- Crown Court cases (both judge only and jury trials), Serious Fraud Office prosecutions, Applications and cases involving Proceeds of Crime and PACE warrants,
- Extradition cases involving European Arrest Warrants,
- Appeals to the Northern Ireland Court of Criminal Appeal,
- Appeals to the Supreme Court in London,
- Applications to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg,
- Applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission regarding wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice.
Patricia has experience as a criminal defence lawyer at all court levels having dealt with a number of high profile criminal cases in Northern Ireland including the cases of;