Hugh James

Product liability/specialist personal injury.

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.

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.

French.

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.

Gunnersbury RC School for Boys; Guildford College of Law.

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