Mark Harvey > Hugh James > Cardiff, United Kingdom > Lawyer Profile

Hugh James Offices

Hugh James
Two Central Square
CARDIFF
CF10 1FS
United Kingdom
Visit website 033 3016 2222 029 2038 8222

Mark Harvey

Mark Harvey photo
033 3016 2222 mark.harvey@hughjames.com

Work Department

Product liability/specialist personal injury.

Position

Mark Harvey is a Partner in the claimant division. He has obtained compensation for many individual victims of common but defective consumer products as well as victims of accidents overseas and arising out of travel generally.

Mark is the court appointed lead solicitor coordinating over 1,000 claimants in a group litigation order (GLO) arising out of the recall and health alert relating to the French manufacturer’s PIP silicone breast implants. He is also the lead solicitor in the Wright Medical Conserve metal on metal hip GLO as well as a member of the claimants’ steering committees in both the Pinnacle and Zimmer metal on metal hip GLOs. He is responsible for leading claims concerning various injuries and complaints from medical devices. He negotiated a settlement protocol for patients who alleged visual problems from their cataract remedial intraocular lenses as well as obtaining compensation for one individual who complained of a defective hip prosthesis, and another who suffered injury from a piece of aircraft furniture in a first class cabin. He is currently investigating new claims relating to hearing implants and two other cataract remedial intraocular lenses complaints.

Mark has represented victims in many travel disasters, including Zeebrugge, Clapham, P&O Lifeboat accident in Cherbourg, the Maidenhead rail fire and the Ufton Nervet rail crossing accident. He was a member of the Steering Committees for both the Southall and Ladbroke Grove rail crashes. He is currently representing the passengers and driver of the Edwards’ Coaches bus crash in Switzerland who are pursuing claims against the Swiss insurers of the lorry that caused the accident.

Mark successfully concluded claims on behalf of the foreign victims of an air accident concerning four separate countries and obtained Euro compensation for the foreign victims of an explosion at sea this time involving three separate countries and their jurisdictions. He is helping British citizens with accidents they sustained in various European and African countries as well as providing expert advice to and representation of clients of lawyers from overseas jurisdictions.

He represented the first professional rugby player to successfully sue another for an incident arising from an international rugby game when he represented Wales professional forward Ricky Evans in suing Oliver Merle of France following a France versus Wales rugby game. He negotiated substantial compensation for another first class rugby player who suffered a career ending injury after losing an eye in a rugby match. He continues to lecture extensively on sports related injuries as well as harmful products and overseas accident law.

Expertise
Disaster claims
Accidents abroad
Product liability
Professional negligence
Group action claims
Mark is former President of Cardiff & District Law Society, past member of the Civil Justice Council and is past secretary of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). He is also one of the two UK Governors of the American Association for Justice (AAJ); Co-Chair of their International Practice Section and a Fellow of APIL. Mark was recently accredited by APIL as accidents and illnesses abroad specialist and was appointed an assessor to the same scheme.

Career

Qualified 1990; partner Hugh James 2001. Publications of note: Jordans’ APIL Guide to Conditional Fees (1st and 2nd edition); co-editor of the APIL Guide to Costs and Funding; the chapters on Product Liability and Group Actions to the APIL Personal Injury looseleaf; the chapter on Marketing in the Law Society Civil Litigation Handbook. Member of the editorial boards of Thomson Sweet & Maxwell’s the Journal of Personal Injury Law and Kemp and Kemp on Quantum.

Languages

French.

Memberships

Fellow of APIL; UK governor (one of two) American Association for Justice (formerly known as ATLA); Wales’ first member of the Pan-European Organisation of Personal Injury Law (PEOPIL); immediate past member of the Civil Justice Council.

Education

Gunnersbury RC School for Boys; Guildford College of Law.

Leisure

Golf, skiing, five-a-side football, wine appreciation and cookery; Cottrell Park GC.

Lawyer Rankings

Wales > Insurance > Personal injury: claimant

(Hall of Fame)

Mark Harvey – Hugh James

The ‘highly resourced’ offering at Hugh James has the strength-in-depth to offer clients true sub-specialisms, including in the field of asbestos-related claims, where the ‘extremely knowledgeable and personable’ Richard Green  heads up an ‘amazing team’ that not only fights hard for victims of respiratory illnesses but also works closely with medical professionals and charities supporting those affected by asbestos related disease. The ‘technically able’ Kathryn Singh leads the industrial disease offering that continues to achieve outstanding results for workers, both domestically and abroad, where she is ‘exceptionally experienced in group litigation’. Simon Ellis also handles some unusual industrial disease claims, although he is best-known for his work on behalf of current and former members of the armed forces bringing claims against the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for hearing loss and cold injuries. A ‘class act who combines empathy and experience to deliver a solid product to the client’, Cari Sowden-Taylor  heads up the serious injury team alongside Ciaran McCabe , and provides a superb service for clients that have suffered brain and spinal injuries as a result of road traffic collisions. Of the more junior partners, Lucy Strong has cultivated a very strong reputation in the asbestos field, while the ‘determined and capable’ James Gibson  ‘achieves great results’ for clients in industrial injury claims. Dividing his team between Cardiff and London, Mark Harvey heads up the overarching specialist claims group and draws upon his ‘vast experience and strategic nous’ to deliver exceptional results to clients in product liability claims, as well as the victims of accidents overseas and arising out of travel generally.

London > Insurance > Product liability: claimant

(Hall of Fame)

Mark Harvey – Hugh James

Hugh James leads the way in product liability work with a particular specialism in medical devices and pharmaceutical drugs. The practice has experience in matters such as mesh implants, PIP breast implants and intraocular lenses. Mark Harvey heads the firm and is involved in representing claimants in liability claims and medical device group actions. Pauline Roberts is involved in multi-party liability claims with expertise in representing women alleging injury from vaginal mesh. Aidan Lloyd works on defective device litigation while Carlos Land specialises in personal injury.

London > Insurance > Personal injury: claimant

Mark Harvey and Alan Collins co-head the personal injury offering at Hugh James, taking the lead on serious injury and child abuse work, respectively. The firm’s developing Court of Protection team support the range of personal injury specialists in dealing with abuse claims and catastrophic and serious injury, and are noted as ‘indefatigable in seeking the right level of compensation for their clients’. Joanna Bailey joined the team in March 2023 from Taylor Rose MW, bringing further strength in catastrophic injury work, including road traffic accidents and serious brain injuries to the group. Senior associate Nia-Wyn Evans is also noted.

London > Transport > Travel

Hugh James‘ travel personal injury offering has Katherine Allen, who is noted for her ‘impressive technical knowledge’ and ‘client care skills that are second-to-none’, at its helm, alongisde Cardiff-based Mark Harvey who is experienced handling complex cross-border litigation matters. The team is adept at handling severe injury claims arising from a range of incidents, namely motor incidents, including cases where they have occurred as part of a package holiday or planned excursion. ‘Knowledgeable, compassionate and determined’ senior associate Rebecca Gilmore is a standout team member.

London > Dispute resolution > Group litigation: Claimant

Environmental nuisance, industrial disease, and product liability claims are all mainstays of the group litigation department at Hugh James, which also has ‘unrivalled experience of litigating domestic environmental group actions‘. Neil Stockdale, who heads the firm’s financial mis-selling team, has an ‘instinctive grasp for the core issues, and an excellent feel for when to fight and when to settle‘; he works in tandem with Mark Harvey, who has a ‘longstanding and deserved reputation as a market leader’ and has been representing claimants in product liability claims for over four decades.

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