Dan Hoyle > Russells Solicitors > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Russells Solicitors
YALDING HOUSE
152-156 GREAT PORTLAND STREET
LONDON
W1W 5QA
England
Dan Hoyle photo

Work Department

Litigation

Position

Partner

Career

Dan is a Partner and solicitor advocate in the firm’s litigation department. He is an experienced commercial litigator, who has acted for Presidents and asylum seekers, bankrupts and billionaires over the course of his career. Dan principally advises artists, managers, record labels and media companies.

Prior to joining Russells, Dan trained and practised for several years at one of the world’s pre-eminent disputes firms. There, he acted on some of the largest and most high profile cases around.

Dan has represented clients at all levels of the Court system, from tribunals through to the Supreme Court. He also has extensive experience of international arbitration and between 2011 and 2012 acted as Special Advisor to the Attorney General of Sierra Leone.

In recent years, Dan’s practice has increasingly focused on reputation and privacy issues and he leads the firm’s team in the long-running phone hacking litigation.

Dan’s excellent reputation is founded on his ability to quickly evaluate complex cases and the strength of the personal relationships he builds with his clients.

Case highlights:

  • Leading the phone hacking team at Russells.  Dan has advised dozens of clients on their claims against both News Group Newspapers Ltd (publisher of The Sun and The News of the World) and MGN Ltd (publisher of The Mirror, The Sunday Mirror and The People).  He has been instructed by sportsmen, actors, singers, models, music professionals and Estates.  Whilst many clients settle their claims anonymously, others have issued proceedings including Cheryl Tweedy, the Estate of Amy Winehouse, Nicola Roberts, Natalie Imbruglia and Ian Wright.  Dan has achieved successful settlements for his clients in every instance.
  • Acting for a conglomerate of leading Premier League clubs in an intervention before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
  • Acting for a well known UK rapper in privacy proceedings.  One of the major tabloids published an exclusive revealing our client on a romantic break with someone when it was not public knowledge that he was in a relationship.  Dan had the article taken down and worked to limit the damage to our client’s private life and reputation by ensuring the story was not re-published.
  • Acting on one of the first disputes to be heard in the English Courts regarding NFTs.  Dan acts for the claimant, who has brought High Court proceedings against an NFT marketplace platform regarding the auction of Beeple’s NFT ‘Abundance’.
  • Acting for bassist Pete Denton following his exit from The Kooks.
  • Advising a well-known artist on his response to claims of domestic abuse made against him by a former partner.
  • Advising a subsidiary of Warner Music Group on its defence to cross-border litigation brought against it by a foreign label.  Repeated claims were thrown out by the High Court and the label’s owner was eventually banned from bringing future proceedings as a vexatious litigant.
  • Advising a fashion designer in defence of proceedings brought against him by the liquidators following the insolvency of his company.
  • Advising labels and artists on a number of copyright infringement claims arising out of advertising campaigns.

Lawyer Rankings

London > TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Music

Considered ‘one of the absolute go-to firms‘ in the music industry, Russells Solicitors is a highly knowledgeable and experienced music boutique that excels in both non-contentious and contentious matters, assisting a host of clients – from leading British and international artists, to major record labels and music-related individuals. The team is jointly led by Simon Esplen, Gavin Maude and Steven Tregear. Esplen acts for new and established artists, managers, songwriters and other industry players, while Maude, who specialises in commercial matters, advises major artists and industry executives on an array of non-contentious issues. ‘An industry legend‘, Tregear leads the litigation team and has a wealth of experience in representing record and publishing companies, as well as artists, managers and promoters in a multitude of cases, from copyright infringement disputes to litigation involving royalty payments and defamation cases. Key support is offered by Alice Rudge and Elizabeth Scandrett, both of whom focus on high-profile music disputes. Chris Organ and Jo Brittain concentrate on advising talent, and Chris Gossage and Ryan Vince handle corporate and commercial matters in the music industry. These are also core areas of activity for Ally Horn, noted for representing award-winning bands. Recently promoted partner Dan Hoyle is the go-to for reputation and crisis management issues.

London > TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Reputation management

Well known and respected in the fields of reputation and privacy management’, the practice at Russells Solicitors is renowned for representing high-profile and high-net-worth clients – particularly from the music industry – in libel, privacy, harassment, and data protection matters with the aim of avoiding publicity. Practice head Steven Tregear, who ‘brings fantastic judgement from his years of experience in resolving disputes’, is noted for his work in phone-hacking litigation. Recently promoted partner Dan Hoyle leverages his extensive experience in commercial litigation to advise on libel claims, pre and post-publication disputes, harassment and data protection issues.