Who? Bernard Clarke, sole practitioner and civil litigation specialist at Bernard Clarke & Co in the City.

Why is he in the news? Successfully achieved settlements in Ocober 2003 for four Paddington rail crash survivors including Pam Warren, who received severe burns to her face.

Mr Clarke has been in the news this month for speaking out against the 2 million fine ordered against Thames Trains, which will go to the Treasury

Background: CPE and Law Society Finals at Birmingham University.

Articled at Ian Gold in Birmingham, qualifying in 1987.

Joined Harris Cooper as a partner in 1987, moving to City firm SJ Berwin in 1990 and then Memery Crystal in the City in 1994.

Set up his own practice in 1999.

Route to the case: Initially acted for one rail crash victim and was then recommended to three others, and a bereaved family.

Thoughts on the case: 'When you are dealing with an industry that relies so heavily on government sponsorship, fines are inappropriate.

Even though most of the Paddington victims' claims have been settled, in the years to come there are bound to be more injured parties who will suffer financial hardship.

You would have thought the 2 million could have been used to set up a fund to alleviate that hardship.

The Health and Safety Executive could have sought a compensation order as well as a fine, but it chose not to do so.

That would have been fairer than seeing it go into government coffers.'

Dealing with the media: 'Handling the media is fine, as long as you are clear and straightforward.

Media interest has helped my clients - there was some reluctance to settle on the part of insurers and the media scrutiny prodded them into action.'