5RB : Barristers : David Hirst

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David Hirst

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David specialises in defamation, privacy and confidence, data protection, IP, harassment and other media and entertainment related work and is recommended as a junior barrister in defamation in the 2010 Legal 500.

David has undertaken a variety of work in the High Court and County Court and represented clients at mediations/ADR. David acts for media organisations, companies, public figures and private individuals. David is public access accredited and can be instructed directly by members of the public and companies in suitable cases and by all publishers, tv and film producers and media companies for pre-publication advice.

David has a particular interest in media law cases with technological aspects.

David's recent work has included:

• advising NGOs and publishers on Reynolds defences

• a landmark appeal on the confidentiality and admissibility of irregularly acquired data on personal wealth in matrimonial finance proceedings - Imerman v Tchenguiz

• obtaining Norwich Pharmacal disclosure orders against a number of ISPs, blogs and foreign websites

• representing a UK company in a libel compensation assessment in which it was awarded £50,000

• representing an interpreter sued for libel over an email to other interpreters at trial and on appeal

• applications for rulings on meaning

• a distance learning company suing the search engine Google for defamatory republications, a case which established the liability of search engines for defamatory content in searches - Metropolitan International Schools Ltd v Designtechnica Corp

• an MP bringing a libel claim in relation to 2010 General Election campaign literature

• a high profile sportsman in a privacy and harassment dispute with a tabloid newspaper

• representing an Iranian dissident journalist based in the UK sued for libel on a variety of internet and newspaper articles, an action in which an order for security for costs for £275,000 was made - Kahangi & Ors v Nourizadeh

• representing the Kingdom of Norway in a number of internet libel claims brought by a British citizen in London.

• representing defendants on a number of successful Part 24 summary judgment and abuse of process strike out applications in defamation and privacy

• acting for claimants and publishers in libel actions brought in relation to websites, emails, reports, blog and forum postings and traditional media.

David has experience of obtaining harassment and privacy injunctions for well-known figures and private individuals and media access to documents and closed proceedings in family courts.

Since 2005 he has provided pre-publication advice to The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent and The Sunday Times, principally around libel, privacy, contempt and reporting restrictions. David regularly advises a number of independent tv, film and radio production companies on pre and post broadcast legal and compliance issues, NGOs and charitable organisations on the publication of investigative reports, major publishing houses, magazines and specialist web-only publishers. He also has extensive experience of advising trade unions and public sector employees and local authorities on their liabilities in defamation, data protection and privacy. David has advised a number of companies on data protection policy.

David has also conducted media law training and awareness seminars with charities, campaign groups and media organisations.

David trained at 5RB, and during and since pupillage, David has gained substantial experience of all Chambers' areas of practice and is a contributor to Gatley and The Law of Privacy and the Media.

In 2007 David spent 6 months on secondment from 5RB in the media litigation team at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP.

David was an outgoing Pegasus Scholar in 2008 attached to leading US media law firms Hogan & Hartson LLPin New York and Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz in Washington DC.

Before coming to the bar David spent a year working at the Serious Organised Crima Agency on the legal aspects of Hi-tech crime and completing research on the news media during the Second World War.

Career

Called

2003 Called to the Bar

Education

Malvern College, Hereford & Worcester
Trinity College, Cambridge (MA Modern History - 1st Class)
Trinity College, Cambridge (M.Phil Historical Studies)
City University (CPE - Commendation)
Inns of Court School of Law (BVC - Very Competent)

Areas of work

Defamation
Privacy and Confidence
Data Protection
Reporting the Courts
Pre-publication Advice
Public Access
Contempt
General Common Law
Harassment
Human Rights
Injunctive Relief
Malicious Falsehood
Media Law
Passing off
Publishing

Cases

Privacy and Confidence

Driza v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd

[2010] EWHC 2829 (QB) 06/10/2010

Foreign Jurisdictions

Farid El Diwany v Ministry of Justice

[2011] EWHC 2077 (QB) 29/07/2011

Metropolitan International Schools Ltd v (1) Designtechnica Corporation (2) Google UK Ltd & (3) Google Inc

[2009] EWHC 1765 (QB); [2009] EMLR 27 16/07/2009

Media Law

Metropolitan International Schools Ltd v Designtechnica Corporation & Ors

[2010] EWHC 2411 (QB) 01/10/2010