Sophie Turner

Sophie is a partner specialising in international human rights and environmental claims against companies and the state. She has developed particular expertise in the field of conflict of laws and complex large-scale litigation against multinational companies. 

Sophie currently leads a claim on behalf of a group of villagers from Madagascar against the mining giant Rio Tinto. The claim alleges that pollution from a mine has caused local residents to be exposed to dangerous levels of contaminants. 
 
Sophie has previously worked extensively on claims regarding allegations of human rights abuses at various British-owned mines, including in Zambia and in Peru. She has been instructed in matters raising detailed questions of Peruvian, Thai, Malawian, Zambian, Indian, Afghan, and Malagasy law. 

Legal expertise

She has previously successfully represented individuals and groups in a number of complex cases across multiple jurisdictions, including:

• Claims by Malawian women against British tea companies concerning allegations of serious abuse and discrimination suffered during the course of their work on plantations; 
• A claim against the UK Security Services (MI5 and MI6) for their alleged involvement in the illegal rendition of Mr Belhaj and Ms Boudchar to Gaddafi’s Libya in 2004; 
• Claims by Iraqi civilians against the Ministry of Defence;
• A claim against a major pharmaceutical company on behalf of an individual who suffered serious injury during the course of a clinical trial.

Sophie speaks fluent German, French, and Spanish and is happy to be approached in those languages.