High-Profile High Net Worth Cases and the Lawyers Involved

We’ve covered some high-profile cases over the last year in our Defamation and Reputation Management research. In the US, Tom Clare and Libby Locke of boutique reputation firm Clare Locke secured a huge settlement for Dominion Voting Systems in its case against Fox News.

We also saw California court proceedings in the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard matter. Depp was represented by Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez of Brown Rudnick in the California courts.  The firm capitalised on its success by bringing in well-known UK defamation lawyer Charlotte Harris to kickstart its London reputation management practice. Harris had represented Rebekah Vardy in her case against Colleen Rooney while she was at her previous firm, Kingsley Napley. I’m sure all our UK viewers will recall the daily, blow-by-blow reporting of this case, which the British press dubbed “Wagatha Christie”. 

The other big news in the reputation management practice over the last year has been public and media anger about strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs. These are lawsuits brought by wealthy and powerful people to chill free speech and investigative journalism. In June 2023, the UK Government announced legislation that would allow High Court judges to dismiss cases at an early stage if they determine them to constitute a SLAPP without a reasonable chance to succeed at trial.