Oliver Holland
Partner
Oliver specialises in international cases involving multinational corporations where environmental harm or human rights abuses have been alleged
Oliver is a partner in the international department.
Oliver has been representing claimants in group litigation for over a decade. He has extensive experience in conflict of law issues, Group Litigation Orders and large-scale litigation against some of the world’s largest multinational companies.
Legal expertise
Oliver has represented communities, workers and consumers in group actions relating to human rights abuses, environmental damage, parent company liability, supply chain liability and consumer law.
Some of Oliver recent cases have included:
- Lungowe v Vedanta plc [2019] UKSC 20 a Supreme Court decision concerning jurisdiction in cross-border parent company liability concerning environmental pollution from a Zambian copper mine;
- Begum v Maran (UK) Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 326 a Court of Appeal decision concerning the liability arising from involvement of third parties in shipbreaking;
- Josiya & Ors v British American Tobacco plc & Ors [2021] EWHC 1743 (QB) concerning the liability of the Defendants to those in their supply chain in which Oliver represent over 10,000 Malawian tobacco farmers and their children.
Oliver currently represents tens of thousands of claimants across the UK and internationally including matters concerning environmental damage from the extractives sector, air pollution from emissions from diesel vehicles and pollution of the UK’s waterways and seas.
What the directories say
Oliver is superb. He has the ability to balance the big picture with a nuanced view.
Chambers and partners 2024
Oliver Holland in the news
- Is Turkey’s economy heading towards another recession? Al Jazeera 17.4.21
- Recent UK Court of Appeal judgment may lead to greater accountability of companies hiding behind complex supply chains Business & Human Rights Resource Centre 2.4.21
FTSE 100 firm faces landmark modern slavery legal challenge Personnel Today November 2019 - Children under 13 picked coffee beans for Starbucks and Nespresso Metro March 2020
- Children as young as eight picked coffee beans on farms supplying Starbucks The Guardian March 2020
- Breaking Bad – Uncovering The Oil Industry’s Dirty Secret BBC March 2020
- Zambians can pursue mining pollution claim in English courts The Guardian April 2019
- End of the liner – deadly boat graveyards where kids as young as eights risk their lives The Sun September 2019
- Child labour claim brought against British American Tobacco The Times October 2019
- Vedanta’s London exit fails to stem scrutiny of Indian miner The Financial Times October 2018
- Leigh Day demands answers after lawyer arrest in Zambia Gazette January 2017
What the directories say
He has nous beyond his years and knows which buttons to press to get under the skin of his opponents. Great with clients and super cool under pressure.
Legal 500 2022
News and blogs
First legal move in River Wye chicken pollution claim
Lawyers representing hundreds of people and businesses impacted by River Wye pollution have written to Avara Foods, Freemans of Newent and Cargill PLC in the first stage of a major civil action.
UK Supreme Court holds that water companies can be liable for sewage pollution of UK waters
Leigh Day environmental private law partner Oliver Holland and associates Celine O’Donovan and Benji Gourgey on the Supreme Court’s judgment on the liability of water companies for discharging sewage, and the wider impact of the decision on the environmental issues facing the UK.
Migrant workers get permission to appeal decision that their case against Dyson should not be heard in the English Courts
A group of migrant workers taking legal action against two Dyson UK companies and a Dyson Malaysian company over alleged forced labour and dangerous working and living conditions at a Malaysian factory have been given permission to appeal a High Court decision that the case should be heard in Malaysia and not England.
Accreditations
