Steve Martin Associates

Bond Solon Qualified

Mike Gomm has over 30 years of experience working in the field of special-needs technology. His older brother, Richard, had quadriplegic cerebral palsy, giving him an insight into the everyday problems faced by families in this situation, as well as the enormous benefits technology can bring. Richard was the subject of the BBC’s Making the most of the Micro in 1983 and Microlive in 1985.

His professional career began in 1986 when he met and struck up a friendship with Steve Martin and joined Elfin Systems. Here, they worked on very specialist wheelchair control systems, ‘first-to-market’ communication aids and pioneering products that brought the power of computing to people who had very severe physical disabilities and communication problems.

Mike went on to join Dolphin Systems, at the time, a start-up with a ground-breaking, but affordable, voice synthesiser. Using software, this was exploited as a communication tool for the non-vocal and as a screen reader for blind and partially sighted computer users. The business ultimately specialised in visual impairment and became one of the world’s foremost companies in the development of computer-access products for the visually impaired – a position it still holds today.

In 1998, Mike moved into the charitable sector, opening and running AbilityNet’s flagship office at Microsoft’s European HQ in Reading. The remit was to disseminate information and provide hands-on assessment services in the local community across all disability types for everything from computer access, specialist wheelchair control systems and environmental control to augmentative communication.

In 2003, Mike started his own consultancy business. As an independent consultant he worked as a disabled students’ assessor for numerous universities including Plymouth, Brunel, Roehampton and The Open University. The Department of Employment (Wales) regularly sought his assistance in relation to disabled people within the workplace, where practical advice and recommendations followed a thorough assessment.

Mike renewed his working relationship with Steve Martin at this time, producing litigation reports and helping Steve to grow the business before taking ownership of it in 2013. Since that time, Mike has focused on the production of litigation reports and building a successful consultancy.

He has worked for very many of the country’s leading law firms, personal injury lawyers and barristers. He now runs a small team of highly specialised consultants with dedicated offices and administrative support. He maintains his own case load, whilst mentoring the team and managing the day-to-day operations, including supplier liaisons and staff development.

He has prepared many hundreds of technology reports for the Court. He has a solid reputation for clear, honest advice, working with a very wide range of disabling conditions such as severe physical disability, spinal injury, traumatic brain injury, visual and hearing impairment and learning difficulties.

Mike is a 1st-Tier APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) expert and has attained the Cardiff University Expert Witness Bond Solon Certificate, having completed the following courses:

     •     Excellence in Report Writing

     •     Courtroom Skills

     •     Cross-Examination Day

     •     Civil Law and Procedure

Mike is also a contributor to the APIL Guide to Catastrophic Injury Claims (3rd edition) edited by Stuart McKechnie QC.

He holds certificates from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Links to BBC media can be found at: www.smalegal.co.uk/richard.html.

Mike Gomm @