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Desmond Browne QC
Profile
Desmond Browne QC is a leading silk in all areas of media law. He has been involved in a huge number of the most important cases affecting the media over the past three decades.
These include Collins Stewart v. Financial Times, Berezovsky v. Fridman & Alfa Bank, McKenna v. Mirror Group Newspapers, McKennitt v. Ash, Lowe v. Associated Newspapers, Turner v. News Group, Al Amoudi v. Brisard, Douglas v Hello!, Naomi Campbell v MGN, Hamilton v Al Fayed, Berezovsky v Forbes, Spycatcher, Kiam v MGN and Loutchansky v Times Newspapers.
He is Joint Head of Chambers (with Mark Warby QC).
Desmond Browne chaired the Bar Council Group on the Legal Services Act and was Bar Council Chairman for 2009. He was appointed to the Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw's Libel Reform Panel which considered whether the law of libel needs reform. The working group has reported.
Alongside his busy practice, Desmond is a member of Lord Neuberger's Super-Injunctions Group.
Career
Called
1969 Called to the Bar
1990 Silk
1991 Year of Recorder
Education
Eton College
New College, Oxford (Open Scholar, B.A. Jurisprudence)
Areas of work
- Defamation
- Privacy and Confidence
- Intellectual Property
- Reporting the Courts
- Administrative Law
- Contempt
- Copyright
- Human Rights
- Injunctive Relief
- Malicious Falsehood
- Media Law
- Professional Negligence
Verbatim
"masterly"
2010 Legal 500
"A great fighter to have on your side"
Testimonials
He is held in high regard by opponents as one of the silks of choice for heavyweight defamation matters. Solicitors comment that "he has an extraordinary mind, knows the law backwards and is always good-humoured and fun to work with."
The ‘tough, bright and hardworking’ Desmond Browne QC returned to full-time practice after his year as Chairman of the Bar.
Memberships
Bar Council as Gray's Inn representative
Publications
(17 Oct 2002)