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NLJ this week: Media storms & police disclosure

31 March 2023
Issue: 8019 / Categories: Legal News , Public , Defamation , Privacy
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‘What personal information can, and should, the police disclose during high-profile investigations,’ such as Nicola Bulley’s disappearance in January? Jeremy Clarke-Williams, partner, and Sophie Taraniuk, paralegal, in the reputation management and privacy team at Penningtons Manches Cooper, address this question, in this week’s NLJ.

The media storm surrounding Ms Bulley’s disappearance prompted ‘baseless speculation’ and attracted amateur sleuths, while Lancashire Constabulary drew widespread criticism for their decision to disclose personal information about the missing person.

What protection is provided by the law? Clarke-Williams and Taraniuk examine the potential for a claim for misuse of private information (MPI), as well as considering privacy and defamation. Ofcom has also raised questions about the conduct of broadcasters. When is private information in the public interest? 

Read this fascinating piece in full here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Browne Jacobson—Matthew Kemp

Browne Jacobson—Matthew Kemp

Firm grows real estate team with tenth partner hire this financial year

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Partner hire strengthens global infrastructure and energy financing practice

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Legal director bolsters international expertise in dispute resolution team

NEWS
Neurotechnology is poised to transform contract law—and unsettle it. Writing in NLJ this week, Harry Lambert, barrister at Outer Temple Chambers and founder of the Centre for Neurotechnology & Law, and Dr Michelle Sharpe, barrister at the Victorian Bar, explore how brain–computer interfaces could both prove and undermine consent
Comparators remain the fault line of discrimination law. In this week's NLJ, Anjali Malik, partner at Bellevue Law, and Mukhtiar Singh, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, review a bumper year of appellate guidance clarifying how tribunals should approach ‘actual’ and ‘evidential’ comparators. A new six-stage framework stresses a simple starting point: identify the treatment first
In cross-border divorces, domicile can decide everything. In NLJ this week, Jennifer Headon, legal director and head of international family, Isobel Inkley, solicitor, and Fiona Collins, trainee solicitor, all at Birketts LLP, unpack a Court of Appeal ruling that re-centres nuance in jurisdiction disputes. The court held that once a domicile of choice is established, the burden lies on the party asserting its loss
Early determination is no longer a novelty in arbitration. In NLJ this week, Gustavo Moser, arbitration specialist lawyer at Lexis+, charts the global embrace of summary disposal powers, now embedded in the Arbitration Act 1996 and mirrored worldwide. Tribunals may swiftly dismiss claims with ‘no real prospect of succeeding’, but only if fairness is preserved
The Ministry of Justice is once again in the dock as access to justice continues to deteriorate. NLJ consultant editor David Greene warns in this week's issue that neither public legal aid nor private litigation funding looks set for a revival in 2026
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