About the Speakers

• George Proud, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Newcastle upon Tyne.
George has been examining claimants in HAVS cases, instructed by both claimants and defendants, for many years. He has a national reputation in this area and has spoken at previous symposia.

• Professor Frank Burke, Professor of Hand Surgery, Derby.
Frank is a leading authority on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and his recent research on causation will be of interest to all. He receives instructions from both claimant and defendant firms in litigated matters. He is a member of the British Coal Medical Panel and his work is highly influential in this field.

• Paul Stuart, Consultant Hand Surgeon, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Paul is instructed in both HAVS and WRULD matters. He is a hand surgeon of considerable experience and has a particular experience of considering the causation issues in alleged vibration induced carpal tunnel syndrome cases.

• Dr Chris Nelson, Consultant Engineer, R H Mitchell and Associates and ex-HSE Specialist Inspector (Noise and Vibration), Leicestershire
Chris has recently joined RHMA from the HSE having been a Specialist Inspector (Noise and Vibration) and having inputted to the preparation of the Control of Noise and Control of Vibration Regulations 2005.

• David Jackson, Consulting Engineer, Strange Strange & Gardner, Manchester.
David has practised as an engineer in this field advising companies and parties to litigation for many years. He is well respected and will provide an insight into the issues faced by engineers over the years of assisting the parties on ever more complex and changing issues in vibration induced injury claims.
• Simon Matthews, Associate Solicitor, Crutes Law Firm, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Simon has been defending HAVS cases for many years now, having worked at Jacksons and DLA Piper before recently returning to Newcastle. He has considerable recent success in defending claims for vibration induced CTS and Whole Body Vibration. He co-organised the 2nd Symposium in 2001. He was also an originating member of the Contractors Steering Committee for the British Coal VWF litigation.

• Claire Hodgson, Solicitor
Claire trained at Watson Burton, and was a member of the Claimant's steering Committee for the British Coal VWF litigation; she moved to Askews in 2004, where she had conduct of Kew v Bettamix.  Iin 2009, she set up her own firm, CMH Solicitors.  Her talk on "Preparing the Case" (2nd Symposium) is now to be found in Sweet & Maxwell's Occupational Illness Litigation (ed. Andrew Macdonald). she has 19 years experience of dealing with HAVS cases.

• Rod Luck, CII Chartered Insurer Claims Manager, Zurich Commercial, Birmingham.

Rod has over 30 years experience in claims handling. Initially with Eagle Star and then moving pre-merger to Zurich Municipal. He has a wide range of experience in both personal lines and commercial. He specialised in the local authority market from 1994 originally in London, then Head Office Farnborough and the CAT PI Team. Appointed Occupational Disease claims Manager in 2007. He was the lead handler in the Barrow legionnaires' outbreak in 2002 and handled cases of:-

Fegan v Highland Council (Appeal to Inner House);
Poppleton v Peter Ashley Activity Centre (Court of Appeal);
Ashley v Sussex Police (Court of Appeal

• Ronnie Walker QC, Barrister, 12 Kings Bench Walk, London.
Ronald Walker QC is listed as the (joint) leading personal injury silk in The Legal 500. He practises mainly in the areas of Professional Negligence, Construction, and Personal Injury. He is a Master of the Bench of Gray’s Inn and a former member of the General Council of the Bar (1993-1995). He was appointed as a Recorder in 1986 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 1993. He is a TECBAR accredited adjudicator and mediator, acts as an arbitrator and has advised the Joint Contracts Tribunal on their Standard Forms.
• Catherine Foster, Barrister, Crown Office Chambers, London.
Catherine Foster specialises in all forms of industrial and occupational disease litigation, in particular claims involving asbestos related conditions (pleural plaques, pleural thickening, asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma), asthma, back injuries, beat knee, cancer (bladder cancer), carbon monoxide exposure, carpal tunnel syndrome, chemical exposure (COSHH claims) dermatitis, deep vein thrombosis, hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), legionnaire’s disease, noise induced hearing loss (NIHL), pneumoconiosis, radiation exposure, silicosis, upper limb disorders. She has been involved in emerging areas of disease litigation over the past 15 years and is regularly instructed to advise on generic issues such as diagnosis, causation, aetiology and apportionment. "Leader at the Bar" in Personal Injury: Industrial Disease (Chambers & Partners 2009 - forthcoming).
• Michael Rawlinson, Barrister, Kings Chambers, Manchester.
Within the field of industrial disease claims, he has extensive experience in appearing in cases which have had wider significance beyond the individuals concerned. For example he represented the insurer-defendants in both Fairchild v Glenhaven (mesothelioma claim which has become a source of much legal analysis and development in respect of issues of causation in cancer claims) and Rothwell & Johnston and others (The Pleural Plaques test litigation) both before the House of Lords. The saving to the insurance industry of the latter litigation has been estimated to have been in the region of £1 Billion and is the first example of an entire class of established disease claims being stopped.

Chambers & Partners 2007:
“ Michael Rawlinson at Kings Chambers is another new addition. Widely thought of as a “truly brilliant barrister,” he is commended for his “client-friendly manner and first-rate advice.”


• Ian Lawson, Chief Medical Officer, Rolls Royce, Guest Chair, Birmingham; Past President, Society of Occupational Medicine

Ian is a past President of the Society of Occupational Medicine, and a Fellow of both the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (Royal College of Physicians) and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He is a member of the Department of Work and Pensions Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) and Research Working Group. He was a member of the Independent Medical Advisory Group (IMAG) that advised the Department of Trade and Industry (now BERR) on the medical assessment process (MAP) for ex-miners, and was chairman of their Medical Reference Panel (MRP).

Ian has published papers on HAVS in international peer reviewed journals and presented at international HAVS conferences. Ian has a HAVS laboratory in Derby where he prepares expert witness reports.

Ian appears in the 2008 edition of Marquis’ original WHO’s WHO in the World.

Ken McGeogh, formerly of Mistui Babcock
Ken became a part-time occupational physician in 1972. In the mid-eighties it became obvious that Babcock’s had a problem with VWF. In 1987 Professor W. (Bill) Taylor became a consultant and friend. Under his guidance one of the earliest test centres in the UK using “objective tests” was set up. Workers were referred by both unions and insurance companies.

In 1997 Ken was asked by the DTI via IRISC to create a medical specification for the examination of miners claiming to have VWF. With the help of a small dedicated group the Medical Assessment Process was set up and after a successful pilot scheme many centres opened throughout the UK. Now, after 11 years and some 100,000 examinations, this exercise has finally been completed.

The huge data base has yielded many peer reviewed research papers. Ken’s main interest has always been the neurological component of the Stockholm Workshop Scales