The Emerging Jurisprudence from the UK Courts on Parent Company Liability

Litigating human rights and environmental claims against multinational corporations

In 2019, in Lungowe v Vedanta the UK Supreme Court affirmed the possibility of holding UK based parent companies liable for adverse human rights impacts of their subsidiaries abroad. One year later in 2020, in Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell the Supreme Court once again held that a parent company could be directly liable for harms caused by its subsidiary’s operations. In this talk, Daniel Leader, a lead lawyer in these claims and Partner at Leigh Day, will discuss the emerging UK case law on parent company liability for human rights and environmental harms, as well as the implications of recent case law developments for the future of corporate accountability and access to justice.

Speaker

Daniel Leader is a Barrister and Partner at Leigh Day’ international law department and specialises in international human rights and environmental law, with a particular focus on business and human rights. He has extensive experience of cases against parent companies, complex group actions and mass tort claims, as well as cross-border disputes and jurisdictional issues. Recent cases include Lungowe v Vedanta plc [2019] UKSC 20 and Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell plc [2020] UKSC in which the UK Supreme Court significantly expanded the potential scope of parent company liability. He is ranked by Chambers & Partners as a Global Market Leader in the field of business and human rights law.

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