About
Provided by Portland
Portland’s specialist Litigation & Disputes practice provides bespoke communications support to a broad array of clients engaged in legal issues across multiple jurisdictions, countries and languages.
The Litigation & Disputes practice are retained by industry-leading law firms to work exclusively on high-profile and complex litigation, arbitration, judicial reviews and regulatory issues in the UK and international courts. This includes the largest defendant-side UK class-action; major public contract disputes; and the significant UK and global crises.
We understand the realities of the modern media and digital landscape. Data-led communication strategies are at the heart of our offer. The Litigation & Disputes team has a notable and proven ability to undertake sophisticated audience analyses, which is supported by Portland’s specialist data and polling team.
Philip Hall founded Portland Litigation & Disputes in January 2016. Since then it has grown rapidly and has successfully been ranked Band 1 for UK Litigation Support by Chambers since 2018.
Chambers Review
Global communications agency Portland advises governments, organisations and individuals across a range of jurisdictions. The firm's historical strengths in political campaigning and strategic communications provide the basis for its expertise in managing stakeholder messaging during complex litigation.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Portland are efficient, reliable and top performers in their field. They have genuine international capabilities and their juniors are as good as their seniors. They respond almost immediately, which can be very helpful."
"Portland has a deep bench and even the most junior team members are knowledgeable and sophisticated, coming up with innovative solutions to difficult client problems. Across the board the team has wide knowledge of the global media landscape."
"Portland are efficient, reliable and top performers in their field. They have genuine international capabilities and their juniors are as good as their seniors. They respond almost immediately, which can be very helpful."
"Portland has a deep bench and even the most junior team members are knowledgeable and sophisticated, coming up with innovative solutions to difficult client problems. Across the board the team has wide knowledge of the global media landscape."
Notable Practitioners
Philip Hall is a partner at Portland and founded the agency's global specialist disputes practice. He is highly experienced in complex litigation communication projects, as well as a qualified barrister.
"Philip Hall is a joy to work with and there isn't much he doesn't know."
"He is an ex-lawyer so he gets what we are trying to achieve. He has the ability to translate strategic comms to support the legal goal because of his background."
Simon Pugh leads the litigation and disputes practice. His varied practice includes communications work relating to class actions, judicial reviews and regulatory matters, and he is also an expert in advising ultra high net worth individuals on reputational issues.
"I think technically that he's very good. He has got a lot of knowledge about the marketplace."
"He is very strategic and knowledgeable. He has a very good understanding of law, media and public relations."