Our People
- Contentious
- Graham Briggs
- Gary Davison
- Nigel Davison
- Michael Appleby
- Brenda Flynn
- Paul Maxwell
- Non-contentious
- Colin Wilkie
Michael Appleby. Partner. Admitted as a solicitor in 1989.
Mobile No. (for criminal emergencies) - 07760 290313
Michael defended the train drivers involved in the Watford and Southall train crashes of 1996 and 1997 (charged with manslaughter and health and safety offences). Both were acquitted. He later acted in the four public inquiries that followed the Southall and the 1999 Ladbroke Grove train crashes before Professor Uff and Lord Cullen.
He acted for the rail maintenance arm of Balfour Beatty in relation to the Hatfield train derailment when the company was acquitted on all manslaughter charges. Following the company’s plea of guilty to a single health and safety breach, he subsequently acted in its successful appeal against sentence. He also represented the managing director in the leading Court of Appeal case concerning directors’ health and safety duties: R v P Ltd and another [2007] All ER (D) 173 (jul). His client was acquitted.
Michael frequently writes and lectures on health and safety issues. He writes a regular column for Safety and Health Practitioner. He is joint editor of Corporate Liability: Work Related Deaths and Criminal Prosecutions (LexisNexis 2003) with Gerard Forlin, barrister. He is the co-author with Gerard of the legal chapter in Tolley’s Handbook of Disaster and Emergency Management: Principles and Practice (2nd Edition 2004). Michael is also the author of the legal chapter in Tolley’s Guide to Employee Rehabilitation (LexisNexis 2004) and the joint author of A Guide to Health and Safety Prosecutions (Thomas Telford 2007).