The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (“SDT”) has today dismissed all allegations made by the SRA against Christopher Hutchings, a partner at Hamlins LLP, following a “SLAPP” complaint. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: SLAPPs (Page 1 of 3)
On 4 July 2025, one year to the day since the last general election, Conservative MP Greg Stafford’s SLAPP Bill came up for its second reading in the House of Commons. The House ran short on time to debate it (unsurprisingly given it was eighth on the list of bills up for consideration in that session) and its second reading has been postponed unceremoniously to 5 December 2025. Continue reading
There will be a symposium entitled “The Future of SLAPPs Research,” at the London School of Economics (LSE) on 12 June 2025. This event, organised by the SLAPPs Research Group, is generously supported by the LSE Law School and the Faculty of Law at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Continue reading
On Friday 3 May 2024, amendments [pdf] to the Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation Bill [pdf] were tabled by MPs Wayne David and Sir David Davis. The Bill is due for its Committee Stage in the House of Commons this week. Continue reading
The first and most obvious problem with the Bill is that it does nothing to address the most common scenarios and concerns in SLAPP cases. In particular: the problem of a imbalance of resources between wealthy claimants and individual journalists and the problem of legal complaints made in relation to what are, in fact, true allegations. Continue reading
The Private Member’s Bill on SLAPPs, introduced by backbench Labour MP, Wayne David, has had its second reading in the House of Commons. The “Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation Bill”, sets out to make a generalised anti-SLAPP provision, very much in line with the provisions in sections 194 and 195 of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (“ECCTA”) which were confined to allegations relating to “economic crime”. Continue reading
David Hooper, now retired from practice as a media lawyer, but who has certainly not lost his touch for adventure, has written a good book about some bad people. These are people who have used their financial might with the assistance of some greedy lawyers to stop the truth from getting into the public domain. Continue reading
There is much discussion regarding SLAPPs in the media law world. Last week the newly formed Society of Media Lawyers wrote to the President of the Law Society asking to see the evidence on which it was relying for its general support for anti-SLAPP measurea. Continue reading
On 26 October 2023 the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) was enacted. In this post I consider why sections 194 and 195 of the Act, which were introduced by the government to tackle SLAPPs that feature economic crimes, are potentially problematic. Continue reading
On 27 June 2023 a remarkable and little debated Government amendment to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill was approved by the House of Lords without a division. It introduces wide ranging and unclear changes relating to what have become known as “strategic litigation against public participation” (“SLAPPs”) addressed to the law of defamation. The amendment had been published only the week before and was not the subject of any consultation, white paper or select committee report. Continue reading
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