299


Dominic Crossley Payne Hicks Beach


FOCUS Takedowns, Twitterstorms (worth more than $800 million),


Gideon Benaim Simkins


FOCUS Complex entertainment cases


gideon.benaim@simkins.com +44 (0)20 7874 5685 simkins.com


Simkins partner Gideon Benaim has noticed an increase in work from HNWs and businesspeople. He also represents a number of celebrities and sports stars. In 2018 Benaim won ‘Case of the Year’ at the Spear’s Wealth Management Awards in recognition of his landmark battle on behalf of Sir Cliff Richard in his case against the BBC and the South Yorkshire Police. The High Court ruled that the BBC infringed on the singer’s privacy in its reporting of a police raid on his home in 2014. ‘It was a case of being in the eye of the storm,’ recalled Benaim. Where possible, however, ‘preparation and prevention is the best way to deal with things’.


Adviser profile Gideon Benaim is a lawyer specialising in reputation protection for high-profile individuals and companies. He is a Partner and the Head of Simkins’ reputation protection team. He has over two decades of expertise in the areas of defamation, privacy, data protection, anti-harassment, breach of confidence and copyright. Whilst the identities of clients remain a closely guarded secret, they include high-profile and HNWIs from around the globe. Gideon is seen as a valuable member of the team not only when it comes to dealing with the media, but also for crisis management, giving sound practical advice. ‘It’s very nice to have been recognised for excellence in the field by Spear’s over the years,’ Gideon adds.


Dominic Crossley, a partner in Payne Hicks Beach’s litigation department, has seen a rise in inter-family disputes as well as a range of ‘stressful circumstances’ that concern UHNWs. ‘You’ve got very short time


pressure,’ which often requires a judgement call, he tells Spear’s. ‘It’s about getting in there early, getting to the source of the information and stopping it there, persuading them that it’s unlawful, it’s not the right thing to do, or that there are other ways to deal with their grievance.’ Crossley’s team won a libel case for an MP and obtained ‘one of the most significant phone hacking settlements’ in 2019. No wonder one client calls them ‘terrific litigators and tacticians’.


and acting for Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in one of the first ever privacy and data protection claims. He also successfully represented almost 100 victims of phone hacking in privacy claims against News International and the Mirror Group.


David Engel


Addleshaw Goddard FOCUS Reputation, privacy


david.engel@addleshawgoddard.com +44 (0)20 7880 5653 addleshawgoddard.com


‘When the phone rings, you literally do not know what the issue is going to be. Sometimes that makes it very challenging, but equally keeps it interesting,’ says David Engel, a partner at Addleshaw Goddard since 2001. He says clients face reputational and privacy risks from a range of sources in addition to the mainstream media, citing competitors, pressure groups, employees posting comments online, and issues with regulators. ‘They’re all reputational, but nothing to do with the media,’ Engel notes. What does he enjoy about his


work? ‘The adrenaline of the pressure,’ he says. ‘It’s often quite urgent and I enjoy the job satisfaction of being able to achieve the objective that the client wants.’


Preparation


and prevention is the best way to deal with things


Gideon Benaim Simkins


Adviser profile Engel and his team at Addleshaw Goddard use reputation, privacy and data laws to protect and defend the reputation and information of its clients. Their involvement may be at a relatively high, strategic level when clients want to know their legal options and how to prepare for the worst, or it may be a matter of more urgent crisis management when there is an immediate threat. Engel and his colleagues therefore often work closely with their clients’ communications team and with other trusted advisers. In a three-decade career, Engel


has acted in some landmark reputation and privacy cases, including the biggest ever defamation claim in the UK


‘I represent individuals and businesses who want to assert their legal right to defend themselves from attacks on their good name, or invasions of their and their families’ privacy, whether by the media or anybody else,’ he says. A new client’s first question is


usually, ‘What can be done from a legal perspective?’ Occasionally, says Engel, the answer is very little, but most people will find they have more legal leverage than they imagine. ‘And the media knows this. For them it is a numbers game. They know that for every 10 people whose privacy they threaten to shatter, or whose reputation they plan to trash, a few will have the cojones and the resources to defend themselves.’


Niri Shan Taylor Wessing FOCUS Strategic advice


Niri Shan has been described as a ‘polished operator’ by a contemporary, and one can see why. ‘It’s my USP,’ he tells Spear’s, ‘I


try to deal with things in a low-key, collaborative way – we’re not super-aggressive in our approach.’ The Taylor Wessing partner, who works in the firm’s ‘strategic partner’ team advising both claimants and defendants, describes an instance when he resolved a particularly salacious allegation involving high-profile individuals ‘through one letter and a series of phone calls’. ‘I got 30 articles taken down,’


>>


Shan says, adding that his dual advisory role means he has long-standing relationships with the lawyers working for media companies.


REPUTATION LAWYERS


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