Julian Santos KC (Gib.)
Call: 2008 Silk: 2026
Call: 2008 Silk: 2026
Julian Santos KC was appointed King’s Counsel in Gibraltar in January 2026, as the youngest person ever to receive the accolade. He is listed as a Leading Junior in the current UK Chambers and Legal 500 directories for defamation and privacy.
He regularly advises claimants and defendants, and particularly professional sportspersons (including footballers, boxers, cricketers, rugby players, tennis players and sprinters), musicians, actors and other individuals, in relation to defamation, privacy, data protection, harassment and breach of confidence issues.
He also advises on sports law matters, having appeared before the British Boxing Board of Control and Sports Resolution UK, and advised on matters before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and disputes involving UK Anti-Doping and the World Anti-Doping Agency, as well as other international sports bodies.
He is experienced in public inquiries, having acted as Counsel to the Inquiry into the Retirement of the Former Commissioner of Police in Gibraltar.
Julian is also an accredited mediator with the Society of Mediators, offering his skills for conflict resolution in Gibraltar and London.
Acted for the successful Claimant in a trial of the preliminary issues of meaning, honest opinion and whether the words were defamatory at common law. The contents of a website available through a QR code were held to form part of the publication’s defamatory meaning.
Acted in the Gibraltar Supreme Court for the claimant in a defamation claim against a provisional liquidator in the context of an insurance company insolvency.
Acted for the Claimants in a jurisdictional challenge under CPR Part 11.
Acted for a Premier League footballer in a defamation claim relating to a publication by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which settled for a substantial sum of damages, reasonable costs and a statement in open court.
Acted in the Gibraltar Court of Appeal for the claimant in a defamation claim against the Gibraltar financial services regulator. The defendants’ appeal against refusal of their summary judgment application was dismissed.
Acting for the Claimant in a trial of a preliminary issue on meaning against a book publisher.
Counsel for the Claimant in a successful defamation claim relating to a tweet published by the Bristol Branch of UKIP. Claimant was awarded £40,000 in damages following trial.
Acted for the Duke of Sussex Prince Harry and Lord Watson of Wyre Forest in their claims against News Group Newspapers Ltd, the publisher of the Sun and the News of the World, for misuse of private information through unlawful information-gathering techniques (settled for very substantial damages and legal costs on the first day of trial in January 2025).
Acted for Prince Harry in his successful claim against the publisher of the Mirror and People newspapers for misuse of private information through unlawful information-gathering techniques. Settled with very substantial damages and payment of legal costs following an 8-week trial in May/June 2023.
Junior Counsel for the Claimants, including Ryan Giggs, Glenn Hoddle, Abigail Crouch, Danny Cipriani, Stanley Collymore, Frank Sinclair and others in their claims against the publisher of the Mirror and People newspapers for misuse of their private information through voicemail interception (also known as phone hacking) and other unlawful information-gathering activities. This has included a decision in relation to disclosure and confidential sources, which was upheld by the Court of Appeal, and an unsuccessful strike-out application and appeal by the Defendant.
Acting for Prince Harry, Baroness Lawrence, Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost and Simon Hughes in their claims against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday for unlawful information-gathering and activities.
Junior Counsel for the Claimants in their claims against the publisher of the Sun and the News of the World for misuse of their private information through voicemail interception and other unlawful information-gathering activities. This included a successful application by various Claimants to amend their Generic Particulars of Claim to include a claim against The Sun. There have been recent strike-out and amendment decisions.
Junior Counsel for the Claimant in a successful injunction application to restrain the Daily Mail from publishing the Claimant’s private information, namely that the Claimant was being investigated by the police suspected involvement in financial crime.
Junior Counsel for Paul Weller’s children in the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by the publishers of MailOnline against a finding that their publication of photographs of the Claimants was a misuse of their private information and breach of the Data Protection Act.
Acting for the heavyweight boxer Dillian Whyte in a privacy, breach of confidence and GDPR claim against the publishers CBS Interactive and Boxing Acquisition Inc.
Acting for the heavyweight boxer Dillian Whyte in a privacy, breach of confidence and GDPR claim against the publishers CBS Interactive and Boxing Acquisition Inc.
Junior Counsel for Paul Weller’s children in the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by the publishers of MailOnline against a finding that their publication of photographs of the Claimants was a misuse of their private information and breach of the Data Protection Act.
Acting for a musician in a libel and harassment claim against a number of defendants relating to online publications.
Junior Counsel for the Claimant in a successful injunction application to restrain the Daily Mail from publishing the Claimant’s private information, namely that the Claimant was being investigated by the police suspected involvement in financial crime.
Pre-publication advice for various publications including The Times, The Sunday Times, The Racing Post as well as HarperCollins and Macmillan publishers.
For more information
For more information or to instruct Julian please get in touch with our clerking team, who can deal with your enquiry and provide any required information: