Top junior Gerard Forlin is a 'manslaughter specialist' and clients praise his 'great industry knowledge' and 'incredible work ethic', recent cases include acting for Balfour Beatty on the Hatfield rail crash

 

 

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Gerard Forlin was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn and appointed Queen’s Counsel
2010 in both Civil and Criminal Law (see  www.qcappointments.org).

Education:

London School of Economics                    LLB (Hons) and LLM
Trinity Hall, Cambridge University             M.Phil.
University College London                         Diploma in Air and Space Law

Languages spoken:

English, French, Italian, basic Cantonese

He was previously Senior Crown Counsel, Hong Kong.

Gerard is also called to the Bar in Australia and is a member of Denman Chambers in Sydney.

Gerard’s areas of expertise, in which he also acts globally, include the following:

Regulatory, specialising in health and safety and corporate and gross negligence manslaughter, disaster litigation, aviation, railways, shipping safety, diving, oil and gas, environmental crime, construction, professional discipline, public inquiries, fraud, regulatory offences, product liability, healthcare, commercial fishing (EU), consumer crime, licensing, corruption and bribery, waste offences, human rights and inquests.

The Legal 500 continues recognition of Gerard’s practice. Having taken Silk, Gerard is ranked in the newly amalgamated grouping ‘Consumer and product liability’, and ‘Health, safety and environment’. In Consumer law Gerard is singled out as showing “impressive judgment and strategic skill”. In the 2009 edition he is described as a ‘formidable advocate with strength in technical and industrial product claims’. ‘managing the evidence well and is very good with juries’.

In the September 2008 edition he is described as a ‘manslaughter specialist’, clients praising his ‘great industry knowledge’ and ‘incredible work ethic’, recent cases include acting for Balfour Beatty on the Hatfield crash. “Forlin’s robust style of advocacy, easy client manner and market awareness all combine with the above to merit a first-tier ranking”.

In Chambers and Partners 2011 he is ranked as a leading new Silk in Health and Safety. Interviewees describe him as “an old fashioned jury advocate with excellent knowledge of his subject and a great feel for his cases”. “A seasoned defender of international blue-chip companies in fatality cases, he is a tireless performer”.

In Chambers and Partners 2012 he is ranked as a leading Silk in Health and Safety. He is admired by peers for “the flamboyance with which he presents his cases.” He is a specialist in numerous fields and has notable expertise of the rail and aviation sectors. His health and safety practice has led him to undertake the defence of many corporate manslaughter prosecutions. Solicitors say: “He is exceptional as he is both very good with clients and very good at keeping a team together.”

In Legal Experts 2011 he is ranked as a leading new Silk in Consumer and Health and Safety and in May Gerard was awarded a Finance Monthly Law Award 2011. These prestigious awards span many different fields and jurisdictions throughout the legal world. Gerard was voted as a winner in the Health and Safety category. Andrew Palmer of Finance Monthly, observed that “The 2011 Finance Monthly Law Awards recognise all those firms [and individuals] that have dedicated their resources to innovation, built on their depth of expertise and performed outstandingly over the year.”

He has been involved in over 250 fatality cases and has appeared in the vast majority of major cases in this field in the last ten years. He also acts for the Environment Agency on policy issues.

In the last four years he has been ranked in no fewer than five areas in both the leading independent directories including:

Gerard is also:

 

Gerard has been involved in over 250 fatality cases and has appeared in the vast majority of pivotal cases in this field in the last ten years, including:

Overall, Gerard acts for the defence in approximately 10 - 20% of all fatality prosecutions in the UK. He has also acted in over 150 Jury Inquests both in the UK and overseas.

His client list includes:

Gerard also lectures and writes:

After taking Silk in March 2010, Gerard has been involved in over eleven fatality cases. In May 2010 and in January 2012 (Inquest) he acted for Thyssen Krupp in a lift fatality case in the city of London. Inter alia acting for three large local authorities. All of these are high profile matters.

He has also been retained in other global matters involving catastrophic incidents. These include cases involving fatalities in construction, aviation, gas, agriculture, mining and swimming pools.

The Second Edition of his book “Corporate Liability: Work Related Deaths and Criminal Prosecutions” (Bloomsbury) was published in 2010.  He has also published a number of articles and book chapters including one in the new book “Cases That Changed Our Lives” by Lexis Nexis in October 2010. This was about the case of R v Morgan entitled “Red Lights Spell Danger”. Gerard had acted in the successful appeal.

He has also lectured and or consulted in the last two years in over fifteen countries, including the USA, Australia, Canada, China, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the Middle East.

Gerard was invited recently, together with the Chief Executive of Zurich, to participate in a debate with Lord Young at the inaugural seminar on the Coalition Government’s proposed changes to the regulatory regime. He has also recently been requested to respond to the proposals of Professor Löfstedt.

 

February 2012