SLAPPs and the Public Right to the Truth

Ben Quinn, 'British law firms help oligarchs avoid legitimate media scrutiny, MPs told', Guardian 15 Mar 2022

Prestigious British law firms have been complicit in helping oligarchs prevent legitimate media scrutiny of their activities, MPs have been told. Two journalists, who have recently been on the receiving end of legal action over their reporting on oligarchs, told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the tactics typically used by law firms acting for powerful interests. They said this had pushed up insurance premiums to provide legal cover and many publishers had taken fright over the issue. Tom Burgis, a Financial Times journalist, named a number of firms, including Carter-Ruck and Schillings, and told MPs of the type of letters which were often sent. “In my experience they are often written in a tone of righteous indignation where the journalist is said to have behaved appallingly,” he said, in answer to a question from MP Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the committee hearing a session into the “use of strategic lawsuits against public participation”, also known as SLAPPs.