IN A RAIN OF DUST, death, deceit, and the lawyer who busted big asbestos

344pp., illus., hardback, d.w., John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2025

ISBN: 9781421451602

An account of British lawyer Richard Meer's successful nine-year battle to hold accountable a British mining company called Cape.  For nearly 90 years Cape used local labour to mine and mill asbestos in South Africa, leading to appalling levels of disease and death.

"Holding large multinational enterprises liable for the harms they cause is one of the great human rights challenges of our time. David Kinley's beautifully written book is a harrowing but also hopeful story of human suffering and human perseverance, and it deserves to be widely read. Most importantly, the book serves as a powerful reminder of why access to justice matters everywhere." Kate O'Regan, Director, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford

"I welcome with great enthusiasm David Kinley's account of Richard Meeran's relentless pursuit of justice on behalf of victims of asbestos-related diseases. In a Rain of Dust is a captivating exploration of a case that opened up opportunities for universal litigation to hold multinational corporations to account for human rights violations." Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

David Kinley is Chair of Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney, a founding member of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, and an Expert Member of Doughty Street Chambers in London. He is the author of The Liberty Paradox: Living with the responsibilities of freedom; Necessary Evil: How to fix finance by saving human rights; and Civilising Globalisation: Human rights and the global economy.