Lawyer in the news

Who? Peter Crawford, 52-year-old litigation partner, specialising in privacy, press complaints, defamation and employment law at six-partner London firm Stitt & Co.

Why is he in the news? Represented actress Amanda Holden in her successful libel action against MGN Ltd.

Ms Holden accepted undisclosed damages over untrue allegations published in the Daily Mirror's 3am column that she made 'diva-like demands' and 'threw a strop' while filming the BBC television series 'Cutting It'.

The paper admitted that the two stories - printed last year - were incorrect and had not been checked with the actress or her representatives.

Background: BA (hons) in law from Kingston Polytechnic (now Kingston University) 1972-75, followed by Law Society finals in 1976 at the College of Law at Lancaster Gate in London in 1976.

He trained with Ormerod Morris & Dumont in Croydon.

Qualified with Stitt & Co and was made a partner the same year.

Route to the case: 'I have previously acted for Ms Holden and her estranged husband Les Dennis on a number of matters, including some litigation.'

Thoughts on the case: 'Ms Holden has been in the press almost constantly since I have been acting for her - for example, I represented her in a breach of privacy case/confidence action in 2001 when the Daily Star published topless photos of her in the grounds of a private villa.

She has now drawn a line under what she is willing to tolerate in terms of intrusion into her private life or in respect of inaccurate or defamatory material published.

Even after the BBC issued a rebuttal of the first piece, which suggested that Ms Holden "acted like a prima donna", the paper went ahead and repeated the allegations in a second article.'

Dealing with the media: 'I represented Julia Carling in a successful libel case against the Daily Mail, which suggested that she was cashing in on the breakdown of her marriage to Will Carling, and in a complaint to the Press Complaints Committee over a piece by a former boyfriend in the Sun.

I also successfully acted for actor Nigel Havers over a defamatory article by his former gardener in the News of the World.

Our relationship with the media is extremely good - we tend to act for private individuals against big organisations, and if you work hand in hand with the media you often get a better result than going through the courts.'

Victoria MacCallum