Carter-Ruck

Partner specialising in media and reputation management as well as commercial dispute resolution. Noteworthy cases include: representing Kate and Gerry McCann – securing for them an unprecedented four front-page apologies from national newspapers together with damages of £550,000; representing numerous individuals falsely linked with terrorist plots (obtaining numerous broadcast and printed apologies and damages totalling over £700,000); representing Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) in numerous successful libel complaints. Other clients include various national governments and heads of state, political figures and multinational corporations.

Alasdair Pepper

Alasdair is one of the most experienced media lawyers in the business. He is viewed as having ‘a no-nonsense style, gets things done and clients like him’. Alasdair is the architect behind the firm’s successful conditional fee agreement (’no win, no fee’) scheme, and negotiated the ATE insurance now offered with it. He also devised the firm’s MediaAlert service, through which the firm helps clients deal with unwanted press interest. Past and present clients of Alasdair are diverse, and include: multinational and national companies, chairmen and managing directors from a range of industry sectors; some of the wealthiest businessmen in England; members of the royal family; members of the House of Lords, MPs and MEPs; judges, barristers and solicitors; Human Rights campaigners; film directors, actors and actresses; The Football Association, Premiership football clubs, chairmen of football clubs and Premiership footballers; newspapers and book publishers. He has obtained six figure damages for several of his clients, for example, £150,999 for Kevin Keegan. Alasdair has spoken at conferences around the world.

Antonia Foster

Antonia specialises in media litigation and reputation management, as well as in commercial litigation. Her clients include private individuals, MPs, members of European royal families, as well as other high-profile business people, professionals and celebrities. She has been described in the Chambers UK Guide to the Legal Profession as “completely unflappable” and is noted for her “devotion and ability to put complex issues into layman’s terms”.In addition, Antonia has been named in The Best Lawyers Guide 2018, as one of the Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom in the practice area of Defamation Law. Antonia has secured numerous apologies and settlements for clients in her media practice. Where it has not been possible to reach settlement at an early stage Antonia has extensive experience in taking matters to trial. She is also very experienced in acting for clients pre-publication or broadcast. As part of her commercial practice Antonia, has been involved in the successful resolution of mis-selling claims against financial institutions, multi-jurisdictional disputes, as well as in professional negligence claims. She also lectures in defamation law and reputation management.

Cameron Doley

Cameron is the Senior Partner at Carter-Ruck. He works in the firm's international law practice, specialising in litigation and dispute resolution and regulatory matters involving an international or diplomatic context. His clients include a significant number of governments, heads of state and leading political figures from across the world, as well as commercial entities and individuals requiring specialist advice on international issues. In addition to many years conducting litigation in the High Court in London, Cameron has experience of matters proceeding before the United Nations, the ECJ and the ECHR, and Carter-Ruck's international law group is currently involved in cases that are progressing in the national courts of more than a dozen countries located across the globe, including sanctions-related cases arising out of the events of 9/11. He headed the international team responsible for the investigation into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and in 2014 was the solicitor to the inquiry into the torture and murder of prisoners by the Syrian regime. He also represented the State of Qatar successfully in a recent LCIA arbitration. He advises the Qatar 2022 World Cup Committee and AI Jazeera Media Network for whom he is bringing a Bilateral Investment Treaty claim against Egypt. Twenty six years at Carter-Ruck have given Cameron extensive experience of dealing with the UK and international media and he is able to apply the reputation management expertise he has acquired not merely in pursuing claims directly against the media but also in managing media interest in matters involving other parties.

Charles Enderby Smith

Charlie is a partner at Carter-Ruck. He regularly advises on international law, commercial and media disputes. He maintains a leading practice in international sanctions, spanning international administrative and judicial challenges before various tribunals including the authorities and courts of the EU, the UK, the US and the UN. Charlie maintains a pioneering sanctions practice, with his cases often testing new rules and legislation, and establishing important principles of law. He is highlighted as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500, where he is also referred to as a “future superstar”. As well as maintaining a strong public international law practice (most notably through his work on international sanctions) Charlie regularly advises on contractual, banking, company law, harassment, libel, privacy and wider media disputes (both pre- and post-publication); more often than not in an international and multi-jurisdictional context. His client base includes high-profile, celebrity, corporate and high and ultra-high net worth individuals. Charlie’s views are often sought by media outlets as an authority on sanctions, and he has written widely on this topic and others. Charlie’s qualities include great attention to detail, strategic and creative thinking and a highly sympathetic approach to clients and their specific concerns.

Claire Gill

Claire is a partner at Carter-Ruck and has over 20 years’ experience as a High Court litigator. Claire’s practice focuses on defamation and privacy, in addition to data protection and protection from harassment. Claire also undertakes complex High Court commercial litigation, including claims for professional negligence and financial mis-selling. MEDIA Claire recently led the ground-breaking litigation against Google which established the so-called ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ in England and Wales. The court ordered Google to delist results about a man’s past conviction from searches against his name, upholding his claim for breach of data protection rights and misuse of private information. The case addressed what the judge called ‘novel questions which have never yet been considered in this court.’ For this, Claire was named ‘Lawyer of the Week’ in The Times newspaper. Claire has worked on a wide variety of cases, including complex libel litigation to trial and in the appellate courts (for example Berezovsky v Fridman, in which a jury awarded Mr Berezovsky £50,000 in damages and Berezovsky v Terluk (in which Mr Berezovsky was awarded £150,000 in libel damages), defending a Twitter libel, and numerous claims against various national newspapers and broadcasters. Recently, Claire acted for Impresa Publishing SA, a leading Portuguese publisher defending a libel claim brought by a Portuguese-Angolan national whose claim was struck out as an abuse of process. Claire’s clients include politicians, celebrities, business people, professionals and academics. She likes to work with her clients to find practical solutions to their problems. She has considerable experience in reputation management, providing urgent trouble-shooting advice pre-publication or pre-broadcast and, often working alongside PR advisors, she gives discreet advice to companies and high-profile individuals on how to deal with unwanted media scrutiny generally. Claire maintains a broad media practice extending to advice on passing off and trade mark infringement and regularly gives lectures and conducts seminars on the subject of defamation and privacy and reputation management. COMMERCIAL Claire has acted on behalf of a large number of individuals and businesses against banks relating to the mis-selling of derivative products. In 2014, she acted for a company in liquidation in a claim for professional negligence against the company’s former solicitors, which resulted in a payment in damages of £10m. Claire is a member of the business advisory board of the School of Business and Law at the University of East London.

Dominic Garner

Dominic's principal focus is on Media Litigation. He has acted in many high-profile defamation cases, securing prominent apologies and damages from publishers from the UK press, including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and Daily Mail, as well as online and international publishers. Dominic also has expertise of privacy and data protection law, particularly in advising individuals in cases involving the protection of Article 8 privacy rights, and rights arising under UK data protection legislation. He worked on the ground-breaking cases NT1 v Google LLC and NT2 v Google LLC which established the so-called ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ in England and Wales, the High Court ordering that web search results referring to a businessman’s spent conviction should be blocked from Google. He has also pursued a number of claims against organisations that operate diligence databases – such as World-Check – or otherwise provide business intelligence and risk management services, on behalf of clients seeking the erasure of out-of-date or inaccurate information, and allegations, published in a due diligence context. Dominic also has extensive experience in advising on pre-publication matters. On behalf of individuals and corporate clients in retail, healthcare and professional services, he has secured the amendment or complete withdrawal of defamatory allegations before their intended broadcast or publication in the national press, often working closely with clients’ public relations advisers to respond swiftly and effectively to journalists’ enquiries. Dominic’s media litigation and commercial disputes practices serve clients in a wide range of sectors including consumer industries, retail, healthcare, media, government and professional services.

François Holmey

François is a Senior Associate at Carter-Ruck. He has a wide-ranging practice in public international law, international human rights, international sanctions, commercial and investment arbitration, business and human rights, ESG and international environmental law. He also advises on media, intellectual property and commercial matters. François has substantial experience in public international law and international dispute resolution, including ICSID, ICC, UNCITRAL and ad hoc arbitrations, and matters before the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. He also has significant experience of litigation in the EU courts, both in the General Court and the Court of Justice, as well as the English courts, including the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. He has also acted in other dispute resolution forums, such as the Advertising Standards Authority and the EU and UK Intellectual Property Offices. Prior to joining Carter-Ruck, François worked for a leading international law firm. He has done pro bono work for the Varda Group, Just Fair, the Free Representation Unit, the Waterloo Legal Advice Service and Lawyers Without Borders, and has previously interned with UNESCO.

Guy Martin

Guy Martin is a Consultant and head of the International and European Law Group at Carter-Ruck. He specialises in complex litigation in the courts of England, the Court of Justice of the European Union, before the United Nations Ombudsperson and other international tribunals. He has spearheaded the department from a standing start to what Chambers Directory (2015) describes as “Renowned for its distinct expertise in sanctions against states and targeted asset freezing against individuals, and for its involvement in highly sensitive cases. Strong track record in the Middle East and Africa, notably in matters relating to the Arab Spring”. As a solicitor advocate Guy practises in the field of public international law, administrative law, European law, international litigation, dispute resolution and regulatory cases often involving human rights with an international or diplomatic context. Guy’s clients include commercial entities and individuals who have challenged asset freezing measures, or “targeted sanctions”, by means of judicial review applications in England, direct actions for annulment to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and before the United Nations Ombudsperson, OFAC and other agencies. Described by Legal 500 as “excellent” for his “intelligence and skills”, Guy has acted for clients before the European courts including clients from Syria , Tunisia , Burma (Myanmar) , Zimbabwe and Egypt. Guy acted for Burmese national Pye Phyo Tay Za both in his action before the Luxembourg General Court and subsequent successful appeal in 2012 to the Grand Chamber of the ECJ, in which Guy instructed the legendary Sir Sydney Kentridge QC. Guy led the team for Saudi Arabian businessman Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Kadi, in his efforts to overturn asset freezing orders. In its 2008 judgment the ECJ delivered a landmark decision in favour of Mr. Kadi and struck down EU asset freezing regulations on the ground they breached Mr. Kadi’s fundamental rights. It was as a result of this judgment that the UN Security Council in December 2009 created the Office of the Ombudsperson, an independent and impartial Ombudsperson, who reviews requests from individuals, groups, undertakings or entities seeking to be removed from the UN Sanctions Committee’s list. The ECJ’s judgment in this case, which has become known as Kadi I, has been described by leading academic commentators as “the most important judgment ever delivered by the ECJ on the relationship between EC and international law and one of its most important judgments on fundamental rights”. Guy was successful in securing the delisting of Yassin Kadi in October 2012 by the UN Sanctions Committee and in November 2014 (after 13 years) by OFAC.

James Watkins

James is a solicitor practising in the Media Litigation and Commercial Litigation teams. He has worked on a variety of reputation management issues relating to defamation, misuse of private information, data protection, blackmail and harassment on behalf of business figures, politicians, “influencers”, private individuals and companies. Much of James’ work involves complaints relating to social media platforms whether that be complaints to the platform itself or action against other platform users. His media experience includes acting in pre-publication and post-publication matters in respect of local, national and international publications, broadcasts and press inquiries, often working alongside the client’s PR advisers.

Lawrence Northmore-Ball

Lawrence is a Senior Associate at Carter-Ruck. He acts for both claimants and defendants across Carter-Ruck’s core practice areas, international law, media and commercial disputes. He advises domestic and international clients on international commercial arbitration, investment arbitration and litigation before the courts of England and a variety of other jurisdictions. His practice focuses on international litigation and arbitration matters, including ICSID, LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL and other investment-treaty and commercial arbitration. Lawrence also has experience of managing overseas litigation on behalf of clients. Lawrence also has considerable experience advising clients on issues with an international law dimension, including complaints under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and advising on television broadcast licensing and regulatory arrangements in the EU and EEA post-Brexit. As a Russian speaker, Lawrence frequently advises on matters with a Russia/CIS dimension. Lawrence has advised on commercial litigation cases in the English Courts and has considerable experience of advising on media and defamation matters.

Mathilde Groppo

Mathilde is a Senior Associate in the Media Litigation group. Her practice encompasses all aspects of Media law. As part of her defamation and reputation management practice, Mathilde advises both claimants and defendants, individuals, charities and corporations, often acting against multiple defendants. She has been the lead associate in a number of recent media cases, and assisted on various successful injunctions. She is highlighted as a Rising Star in the Legal 500. She represents clients both at the pre-publication stage and after publication, obtaining injunctions, corrections and apologies, as well as statements in open court and statements summarising judgments and orders. In her recent cases, she has obtained the publication of various apologies and corrections, and several payments of 5 figure and 6 figure damages for her clients. Mathilde has also successfully obtained interim injunctions which were converted into permanent undertakings to the Court and into a permanent injunction following an application for summary judgment. She has acted against private individuals, social media platforms and a variety of publishers including the Daily Mail and MailOnline, the Mirror, Express Newspapers, the Guardian, the Times and the BBC, as well as foreign newspapers in both English proceedings and multi-jurisdictional matters. She also deals with complaints to IPSO and assists on media law issues arising in arbitration proceedings As part of her privacy practice, Mathilde regularly acts for clients in anonymised proceedings involving misuse of private information, breach of confidence, blackmail and harassment, both in the High Court and in arbitrations. She obtains urgent injunctions for celebrities, leading business figures, politicians and others, restraining breaches of privacy, in litigation and arbitration matters, and secures the removal of sensitive material from the internet. She also advises on confidentiality provisions within settlement agreements, and drafts and advises on non-disclosure agreements. Mathilde’s data protection practice involves work asserting the Right to Be Forgotten, from the initial stages of online removal of search results and links through to court proceedings against search engines, as well as complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office. She also advises on rights and obligations arising from the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, including subject access rights. Mathilde also has experience in contentious and non-contentious intellectual property and information technology cases and general litigation matters. She regularly publishes expert commentary on recent legal developments, including in the national and legal press. Mathilde is a pro bono legal adviser at the Waterloo Legal Advice Service.

Miranda Rushton

Miranda advises on matters with an international law or diplomatic dimension including UN, EU and domestic sanctions-related matters. She also has experience of investor-state arbitration, international commercial arbitration, and commercial litigation in the English High Court and internationally. Miranda has represented and advised many clients who have challenged the imposition of targeted sanctions in a range of fora including the General Court and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg and before the United Nations Office of the Ombudsperson in New York, as well as through less formal engagement with relevant agencies. She is currently acting for individuals subject to EU sanctions imposed in the wake of the Arab Spring, including representing them before the Court of Justice of the European Union in applications to annul these sanctions. Miranda has coordinated international efforts by Saudi Arabian businessman and philanthropist Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Kadi to overturn targeted sanctions made in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Miranda advised Mr Kadi in relation to his de-listing petition to the UN Ombudsperson which resulted in UN Security Council Sanctions against him being lifted in October 2012. Miranda also advised Mr Kadi on his second successful annulment application to the Court of Justice of the EU against the EU restrictive measures imposed upon him. The ECJ gave judgment in favour of Mr Kadi in July 2013, confirming the General Court’s annulment of the EU restrictive measures imposed upon him. The Kadi case has generated widespread comment about the relationship between International and European Law, and is considered to be the landmark decision of the European Courts in the law relating to sanctions. Miranda is currently advising Mr Kadi in relation to related civil litigation in the Southern District of New York.

Nigel Tait

Nigel is the Managing Partner at Carter-Ruck. He is also the head of the Media Department. His main area of practice is media law, acting mainly for claimants. Cases of interest include Beta Construction -v- Channel 4 (award of £568,000 - highest ever libel award paid to a company); Telnikoff -v- Matusevitch (first libel case to go to the House of Lords for over a decade - award of £240,000); acted for successful party (PJS) in PJS -v- News Group Newspapers (first case in which Supreme Court has given Judgement on an interim application restraining a breach of privacy); Jack Slipper -v- BBC (£50,000 damages - leading case on liability for republication); X -v- Y (settlement of £200,000 plus costs); Jonathan Hunt (aged 6) -v- The Sun (settlement of £35,000 plus costs to mother and son - youngest ever libel plaintiff); Farargay -v- Al Hayat (award of £170,000 plus costs); Scholar -v- Mail (award of £100,000 plus costs); Gorman -v- Mudd (award of £150,000 plus costs); Morelli -v- Sunday Times (award of £45,000 plus costs - first conditional fee libel action to go to trial); Kirby Harris -v- Baxter (leading case on trial by jury); Victor Kiam -v- Sunday Times (£45,000 plus costs - upheld by the Court of Appeal); Shah -v- Standard Chartered Bank (leading case on reasonable grounds to suspect); Kiam -v- The Mirror (award of £105,000 plus costs - upheld by the Court of Appeal); Walker -v- Newcastle Chronicle (settlement of £100,000 plus costs); Rahamim -v- Channel 4 and Ors (Settlement of £175,000 plus costs and broadcast apology on Channel 4 news); X -v- Sunday Sport (injunction to restrain publication obtained within two hours of receiving instructions); Y -v- Sunday Sport and Anor (injunction in the new tort of privacy resulting in the pulping of 40,000 copies of a magazine); Rahamim -v- Dennis Publishing (settlement of £30,000 plus costs during first “offer of amends” trial). Acted for Sir Elton John against the Sunday Times, Mirror and Mail (who apologised to Sir Elton and paid £100,000 in damages plus costs). Acted for City banker Piotr Tymula in his successful defence of a libel action brought by former colleague Svetlana Lokhova. Nigel has obtained numerous injunctions preventing breaches of privacy and has spoken at the Oxford Union Debating Society on three occasions on the reform of libel and privacy laws.

Persephone Bridgman Baker

Persephone is a partner at Carter-Ruck and specialises in media and reputation management work, encompassing defamation, privacy and harassment, together with data protection and intellectual property litigation. She advises on reputation management matters for celebrity, high-profile and ultra and high net worth individuals, including misuse of private information and harassment. Increasingly this work involves social media and online harms. Persephone also works on both pre-publication and post-publication matters against a variety of news publishers in a wide variety of divergent subject areas including entertainment, politics, healthcare, and anti-terrorism. She has experience of “Right to be Forgotten” cases concerning the removal of information online, and the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR and the interplay between these and general reputation management matters. Persephone’s litigation experience has also included breach of confidence and trade secrets disputes, including cases involving aspects of corporate fraud.

Rebecca Toman

Rebecca is a partner at Carter-Ruck. She acts for UK and non UK HNW and UHNWIs, politicians, entrepreneurs, celebrities and high profile business people providing both contentious and non-contentious advisory services concerning business and personal assets. She protects their welfare and livelihoods through the provision of discreet legal guidance on a myriad of complex and sensitive reputation protection, dispute resolution, data and cyber security issues. She is also very experienced in dealing with complex multi-jurisdictional matters. Rebecca is highly recommended within the industry having obtained significant damages, secured numerous injunctions, takedowns, apologies, corrections and securing the removal of digital content. Rebecca works with her clients to help devise personal, private office and commercial strategies and security policies to protect their businesses and reputation from attack. This includes working with her clients’ existing public relations and in house communication teams and effective external consultants and organisations when necessary. Rebecca’s practice encompasses: defamation and privacy –pre and post publication and broadcast matters including the obtaining of injunctions all aspects of media law reputation protection, risk & crisis management digital and data privacy - including internet takedown work dispute resolution non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) asset protection employment advice including confidentiality provisions within settlement agreements.

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