Media and reputation lawyers

We acted for renowned UK philosopher and academic Sir Roger Scruton in his high profile battle against political and cultural magazine, The New Statesman. Following the publication of an article with a number of defamatory remarks and subsequent tweets, Sir Roger was dismissed from his position as Chairman on a government commission. With our advice, the matter culminated in a full published apology from The New Statesman, a separate apology from James Brokenshire MP who dismissed Sir Roger, as well as his reappointment to the government commission, restoring his reputation and life's work.

Represented Wawa Pictures on two international co-production agreements and advised the company on compliance with IMDA grant terms for the two international co-productions.

Representing a global marketing and advertising agency in coming to a mutual termination agreement with its CEO who has been in service for more than 20 years and assisting the company in compiling a master employment contract template for its APAC region. 

We acted for a party whose confidential and commercially sensitive information was unlawfully obtained by an unknown party.  We advised on steps taken to expose the wrongdoers and in relation to a potential conspiracy claim.

We defended a business from a claim of defamation and malicious falsehood brought by a competitor business. It is increasingly common for businesses to find themselves in an 'information war' and we can help them ensure that their communications are lawful.

 

Working with our employment team, we represented a Middle Eastern national in respect of reputational advice regarding a settlement agreement. This included detailed advice on confidentiality undertakings and ensuring the enforceability of the agreement.

We represented a businessman based in the Middle East in relation to bringing urgent injunctive proceedings against an individual in the UK. The claim included elements of harassment, breach of confidence, misuse of private information and breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998. We successfully obtained undertakings in the form of the Order which we had applied for to stop the campaign of harassment over social media against our client.

We assisted a Russian client wrongly classified as a politically exposed person ('PEP') working with his German law firm. His incorrect classification led to financial and reputational harm not to mention the delay caused while he was forced to produce substantial due diligence ahead of potential business deals. We liaised with the third-party organisation who had categorized our client as a PEP swiftly to ensure they understood the complexities of the background and the true position. His PEP-status was removed, mitigating the damage caused by clearing up the misreporting and helping them update their records.

During our client's highly sensitive and hard-fought divorce, our Media and Reputation team played a key role to ensure that our client's public reputation was protected in the face of significant media interest. The team also provided counsel on communications from our client, which were required to uphold his rights in balance with the other party's.

Withers was called on to act for a well-known managing partner of an international investment firm when his reputation was under threat. Our robust approach to reputation management prevented the filing of false statements in a form U-5 (Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration) that would have had a detrimental effect on his future career and earnings.