Patricia Coyle

Partner & Solicitor Advocate

Patricia Coyle is from Derry.  She attended Edinburgh University and Queens University,  Belfast graduating from QUB with an LLB (Hons).  She attended IPLS at QUB and qualified as a solicitor in 1994. She was awarded a Robert Schumann Scholarship by the European Commission (1991), is a certified Solicitor Advocate with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, (QUB 2007), holds a Certificate in Forensic Investigation (QUB,2010),  was a co-opted member of the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society for Northern Ireland, is a member of the Solicitors’ Criminal Bar Association (SCBA), a tutor in criminal law at IPLS (QUB) and was a member of the Working Group on the Solicitor Hourly Rate which reviewed and updated the rate from 2024 to 2025.

Patricia works in the Criminal Defence and Legacy Litigation & Inquests Departments of the firm.  The firm was recognised for 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).

She provides expert advice to clients in custody when arrested or prosecuted. She has experience in Terrorism Act and PACE arrests; Magistrates Court cases; Crown Court cases (both judge only and jury trials), Serious Fraud Office prosecutions; Appeals to the Northern Ireland Court of Criminal Appeal; Appeals to the Supreme Court; Applications to the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg; Applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for miscarriages of justice.

She has dealt with a number of high profile criminal cases in Northern Ireland including;

Patricia heads up the firm’s Legacy Department with a particular interest and expertise in public Inquiries arising from her experience in representing the families of those killed and wounded on Bloody Sunday, 30th January 1972. As a trainee and then a qualified solicitor from 1992 to 1998 she assisted the families, the wounded and the Bloody Sunday Initiative/Justice campaign in unearthing new evidence undermining the lawfulness of the1972 Widgery Inquiry. The new evidence assisted in the establishment of the Saville Inquiry in January 1998.  She continues to represent clients who are seeking information and justice whose loved ones were killed by state actors and paramilitaries.  She was one of the original board members of the Bloody Sunday Trust.

In 2019, 2023 and 2024, she achieved fresh legacy inquests for the next of kin of Annette McGavigan (Derry, 1971), Thomas Burns (Belfast, 1972), and Patrick Duffy (Derry, 1978).  The withdrawal of legacy inquests by the Legacy Act 2023 resulted in Patricia lodging 17 applications to the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg in 2022 challenging the Act.  These applications remain live before the European Court of Human Rights pending the outcome of the Troubles Bill (2026).

From 2018 to 2019 Patricia acted for the widow and sister of Daniel Carson shot by a loyalist gunman in Dayton Street, Belfast on the 1st November 1973 in a fresh legacy inquest.  The Coroner found that the police investigation into the murder of Daniel Carson in 1973 was inadequate and referred the identified loyalist paramilitary shooter to the PPS for consideration of prosecution.

From March 2022 to December 2024 Patricia acted for the next of kin of Patrick Crawford (15) in a legacy inquest.  Patrick Crawford was an innocent youth who was fatally shot while walking through the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital on the 10th August 1975.  The family of Patrick Crawford always believed that he was shot by the army. In December 2024  the Coroner concluded ithat Patrick Crawford was shot dead by an unidentified member of the British army in the grounds of the RVH. The Ministry of Defence did not challenge the inquest verdict.

Patricia also assists the next of kin of Rosaleen O’ Kane who was believed to have been murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in North Belfast on 17th September 1976.  The next of kin maintained that police had persistently failed to properly investigate her murder from 1976.  The firm challenged the police invesigative failure in 2023.  As of 2026 the police murder investigation is ongoing but the murder of Rosaleen O’ Kane remains unsolved.

She has also acted before inquests for the next of kin of vulnerable persons who have died while in prison custody resulting in jury findings of negligence in respect of the Prison Service and the Trust responsible for their care.

Patricia has achieved the following compensation claims;

• In 2017 the maximum award of £1,000,000 (1million) under the Department of Justice miscarriage of justice compensation scheme for Liam Holden after the quashing of the wrongful murder conviction;

• In 2023 a further court compensation award of £350,000 for the next of kin of Liam Holden for the water-boarding torture he suffered (awarded after his death);

• In 2019 a  settlement for the next of kin of brothers Gerry and John Conway,  who were shot and wounded by the army on 15th April 1972 on the Ballymurphy Road, Belfast;

• In 2026 a settlement for the next of kin of Thomas Aquinas Burns, fatally shot by the army at Glenpark Social Club, North Belfast on 13th July 1972.

Growing up as part of a musical family in Derry, Patricia provides advice to artists, musicians and authors to redress the balance of power between commercial media and production companies and the individual.  Her clients include (published with their consent);

• In 2024 the Irish language rap trio Kneecap in respect of their movie contract as co-creators of their self titled film “Kneecap” ;

• (Ongoing) the late author Maureen McKeown whose book “The Extraordinary Case of Sister Ligouri” is now being made into a international television series;

• In 2023 dance music artist Jonny O Hanlon (Jonny Was Here) in respect of contract negotiations who was snapped up by Sony records;

• (Ongoing) the international ilm producer and director Stephen Presley, who is based in NI, in respect of his ongoing film projects;

• In 2025 the acclaimed author Anne Cadwallader in respect of publishing contract negotiations for her first fiction novel titled “Crossing Over”.

In May 2024 partners Nichola Harte and Patricia Coyle together with 2 of the firm’s young lawyers Cathal Mullan and Meadbh O’Dowd,  launched the firm’s Environmental Law Department.  The NGO PILS funded solicitor Cathal Mullan to attend and report on the Sperrins Gold Mine public hearings.  Other environmental law cases are currently under consideration by the new Department.