Chloe Strong

Chloe Strong

Chloe is a highly regarded junior specialising in privacy, confidence, defamation and data protection work. She has a particular interest in urgent breach of privacy/confidence injunctions, claims relating to the television and music industries and those with a US aspect. She has acted on a number of notable matters to date, with recent highlights including:

Privacy/Confidence

Acting for the claimants in ABC v The Telegraph Media Group [2018] EWHC 2177 (QB) and [2019] 2 All E.R. 684, later Arcadia v The Telegraph Media Group [2019] EWHC 223 (QB) and [2019] Costs L.O. 169, led by James Price KC, in a breach of confidence claim brought over allegations of misconduct by the claimants, in particular by Sir Philip Green, which the Telegraph wished to report. Chloe acted throughout the High Court and Court of Appeal proceedings in this claim.

Acting as sole counsel for the claimant in Alex Reid v Katie Price [2018] EWHC 2432 (QB), obtaining a privacy injunction preventing the further disclosure of explicit private video footage by Ms Price, the well-known former glamour model.

Acting as sole counsel for the defendants in Higinbotham (formerly BWK) v Teekhungam [2018] EWHC 1880 (QB), in which Nicklin J upheld a decision striking out a privacy, confidence and data protection claim as an abuse of process. The claimant had complained that a profile on Facebook revealed that he had a second family, something which he had hoped to keep secret from his wife, friends and business associates.

Junior to Matthew Nicklin KC (as he then was) for the claimant in OPO v Rhodes (previously MLA) [2015] EMLR 4 in injunction proceedings aimed at preventing publication of an autobiography by James Rhodes, a classical musician and the claimant’s father, on the grounds of a breach of privacy, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional harm under the rule in Wilkinson v Downton.

Defamation

Acting for the claimants in Gubarev v Steele and Orbis [2020] EWHC 2912 (QB), led by Andrew Caldecott KC, in a defamation claim concerning allegations contained in a dossier produced by Christopher Steele, the former ex MI6 agent, which were published by BuzzFeed.

Acting for Alex Reid, suing the Kent Online website, which had reported on concerns published by his ex-wife Katie Price on Twitter that her phone had been hacked. The website had worded the article in such a way as to suggest that Mr Reid had been responsible for the alleged hacking. Claim successfully settled – statement in open court November 2020.

Acting for two journalists from the well-known tech website “The Register” over claims published by a businessman alleging the journalists were guilty of publishing “fake news”, amongst other things. Claim successfully settled – statement in open court May 2020.

In 2019, acting for a television presenter against a tabloid newspaper, over defamatory claims concerning their parenting abilities, which also constituted a breach of privacy/confidence. Claim successfully settled.

Contractual music industry disputes

Acting in a breach of contract claim for a well-known music management company against a band they had signed, which subsequently signed with a competitor in breach of contract. Dispute was settled through a confidential mediation.

Successfully representing the claimant music composer in Gilman v Rehioui in a breach of contract claim against a music video producer for recovery of fees following a disagreement between the parties.

Other

Junior to Gavin Millar KC in Coventry v Lawrence [2015] UKSC 50, intervening on behalf of the Media Lawyers’ Association in the Supreme Court, in an appeal concerning the compatibility of the pre-LASPO conditional fee agreement regime and the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular Article 10 ECHR.

Textbooks/consultation work

Chloe is the current precedents and damages awards author in the leading libel practitioners’ text Gatley on Libel and Slander (12th Ed, Sweet & Maxwell, 2014), and is a co-author of several chapters, including on privacy law in the United States, in The Law of Privacy and the Media, Moreham and Warby, (3rd Ed, OUP, 2016).

Chloe was invited to be a member of the Civil Justice Council’s Working Group on costs in defamation actions which reported on 18 April 2013 and formed the basis for the MoJ’s proposals for reform contained within its 2013 consultation document on costs in defamation actions.

Before joining 5RB

Chloe qualified as a solicitor at Linklaters LLP in 2008-10, where she trained as a corporate, commercial and banking lawyer, working in both London and Milan.

In 2010/2011 she served as the Judicial Assistant to Lord Neuberger (then Master of the Rolls) at the Court of Appeal. In addition to observing and assisting with on-going appeals, she also worked with the Super-injunctions Committee, established by Lord Neuberger, which reported on the use of privacy injunctions in May 2011. Chloe took particular responsibility for drafting the Model Order for use in privacy/confidence injunction applications, which is now attached to the Practice Guidance on Interim Non-Disclosure Orders [2012] 1 WLR 1003.

 

Called

2010 Called to the Bar of England and Wales

Education

LSE, LLB, 1st Class Hons - 2003-2006
The Rouse Prize for Information Technology Law, LSE - 2006
LPC, College of Law, Moorgate, Distinction - 2007
Middle Temple Anglo-American Scholar (Iowa) - 2011
Inner Temple Pegasus Scholar, USA (based with Davis Wright and Tremaine LLP in their New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles offices) - 2014

Qualifications

Qualified as a solicitor of England & Wales - September 2010
Bar Transfer Test, BPP - 2011

Areas of work

Pre-publication Advice
Defamation and Malicious Falsehood
Harassment
Privacy and Confidence
Data Protection and Information Law

Testimonials

“Tenacious, thorough and determined, and has a brilliant grasp of her specialist subject.”

“Great with clients.”

Defamation & Privacy – Chambers & Partners 2020

“Chloe is very clear in her advice and her risk analysis, and she really fights your corner. She is able to weigh legal objectives against a client’s commercial objectives in a smart and pragmatic way.”

“She gets stuck into the granular detail and has excellent nous for the bigger picture too. She is the most thorough barrister I have worked with.”

Defamation & Privacy – Chambers & Partners 2021

“Produces brilliant pieces of written advocacy which carry the day.”

Media and entertainment – Legal 500 2021 – Leading Juniors

 

Memberships

British Association for Sport and Law (BASL)

Featured cases

Abbey v Gilligan

[2012] EWHC 3217 (QB) 20/11/2012

Shozab Abbas v Nawa-I-Jang (17 October 2013)

Unreported- Claim no. HQ13D02255 20/10/2013

OPO (a child by BHM his litigation friend) v MLA

[2014] EWCA Civ 1277 09/10/2014

All cases

Privacy and Confidence

Abbey v Gilligan

[2012] EWHC 3217 (QB) 20/11/2012

5RB Talks

5RB talks - Back to Basics - Contempt

12 Oct 2021
With Hope Williams & Chloe Strong

5RB talks - Back to Basics - Introduction to GDPR

1 Oct 2021
With Ben Hamer & Chloe Strong

5RB talks - Back to Basics - Harassment

15 Oct 2021
With Gemma McNeil-Walsh & Chloe Strong

End of Michaelmas term update 2020

10 Dec 2020
With Jonathan Barnes KC, Aidan Eardley KC, Jonathan Scherbel-Ball & Chloe Strong

5RB Talks: Manchester

15 May 2015
With Jonathan Barnes KC, Richard Munden, Chloe Strong & Adrienne Page KC

Articles

Publications

The Law of Privacy and the Media 3rd Edition

OUP
By Chloe Strong. 22 Jan 2016

Gatley on Libel & Slander, 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th editions

Sweet & Maxwell
By Chloe Strong. 31 Dec 2013

In 5RB News

1 Dec 2023

Judgment in Sir James Dyson v MGN Limited

21 Nov 2023

Dyson v MGN: Libel trial begins

20 Oct 2023

5RB tops rankings in Chambers & Partners

5 Oct 2023

5RB named Tier 1 set in Defamation and privacy by The Legal 500

14 Jun 2023

5RB supporting London Legal Walk 2023

7 Oct 2022

5RB named top set by The Legal 500

Directory rankings also released

16 Nov 2021

Lloyd v Google Supreme Court decision

5RB barristers review key takeaways from the judgment in this short 5RB talk

25 Aug 2021

Euro-Millions lottery winner succeeds in striking out ex-partner’s libel claim

Ms Desporte's libel claim is struck out and an ECRO is granted against her

19 Nov 2020

Kent Online apologises to Alex Reid over phone hacking allegation

Alex Reid has successfully settled his defamation claim against the Kent Online website over an allegation that he had attempted to hack Katie Price's phone

7 May 2020

Apology given to the The Register by Aria Taheri, founder and CEO of Aria Technology Ltd

Statement in Open Court: Situation Publishing Ltd, Gareth Corfield and Paul Kunert v Aria Technology Ltd, Aria Taheri and Velo Systems Ltd

24 Oct 2018

ABC v Telegraph – CA grants injunction

CA prevents publication of confidential information covered by NDAs

24 Jul 2018

Economist’s privacy claim struck out

US businessman fails in attempt to bring privacy claim over details of his affair and fathering of triplets that had been aired in US courts

18 May 2018

Alex Reid wins privacy injunction

Alex Reid obtains interim injunction preventing Katie Price disclosing his "private and confidential information"

11 Jan 2018

New defamation textbook publications

Gatley 2nd Supplement and 22nd Edition of Clerk & Lindsell on Torts

2 Nov 2017

“The pre-eminent set”: Chambers UK

5RB and members recommended for Defamation & Privacy and Data Protection in 2018 Chambers UK Bar Guide

19 May 2016

5RB at the London Legal Walk 2016

£2,157.19 raised for LLSU, FRU and the Bar Pro Bono Unit

22 Jan 2016

New edition of The Law of Privacy and the Media published

Read an extract on Privacy, the Internet and Social Media

17 Jan 2016

New Supplement to Gatley published

The First Supplement to the 12th edition of Gatley on Libel and Slander has been published by Sweet & Maxwell

4 Nov 2015

University of Sussex apologises to ex-student

Michael Segalov obtains £20,000 and apology following libel claim over allegations of criminal behaviour

22 Jul 2015

Judgment handed down in Coventry v Lawrence

Supreme Court declares pre-LASPO CFA regime compatible with the ECHR

5 May 2015

5RB Talks: Manchester

5RB's Jonathan Barnes, Richard Munden and Chloe Strong spoke

6 Feb 2015

Supreme Court hears costs appeal

Media Lawyers Association intervenes in case in which court will consider the compatibility of the pre-LASPO CFA regime with the ECHR

20 May 2014

5RB at the London Legal Walk

Chambers team raised £2341.25

15 May 2014

Line-dancing teacher receives apology from rival over libellous claims

Well-known line-dancing teacher Val Myers gets apology and costs from competitor Sandra Ong

7 Jan 2014

New edition of Gatley on Libel and Slander out now

12th Ed published in December 2013

24 Oct 2013

Costs in defamation and privacy proceedings

MoJ consultation open until 8 November 2013

19 Apr 2013

CJC report on defamation costs published

Report makes recommendations for costs protection in future defamation and privacy proceedings following changes to the CFA regime. Desmond Browne QC and Chloe Strong form part of the Working Group.

31 Oct 2012

5RB Sponsors National Pro Bono Centre

Chambers continues support for Pro Bono work as Bronze Sponsor

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