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Jonathan Barnes
Profile
Jonathan's practice covers defamation, privacy, confidence, data protection, freedom of information, publishing, broadcasting and media law. He undertakes commercial, contract and agency cases, including sports disputes. He regularly advises on urgent reputation, privacy and confidence issues, often involving the Internet or other forms of electronic communication. He provides pre-publication advice to commercial publishers.
His cases include: Boehringer Ingelheim & Others v Vetplus, on the principles of interim injunctive relief in the context of comparative advertising; Murray v Big Pictures, the JK Rowling pushchair privacy claim; The Author of a Blog v Times Newspapers, concerning the legal enforceability of blogger anonymity; BBC v HarperCollins, on the revelation of the identity of "The Stig"; and Cooper v Turrell, addressing the principles for quantifying damages in libel, privacy and confidence.
Recently, he has acted for the claimants in two significant assessments of damages: the award of £175,000 libel damages in Al Amoudi v Kifle (led by Desmond Browne QC); and the awards totalling £120,000 in Cooper v Turrell (above). He is currently advising certain of the personal defendants in the civil voicemail interception litigation.
In addition to his court work, Jonathan has represented clients at the Broadcasting Standards Commission (now OFCOM), the Office of Fair Trading, the Employment Tribunals, in FA arbitration proceedings and in London Metal Exchange arbitration proceedings.
Career
Called
1999 Called to the Bar
Education
University College, Oxford, BA(Hons), Jurisprudence, 1990
Qualifications
Former solicitor, admitted 1993
Deputy District Judge
Areas of work
- Defamation
- Privacy and Confidence
- Sports Law
- Intellectual Property
- Data Protection
- Pre-publication Advice
- Public Access
- Harassment
- Human Rights
- Injunctive Relief
- Malicious Falsehood
- Media Law
- Professional Negligence
- Publishing
Verbatim
"He was relaxed but firmly in control. He left me feeling very impressed indeed." - Chambers & Partners, 2011-2
"...standout individuals include Jonathan Barnes, who ‘consistently provides reassuring and sensible advice, demonstrating his unerringly sound judgment’" - Legal 500, 2011
Testimonials
Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners leading junior in defamation and privacy
Legal Business legal expert in defamation
Memberships
Evening legal advisor, North Islington Law Centre, 1996 - 1999
Night lawyer, Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2001 - 2002
Council of the Inns of Court Conduct and Practice Tribunals member
Bar Pro Bono Unit: panel counsel and case reviewer
JUSTICE
Publications
(17 Oct 2002)
(17 Mar 2011)