A general view of the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament
(Picture: PA Archive)Top London law firms helping the rich and powerful to silence critics have been branded “attack dogs” and “legal heavies” amid calls for a fresh crackdown.
Members of the House of Lords have heaped fresh pressure on the Government to tackle so-called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) in order to protect newspapers, reporters and campaigners pursuing public interest journalism.
The issue is back in the spotlight after the sacking of Tory Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi, who hired lawyers as campaigner Dan Neidle was investigating his tax affairs.
It was also revealed that the Government helped sanctioned Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin — the founder of Vladimir Putin’s Wagner Group “private army” — to pursue a legal campaign against a journalist. Speaking on Wednesday, Lord Cromwell accused law firms which take on SLAPP cases of harassment, intimidation, and “grasping… the substantial fee opportunities available for acting as legal heavies”.
“When people with fabulous wealth — perhaps from murky sources — can engage top London law firms to act as legal attack dogs to set on anyone going public, then who can blame a journalist or newspaper editor who decides, as many have done, simply not to investigate or publish public interest stories, no matter how well-researched or important?”, said the crossbench peer.
In a debate on the Government’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, Baroness Stowell of Beeston, who chairs the Lords communications and digital committee, called for the “ludicrously small” maximum fine for solicitors who pursue SLAPPs — currently £25,000 — to be supercharged to £250 million or even introduce unlimited penalties.
“The lawyers carrying out these cases know exactly what they are doing and how to game the system”, she said. Lib Dem peer Lord Thomas of Gresford also pledged to table an amendment to the Bill, making it a criminal offence to pursue SLAPPs.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab announced a new anti-SLAPP law last summer, with powers for judges to throw out abusive cases and a “cost-protection scheme” to stop libel defendants being financially bullied into settling.
