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Jo is a partner and leads the media and reputation team in London.
Jo has over 20 years' experience of looking after the reputation and privacy of some of the world's most well-known individuals and businesses.'Jo Sanders is highly experienced and very skilled in the area'. 'She has fantastic knowledge of the space and always understands the ultimate aims of the matters at hand, and is a great problem solver'. (Chambers HNW 2023).
Her practice comprises all aspects of reputation and privacy law, such as libel, misuse of private information and breach of confidence,cyber-hacking media regulatory codes, and protection from harassment. Her practice is constantly innovating to tailor advice to new situations and new threats to information use. Reflecting the expansion of the global trade in information, Jo's practice has grown to include contentious data protection, including litigation over data subject access rights and data breach compensation claims.
Jo was previously a news journalist and PR adviser before becoming a media litigator.
Inquiries
Jo's work in representing clients in Inquiries began with the Leveson Inquiry into the ethics, standards and culture of the press which was held in 2011 and 2012. Before Mr Justice Leveson, she represented a corporate client and advised on the preparation of witness evidence, a complete disclosure exercise and attendance at the judicial hearing. The evidence gave rise to some complex confidentiality issues regarding an employee of the business who had engaged in wrongdoing unknown to the business and there had been a resulting investigation and disciplinary process. This is Jo's particular expertise of legal issues arising from information handling. The Leveson Inquiry report was complimentary about the client, finding that it had shown a model of ethical corporate behaviour.More recently Jo has advised witnesses called to give evidence at:
- The Thirlwall Inquiry into events at the Countess of Chester Hospital
- The Grenfell Tower Inquiry
- Northern Care Alliance independent report into historic management of concerns regarding a consultant spinal surgeon
- Thurrock Council Best Value Inspection Report
- Croydon Council Penn and Kroll reports
She also advised clients on appearances before Parliamentary Select Committee hearings.
Recent recognition
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Me in a minute
I feel strongly that all individuals should have the chance to be represented in the media fairly and truthfully and there is nothing wrong with appointing knowledgeable representation to achieve that.
When I trained as a lawyer, one aspect of the study that I loved most was reading case law and that has turned out to be lucky as I qualified into one of the most fast-developing areas of law. In fact, media law cases are just as likely to be on the front pages of the newspapers, as in the legal pages which is always fun – but usually better if I am not acting in them - many clients prefer to stay under the radar and value their privacy highly.
I often see clients, both individuals and businesses, at a very low point when they are facing serious challenges to their reputation or dealing with press intrusion and it feels good to be able to provide reassurance to them at that time. That experience of ‘becoming the story’ can be out of the comfort zone of even the most accomplished and successful people, so I often work with other advisors, like in-house counsel or family office counsel, communications directors, public relations or HR, to provide a calm steadying team around the client to work through whatever challenge has arisen. It’s good to see clients weather the storm and get back to business as usual.
Although in some quarters so-called ‘libel lawyers’ have been depicted negatively, I feel strongly that all individuals should have the chance to be represented in the media fairly and truthfully and there is nothing wrong with appointing knowledgeable representation to achieve that.
One of the most frustrating aspects of my practice area is that it means I am unable to talk about many of my successes as they are all private. I think my greatest case was representing an entirely innocent victim of blackmail and protecting their anonymity throughout the legal process; the blackmailer went to prison for seven years.
Unfortunately, my work in protecting clients’ privacy has shown me some of the worst pitfalls and risks of social media so you’re unlikely to find me there!