Who? Simon Smith, 37-year-old solicitor-advocate and managing partner at London firm Schillings, who specialises in claimant libel and privacy.


Why is he in the news? He represented Celebrity Big Brother housemate Danielle Lloyd, who settled a libel action against Miss Great Britain Ltd at the High Court last week, after the pageant organiser's accepted that she had not cheated her way to the Miss Great Britain title. But the deal was part of an overall settlement, the terms of which are confidential, after Miss Great Britain sued Ms Lloyd first for bringing the pageant into disrepute. Ms Lloyd, former girlfriend of footballer Teddy Sheringham, brought a counter-suit after the organisers of the beauty contest published a newspaper cutting on its website, including a headline 'Miss Cheat Britain! Miss GB is sacked for fibbing about fling with judge Teddy'. The story came after an interview in Eve Magazine, which reported that, in 2005, Ms Lloyd had been given a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes as a Christmas present by her then boyfriend Mr Sheringham, some months before the 2006 contest. The interview Ms Lloyd gave was false in that respect.



Background: Law degree at Queen's College, Oxford, followed by the Law Society Finals at the College of Law in London and articles with Mishcon de Reya. He qualified in 1994 and joined his present firm in 1996, where he was made a partner three years later. He became managing partner in 2001. He is also admitted in Scots law.



He has, in the last year, successfully represented Keira Knightley, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston, Hugh Grant, Justin Timberlake and Teri Hatcher in libel or privacy actions.



Route to the case: 'I know Danielle's former publicist, who was involved when there was a furore during her time in the Big Brother house, and she and Danielle's mum got in contact with me one night while Danielle was in the house.'



Thoughts on the case: 'I've learnt it's not so much about whether newspapers feel they can defend the story, but whether they think your client will sue them. Unless you can create the perception in the mind of the editor that you'll sue, they will feel free to publish. Also, it's best not to fight over everything the papers try to print; rather you have to pick your battles carefully. But no matter how aggressive I am with journalists, I have to show them respect because they are all professionals - of course, they will be of varying standards, some careful and others not so good.'



Dealing with the media: 'I expect they [the media] don't thank Schillings for our role in their industry. They appreciate, though, how effective we can be. When they get one of our letters, it has immediate impact. That's important, but you have to keep working to that standard to deserve that degree of respect.'



Catherine Baksi