Two decades ago, most lawyers didn't know how to fight clinical negligence cases. Now, even some doctors acknowledge that such cases play a key role in making the NHS accountable. Khan is hoping for a similar shift in culture among other bodies, including the police and prison service. The knowledge that a victim's family's solicitor is watching what they do will, he hopes, help to ensure that the police conduct all investigations in a methodical and even-handed way, rather than allowing prejudice to colour what they do. There are some inherent difficulties to be overcome, not least the problem of funding.
Much work has to be done free of charge because there is no state help available.
You end up working longer and longer hours. At his new firm, the work will be cross-subsidised by more mainstream civil liberties cases for which there is state funding, such as immigration and actions against the police, and by the criminal defence work he still does. Another difficulty is the lack of any formal rules of engagement. The police may not like solicitors acting in their traditional role of protecting defendants' interests, but defence solicitors are at least grudgingly accepted and everyone knows what the ground rules are supposed to be. Solicitors acting for victims or their families, like Khan intends doing, are on wholly uncharted territory.