"Grenfell cladding firm has spent £30m defending its role in disaster", 27 November 2019

The Grenfell Tower cladding manufacturer has spent £30m on lawyers and advisers defending its role in the disaster in an outlay that dwarfs the amount spent on the panels a public inquiry has determined were the main cause of fire spread.

Arconic has been spending at a rate of up to £50,000 a day on lawyers and other advisers, according to corporate filings in the US seen by the Guardian...

...it is embroiled in a criminal investigation in the UK with detectives investigating possible corporate manslaughter and manslaughter cases, a civil suit in the US for wrongful death brought by survivors and a consumer protection inquiry in France, where the subsidiary that supplied the Grenfell panels is based...

...The extent of Arconic’s legal spending will increase concern that the search for the truth about what caused the 72 deaths is turning into a lawyers’ bonanza. Bereaved and survivors, many of whom have voiced anger that Arconic is still able to trade in the UK, said it showed that the “systems are stacked against us”...

...Arconic...declined to comment, but said it was offering full support to the authorities as the UK public inquiry continues...