I start all my client appointments with an apology for the inadequacy of the current coronial system, whose rules are out of touch with modern society.

Court facilities will be cramped and it is likely that when clients meet their barrister for the first time, on the morning of the hearing, there will be no private room in which to discuss the circumstances of their loved one’s death. We have a choice between a public area where the perpetrator of the death, and their supporters, legal and lay, will also be mingling, along with local press; or we can meet in a coffee shop around the corner – hardly the most private of places. Refreshment facilities are not available.

While we receive a list of witnesses a few days before the hearing, it is unlikely that we will receive any documentation other than a post mortem report. Sometimes we receive detailed drawings – for road traffic cases – which take time to comprehend. We may receive a photograph or two. But they are not always carefully checked. On one occasion I had photographs of a wrecked vehicle – but with the deceased occupants in it as well. Fortunately, I was able to filter out the most upsetting. I ask the coroner’s clerk not to read out the post mortem examination report in open court.

Inside the courtroom, relatives can be cheek by jowl with those who caused the death of their loved ones. Although families of the injured and the opponents try to sit on different sides of the court room, there is no clear delineation. Because of the physical layout of chairs, solicitors and barristers usually sit on the front row with the client behind.

Attending an inquest into the death of a loved one is an immensely stressful experience. The conditions of the coroners’ courts should not make that experience more painful than it need be. The service is in urgent need of reform. We need the coroners’ Bill to be brought before Parliament as soon as possible.

Amanda Stevens is president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers

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