Andrew Stephenson

Andrew Stephenson, a law graduate of University College London, worked for two years at the Stock Exchange before joining the firm in 1982, becoming a partner in 1986. Early in his legal career conducted the successful defence of criminal proceedings where charges had been brought under the Official Secrets Act. In 1987 represented Martin Packard, a former British Naval Officer, who was awarded £450,000 damages for libel, a record at the time.

Acted for Norman Tebbit, as Chairman of the Conservative Party. Represented, successfully, Lord Tebbit when he was sued by the then Leader of Derbyshire County Council and acted for Norman Lamont when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in landlord and tenant proceedings. Recently concluded cases include Boris Berezovsky against Mikhail Fridman and Mohammed Jameel against Wall Street Journal Europe. Also represented Boris Berezovsky when the Russian government twice sought his extradition from the UK.

Has handled numerous leading defamation cases where jurisdiction has been an issue, including Papandreou -v- Time Magazine, Bachchan -v- Dagens Nyheter (Swedish publication), Schapira -v- Ha'aretz (Israeli publication) and Berezovsky -v- Forbes, in which the House of Lords upheld the Russian businessman's right to proceed against the US publishers.

Regularly consulted to give pre-publication advice on libel, copyright and contempt issues for national and international publications. Also has considerable experience in advising individuals and corporations in handling intrusive or hostile media investigations.

Main area of practice is defamation, with over 20 years experience acting both for claimants, including Government Ministers, Members of Parliament of all the main political parties and sports and music personalities, and for defendants including book, magazine and newspaper publishers and television companies.

Contact Details

Email: Andrew Stephenson