Richard Meeran has rejoined the partnership at top-rated personal injury law firm Leigh Day & Co.  Richard returned to the firm earlier this year after spending four years with Australian firm Slater & Gordon. He originally joined Leigh Day & Co in 1990 to work on the firm’s pioneering case against the Sellafield nuclear plant. He was made partner in 1991 and was instrumental in developing the firm’s ethos to make multinational corporations accountable for their exploitation of workers. 

He pioneered the successful litigation by Natal mercury poisoning victims against Thor Chemicals and a House of Lords victory on jurisdiction Connelly v RTZ (which resulted in a victory in the House of Lords on jursidiction).  His biggest case was against Cape plc that he fought on behalf of thousands of South African miners who had been damaged by exposure to asbestos. The case was lost in the Court of Appeal but was ultimately successful in the House of Lords.  The case was settled in 2003 for £10.5 million compensation.

Richard is now working on litigation against mining giant Anglo American, which has been running in the Johannesburg High Court since 2004. He is representing a group of miners who have contracted silicosis after working in gold mines in South Africa without adequate protection against silica dust. Silicosis is an incurable respiratory disease caused by inhalation of silica dust that leads to inflammation and eventually scarring of the lung.  Silicosis is a progressive disease that belongs to a group of lung disorders called pneumoconioses. Like asbestosis, silicosis develops on average between ten and thirty years after exposure.

The case is well advanced and is expected to go to trial in  February 2010. Zanele Mbuyisa, who has also worked in the London office of Leigh Day, is co-ordinating the project in South Africa, together with paralegals Gugulethu Kenneth Gumede and Gloria Matlala. Leigh Day & Co has had an office in Johannesburg for a number of years, based at the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg.

Richard said  "Leigh Day has an unparallelled commitment to social justice and a fantastic working environment. I am delighted to be back in the thick of it".