Mark Harvey bio - "May 2001, he became a partner in the Claimant Division of Hugh James in Cardiff"

:l_stitleRGS



Mark Harvey was admitted in 1990 as a Solicitor having begun his career in London as a Trainee Legal Executive in 1980 with Owen White, qualifying as a Legal Executive in 1987 working on high street legal aid personal injury claims as well as the Opren group action.

From 1990-94 he was with Lawford & Co, representing major Trade Unions in South Wales including electrical, banking and local government unions, developing an amusing practice representing British Airways stewardesses!

He joined the Smith Llewelyn Partnership in 1994 to revive his personal and professional relationship with the firm (with whom he had litigated the Opren anti-arthritis drug litigation from 1982 until 1987). He became a partner there in 1995.

In May 2001, he became a partner in the Claimant Division of Hugh James in Cardiff, with whom he had been co-ordinating the Gerona air crash claims.He has represented victims in most of the travel disasters of the 1980s and 1990s, including Zeebrugge, Clapham, P & O Lifeboat accident in Cherbourg, and the Maidenhead rail fire. He was a member of the Steering Committees for both the Southall and Ladbroke Grove rail crashes.

He represented Ricky Evans, the first international rugby player to successfully sue another for injury occurring during an international rugby match. He has obtained compensation for many individual victims of common but defective consumer products. He is presently representing over 1000 claimants in actions arising out of the Seroxat and Vioxx pharmaceutical products as well as in three Group Actions concerning various injuries and complaints with medical devices. Most recently he negotiated a settlement protocol for patients who alleged visual problems from their cataract remedial intraocular lenses.

He is past Secretary of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and now a Fellow of APIL; member of the Civil Justice Council and one of the two UK Governors of the American Association for Justice, (formerly known as ATLA) as well as being Vice President of Cardiff and District Law Society.

Author of the APIL Guide to Conditional Fees and the contributor of the Group Actions and Product Liability chapters in the APIL Personal Injury Guide both published by Jordans; he is also the contributing author of the Marketing chapter of the Law Society’s Civil Litigation Handbook (2nd Edition) and Board Member of the Journal of Personal Injury Law.

He has lectured extensively around Britain, mainland Europe and the US on personal injury matters, is a regular author of articles in legal journals and broadcasts regularly on television and radio.Despite this, he finds time to enjoy playing football and golf well as cooking and enjoying wine appreciation.

He has been described as a "Leader in Personal Injury and Product Liability" in Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 during 1999-2007. In 2005 he surprised many including him when nominated as Wales’ only entry in The Lawyer’s “Hot 100” and even more so in 2006 when invited to appear in Debrett’s People of Today! ENDS