Ryan Dunleavy, who died peacefully on 23 March 2026, surrounded by his family at the age of 52, was a man of wider sympathies and interests than this short tribute can fully capture.
Raised in Harrogate and educated at Ampleforth and the University of Edinburgh, where he read history, Ryan always took pride in being a Yorkshireman. He had a passion for martial arts and kickboxing and competed at county level in competitions, regularly supported by his mother and aunt. His father, whose intelligence he greatly admired, excelled at poker; Ryan saw parallels with his own work, but was more drawn to people and their foibles than to the hard logic of odds or the black letter of the law alone.
With a keen interest in the power of words, Ryan embarked on his first career as a journalist, working for the Mail, the Telegraph, and The Lawyer. These experiences left him with a lasting enthusiasm for publicity and media law. Inspired by those he interviewed, he talked his way into a training contract at Carter-Ruck, before working in-house at the Daily Mail, Evening Standard and the Metro.
He spent 10 years as national head of media litigation at Thompsons, where he conducted his first group litigation cases. This was followed by a gap year in Buenos Aires, where he learned Spanish and then a spell as head of media litigation at MW Solicitors.
Ryan then briefly became Group Legal Adviser at dmg media, where he was, among other things, the embedded lawyer at MailOnline, advising the editor and publisher in daily meetings. He later joined Stewarts to work with Patrick Dunaud as co-head of the media disputes department. Mr Dunaud, a big character Ryan had been looking forward to working with, sadly died soon after Ryan joined. This affected him deeply, and he left the firm shortly afterwards.
Reflecting on this phase of his career in libel law with a colleague, Ryan once said: ‘I’ve acted for a number of billionaires. I’ve acted for A-list actors and reality TV stars. I’ve also represented soap opera actors and other celebrities… and politicians up to Cabinet level… sports personalities and journalists’. Unusually for this kind of puff, it was all true.
His final move, in 2021, was to Harcus Parker, where he led the technology, media and communications litigation practice. He came to privacy work from libel, recognising the commercial opportunities presented by GDPR to protect clients’ interests. In that sense, it was a natural extension of his earlier work in libel and reputation management.
The unflappable calmness of manner noted by opponents, colleagues and the top legal directories may have reflected his long-standing interest in meditation, developed during his time studying at the School of Meditation in Holland Park. It may equally have stemmed from his sense that there was a rich world beyond the law, and from a career that spanned very different legal environments, giving him a breadth of perspective that made him a more rounded, empathetic and perceptive lawyer.
In the later stages of his career, he developed a strong belief in privacy and in the risks posed by surveillance capitalism. This led him to read widely on the digital world, cryptocurrencies and Big Tech. Friends sometimes found that, to contact him, they needed to use Signal, as he regarded WhatsApp as less discreet - not that he had anything to hide!
He increasingly saw group litigation on behalf of ‘ordinary’ people, rather than the rarefied clientele of earlier years, as a vocation. This was despite - or perhaps because of - the frustrations of securing funding from investors with more purely financial motivations. There was something in it, if not quite of gambling, then at least an assessment of uncertain outcomes; and something democratic too. He was primarily interested in supporting clients in what were often uneven struggles against far larger commercial interests.
Despite outward success, Ryan retained a restless curiosity and was always seeking new challenges. It was typical of him that, working with Assersons, he spearheaded the Student Group Claim at Harcus Parker, acting for around 200,000 students seeking refunds of tuition fees allegedly overpaid during Covid. Faced with a novel claim, the difficulty of persuading hard-nosed funders to support it, and significant logistical hurdles, he nevertheless chose to pursue it. In his final weeks, he took some satisfaction from the group’s settlement with UCL.
Ryan was taken ill suddenly at work in November 2023 and was later diagnosed with a brain tumour. Given only weeks to live, he refused to accept the prognosis. Instead, he radically altered his diet and undertook his own research into treatment options, travelling to Germany to pursue innovative therapies. Throughout, he remained steadfast in his determination to extend his life for the sake of his family.
Despite the many painful procedures and challenges he faced, Ryan never complained and continued to smile and laugh throughout, right to the very end. His courage was an inspiration.
Ryan will be greatly missed by his many friends, both within and beyond the profession, and by his family, who meant everything to him. He is survived by his wife, his children, his parents, his sister, and his nephews.
This tribute was written by Damon Parker, senior partner of Harcus Parker
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