Richard Meeran
Partner
Richard is co-head of the firm's International and Group Litigation Department
Richard Meeran joined Leigh Day in 1990 to work on the firm’s pioneering Sellafield Leukaemia case against British nuclear fuels and was made a partner in 1991.
After a four year stint practising in Australia with Slater and Gordon, Richard re-joined the Leigh Day partnership in 2008.
Legal expertise
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:
Villagers who were shot at a gold mine by the Tanzanian police
Campesinos whose wetlands were polluted by oil
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.
Current cases on which Richard is currently working include:
- With Mbuyisa Moleele Attorneys on a class action in the High Court of South Africa against Anglo American South Africa for Zambian communities who have suffered lead poisoning from the Kabwe mine.
- With his colleague, Jonny Buckley, an environmental claim for a Quilombola community in Bahia, Brazil.
- Against Harrods for survivors of sex trafficking and abuse involving Mohamed Al Fayed.
Awards
Richard was the winner of the Liberty/Justice “Human Rights Lawyer of the Year” award (2002).
Richard was awarded a Certificate for Outstanding Achievement by 18 asbestos victims’ support groups worldwide which was presented at the South African High Commission in 2002.
Appointments
In July 2024, Richard was appointed for a three year term as one of the two legal experts for Western European and other States by the UN's Working Group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights.
Richard is a member of the Drafting Team of The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration.
He is on the 'Developments in the Field' panel of the Business and Human Rights Journal.
He is a trustee of Clean Trade.
The City Law School appointed Richard Meeran as an Honorary Professor in January 2023 for a three year term.
Evidence Given
Richard gave evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights in June 2009 and August 2016.
He was a co-author of Amicus Brief for US Supreme Court in Kiobel v Shell Joint author (June 2012) and of English law section of Amicus Brief of Foreign Lawyers US Supreme Court in Doe v Nestle (October 2020)
Presentations and publications
Richard has presented extensively on multinational human rights litigation and business and human rights over the past 30 years, including:
- UN Forum on Business & Human Rights Geneva
- Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations Geneva
- UN Human Rights Council, Geneva.
- United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Consultation
- Council of Europe
- OECD Global Forum for Responsible Business Conduct
- At numerous seminars and workshops held by a range of NGOs worldwide including: UNICEF, International Commission of Jurists (Geneva); FIDH (Geneva), ECCHR (Berlin), Amnesty International (London), Action for Southern Africa (London)
- At numerous universities and academic institutions worldwide including Chatham House, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, British Institute of International & Comparative Law, Transnational Law Institute, Sydney University, Castan Centre for Human Rights (Melbourne), Columbia Law School, Trinity College Dublin, Osgoode Hall Law School Toronto, Geneva Institute ; as Guest speaker at 10th Anniversary of Stockholm University Environmental Law & Policy Centre; Kings Ethics Lecture (King’s College London).
Publications
Richard is the Editor of Human Rights Litigation against Multinationals in Practice, published by Oxford University Press in 2021.
Richard has more than 60 publications including:
- Multinational Human Rights Litigation in the UK: A Retrospective Business Human Rights Journal 22.6.21
- Tort litigation against multi-national corporations City University of Hong Kong Law Review Volume 3:1 Fall 2011 pp 1–41
- Richard Meeran, ‘Access to remedy: The United Kingdom experience of MNC tort litigation for human rights violations’ in Surya Deva and David Bilchitz (eds.), Human Rights Obligations of Business: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 378-402
Leigh Day webinars
Richard has moderated a number of Leigh Day webinars including:
- "Resisting SLAPPs: Challenging corporations who weaponise the law" (video)
- "The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration" (video)
- "Human rights and toxic mining legacies in Southern Africa | Leigh Day" (video)
- "Richard Meeran in conversation with Joe Fiorante QC | Leigh Day" (video)
- "Richard Meeran in conversation with Paul Hoffman: International claims being brought in the US" (video)
- "Webinar: Holding the Powerful to Account | Leigh Day International"(video)
- "Richard Meeran in conversation with Sandra Cossart and Miriam Saage-Maaß" (video)
Accreditations
Survivor of Harrods human trafficking urges the government to launch a statutory public inquiry
Survivor also calls on Harrods to establish a trauma-informed process to interact with survivors
Potential legal claims investigated against Harrods following rape and sexual abuse allegations in BBC documentary
Law firm Leigh Day and US law firm Motley Rice are investigating potential legal claims regarding allegations of trafficking, rape, serious sexual assault and psychological abuse, and exploitation, suffered by individuals while employed by famed luxury department store, Harrods.
EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
Sandra Boye-Clarkson, Hatice Cobanoglu and Richard Meeran consider the latest European directive on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence for companies.