If defamation threatens your name, your privacy’s been compromised or your copyright’s been infringed, we’ll protect your reputation – in public, in print and online. We aim to give you fast, robust advice. We will seek to get material taken down, and to secure corrections and apologies. And if going to court is the only way to prevent publication or clear your name, we’ll start proceedings.
If you’re a publisher, we’ll support your right to speak out, to obtain information (including from public authorities and the courts) and report on the issues you uncover. We will seek to clear what you want to put out, against the law and any relevant regulatory codes (including the Ofcom Broadcasting code), and seek to give you realistic practical advice on the risks. If things have gone wrong we will defend you in court or before the regulator.
We recognise that whoever you are, we may need to move very swiftly to protect your position.
Relevant work for those seeking to publish information
Helping expose corporate wrongdoing
Before charities or campaign groups such as Amnesty International, Action Aid, Shelter publish articles exposing controversial practices, they may seek our advice. We help to ensure their reports are accurate, in the public interest, and won’t lead to costly defamation or IP infringement claims.
Uncovering information
Using the Freedom of Information Act, we helped historian Andrew Lownie to secure publication by the University of Southampton of the diaries and letters of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, blocked by the Cabinet Office. believed to be the largest amount of information released pursuant to a FOIA request.
Protecting media sources
We advised a source for stories in the national media about the predatory sexual activities of an MP, balancing the source’s desire for confidentiality against their desire to see the media successfully defend an action for libel and privacy brought by the MP. The MP’s action was abandoned after service of witness statements, before trial.
Defending and resolving libel claims
We acted for The Sunday Times and its journalists, David Walsh and Alan English, in helping successfully to resolve a claim for deceit against Lance Armstrong in relation to monies paid out in the cyclist’s earlier libel action against the paper and its journalists.
Keeping costs down
We acted for The Times in the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights in a case which resulted in the Government conceding that success fees should not be recoverable from publishers in defamation and privacy cases. The decision affected the whole media landscape and was a victory for freedom of speech.
Work to protect reputations and confidential information
Securing apologies
We represented Prince Nayef in High Court litigation when the Independent and Robert Fisk accused him of ordering the police to shoot protestors in the Arab Spring. The newspaper apologised and paid damages.
Tracing online wrongdoers
We acted for a City analyst to track down who was posting false profiles of them online, portraying them as an adulterous antisemite. We commenced a claim in defamation, harassment, privacy and false attribution against persons unknown, obtaining disclosure orders against Microsoft, BT, Twitter, Facebook and a recruitment platform, to trace the culprit. The evidence was provided to the police, who were able to recover the culprit’s computer and prosecute. Subsequently we brought a successful civil action for defamation, harassment and false attribution to obtain an apology and recover all the client’s costs.
Protecting confidential information
We secured a High Court injunction on behalf of the Advertising Standards Authority against publication by a complainant of confidential communications mistakenly emailed to him, carefully negotiating the challenges of dealing with a litigant in person.
