Two tribunal setbacks in a week should prompt the Solicitors Regulation Authority to step back from its three-year-old assault on so-called SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) practices, a leading media lawyer has said. Iain Wilson, managing partner of media firm Brett Wilson and vice chair of The Society of Media Lawyers, insisted that the ‘regulatory assault’ on defamation lawyers is doing more harm than good.
Wilson issued that plea in the Gazette just before Christmas. A month on, and it is now three defeats for the SRA. Earlier this week, a senior City lawyer fined £50,000 after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found he had breached the rules by sending a ‘without prejudice’ email to former Clifford Chance tax chief Dan Neidle has successfully overturned the decision. His solicitor, our Lawyer in the News (p12), notes ominously: [‘These] issues are of constitutional importance, since they touch upon access to justice and fundamental ways in which solicitors may conduct their practice.’
It gets worse for the enforcers at the Cube. As we reported, the Carter-Ruck partner whose alleged SLAPP disciplinary case was dismissed is now pursuing the SRA for £1m in costs – a sanction which the regulator has warned would have a ‘chilling’ effect on its ability to take on media lawyers in the future. Defamation lawyers are formidable and well-resourced adversaries. It goes with the territory.
What if she wins? How long could the SRA continue to throw a sizeable chunk of its budget at pursuing SLAPP cases, especially when no one seems to agree precisely what a ‘SLAPP’ is? Ultimately, solicitors pick up the tab for its sleuthing.
New SRA chief Sarah Rapson could really do with some help from the government, after much prevarication on SLAPPs at Westminster. Lord chancellor David Lammy, a keen advocate of tougher laws on SLAPPs while in opposition, confirmed last month that the government still intends to take further steps, once again raising the prospect of further legislation. But this was the first time he had done so for months.
As with this week’s feeble capitulation on statutory audit reform, one wonders whether this is another fight with professional vested interests that Labour has no stomach for.
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