Product liability

Pinsent Masons’ cross practice group team of product liability specialists can help to identify and minimise risks before problems arise. Should product defect/failure occur, the team can help to minimise regulatory and reputational exposure and achieve the best possible outcome from the incident.

Our product liability team covers the full range of product related challenges including:

• Civil claims and defence – bringing and defending financial claims for losses due to product defects (both widespread and isolated but serious) including handling quantum via our forensic accounting team
• Product regulatory compliance – keeping products lawfully on sale
• Product defects – addressing issues around fact gathering, risk assessment and control, warnings, withdrawals and recalls
• Regulatory defence – handling interfaces with trading standards, the OPSS and other relevant authorities including criminal defence
• Regulatory change – advising manufacturers and retailers on changes in relation to product compliance and standards, particularly in relation to Brexit, and on the re-organisation of supply chains and labelling to ensure that product lines remain compliant in both EU and UK post the transition period
• Wide ranging experience – our team has extensive experience of advising clients from across our sectors on all aspects of product liability and safety. That experience, gained over many years working on highly complex and some of the most high profile cases, covers a variety of products including pharma, implants, food, consumer goods and electricals, to vehicles, components, chemicals, construction products and industrials
• Broad capability – our team includes people with decades of experience in insurance, engineering, retail compliance, trading standards, accounting and more recently the Office for Product Safety and Standards