Caroline May

Practice Areas

Caroline May is a specialist environment and health and safety lawyer based in London. She is head of our environment, planning and health and safety practice for Europe, Middle East and Asia. She is the firm's first sustainability partner.

Caroline joined our London practice as a partner in 2006. She was previously head of safety, health and environment at another leading law firm and has been a specialist environmental and health and safety lawyer for over 35 years. Caroline has worked on a number of precedent making cases and is recognised as a leading expert by Legal 500, the Chambers Directory and the Guide to the World’s Leading Environmental Lawyers. The team was ESG Law Firm of the Year at the IJ Awards 2021.

Caroline has extensive experience of both contentious and non-contentious environmental law. In particular, she has great experience in urban regeneration and brownfield site projects. She has been involved in some of the largest pieces of toxic tort litigation in the UK involving dioxin emissions from chemical waste incineration and methane emissions from landfill waste sites and the UK's longest running groundwater contamination case. She advises trade and industry groups on larger projects and has been involved in a number of harbourside and city centre regeneration projects. She is regularly involved in advising on sustainability issues ioncluding onsite renewable energy projects, carbon controls and energy performance schemes and corporate reporting. Her work has involved liaison with government, relevant regulatory authorities, NGOs and lobby groups. She has a specialism in environmental indemnity insurance.

Caroline has extensive experience of contentious and non-contentious health and safety and product liability law. In particular, she has specific experience in the food and food processing sector and in occupational health and safety matters. Our team provides a 24/7 incident response service for clients. She has represented large corporate organisations in the defence of prosecutions pursuant to the Health and Safety at Work Act/Corporate Manslaughter Act for fatal accidents and serious injuries, including the potential defence of personal liabilities for officers/senior managers of the companies concerned. She is also extensively experienced in relation to asbestos cases and industrial accidents/food contamination/food labelling issues.

Caroline has specific experience of product liability/product recall in the following industries: Food processing (ready meals), baby milk, confectionary, bottled water/orange juice products, veterinary and medical products and equipment and industrial batteries. Her product recall experience includes worldwide and pan-European product recall and associated insurance related liabilities. She has also advised a number of large catering concerns regarding contract catering and hotels.

Caroline sat on National Council for the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA) and Noise Consultative Committee for 6 years. She is a Freeman of the City of London and holds National Institute for Trial Advocacy Diploma (NITA). In 1996 Caroline was awarded the Roscoe Prize by the Institute of Energy for paper entitled Compliance of the Courts. The prize was presented by Sir Crispin Tickell and David Jefferies, Chairman of National Grid Company Plc.