Leigh Day

International personal injury and human rights

Partner

Specialises in international claims, group actions and product liability.

Richard pioneered litigation against multinational parent companies, starting in the mid 90s with claims against Cape PLC for 7,500 South African asbestos miners and Thor Chemicals for South African workers poisoned by mercury. This included two landmark jurisdiction victories in the House of Lords, Connelly v RTZ Corporation Plc [1997] 3 WLR 373 and Lubbe & Others v Cape Plc 2000 1 WLR 1545.

Since then, Richard has successfully represented:

Between 2004 and September 2013, Richard worked with the South African Legal Resources Centre, Legal Aid South Africa and attorneys, Mbuyisa Molele on silicosis litigation against Anglo American and AngloGold Ashanti in South Africa by more than 4000 former South African gold miners. Following arbitration, this led to the establishment of the landmark Q(h)ubeka settlement, which served as a model for a later silicosis class action settlement.

Richard represented a group of anti-asbestos campaigners whose network was infiltrated by a spy recruited by K2 Intelligence whose ultimate client was a Kazakh asbestos mining company. Their claim for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and breach of Data Protection Act was settled in 2018.