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21 March 2025 / Clare Hughes-Williams , Megan Hill
Issue: 8109 / Categories: Features , Profession , Dispute resolution
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SLAPP happy?

211929
Where to draw the line between aggressive litigation tactics & misconduct? Clare Hughes-Williams & Megan Hill explore a recent tribunal decision
  • Sets out the facts of Solicitors Regulation Authority v Hurst, which considered the publication of Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs.
  • Highlights the need for meaningful supervision of junior lawyers as the distinction between working hard for a client and committing misconduct can be difficult to identify.

Strategic lawsuits against public participation—or SLAPPs, as they are often referred to—remain a hot topic for law firms, given the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA’s) continuing focus on addressing what it sees as the abusive litigation tactics deployed by some litigators.

In what was widely reported to be the first prosecution on this issue, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) handed down its decision in Solicitors Regulation Authority v Hurst (Case no 12612/2024) on 20 December 2024.

The case

Mr Hurst had been instructed by former minister, Nadhim Zahawi (pictured), to consider the legal position in relation to articles that had been published about

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

International arbitration team strengthened by double partner hire

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Firm celebrates trio holding senior regional law society and junior lawyers division roles

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Partner joins commercial and business litigation team in London

NEWS
The government has pledged to ‘move fast’ to protect children from harm caused by artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, and could impose limits on social media as early as the summer
All eyes will be on the Court of Appeal (or its YouTube livestream) next week as it sits to consider the controversial Mazur judgment
An NHS Foundation Trust breached a consultant’s contract by delegating an investigation into his knowledge of nurse Lucy Letby’s case
Draft guidance for schools on how to support gender-questioning pupils provides ‘more clarity’, but headteachers may still need legal advice, an education lawyer has said
Litigation funder Innsworth Capital, which funded behemoth opt-out action Merricks v Mastercard, can bring a judicial review, the High Court ruled last week
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