Victoria Simon-Shore / 5RB / media and communications law specialist

Victoria specialises in the areas of defamation, privacy, confidence, media law, harassment and data protection. Many of these cases involve the Human Rights Act and the interplay between articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention. She acts for claimants and defendants.

In addition to advising and acting against and occasionally for media organisations, she is regularly instructed to act for public authorities. Over the past decade Victoria has acted for publishers, private individuals, companies, a charity, a political party, a trade union, for and against universities, academics, utility suppliers, royalty, foreign politicians and one of the world’s largest entertainments companies.

Praise from Chambers & Partners includes:

“She is a joy to work with – exceptionally fast in providing advice, clever, commercially aware, down-to-earth, good-humoured and practical.”

Victoria is public access accredited and is regularly instructed directly by members of the public and companies, most often in relation to defamation, privacy and harassment matters. One such client, a university professor, commented that “the quality of the legal advice was both exemplary and flexible. My case had some twists and turns, but [Victoria] approached all aspects with admirable candour, realism and a sharp legal mind. I could not have wished for better representation.”

Recent work

Significant recent instructions include:

Obtaining a damages award in the sum of £80,000 for a claimant who had sued over online libels;
Advising an international luxury hotel chain defending a claim for damages for misuse of private information and data protection following a data breach;
Obtaining an interim injunction and anonymity order to restrain harassment in the form of a highly damaging website created by the ex-wife of the claimant
For the defendants, the striking out of a slander claim brought against a Council and the Leader of the Council by care home providers: see Meadows Care v Lambert
Advising local authorities on publication issues, including on the privacy rights of third parties
Successfully resisting an application for stay of proceedings brought by the defendant care home provider in a claim for a judicial determination of a data subject access request
Successfully resisting an application for interim injunctive relief in a slander action
Advising on a number of infant settlements in privacy claims brought against healthcare providers and local authorities.
Acting against police forces in privacy claims brought by serving and former police officers
Assistant to the Adjudicator in the Voicemail Interception Compensation Scheme set up by News International following their admission of phone-hacking

Previously Victoria has acted as junior counsel for individuals and companies resisting publicity and disclosure of confidential information in high profile divorce proceedings. She was led in the defence of the libel and slander action brought by Peter Andre against his former wife, Katie Price. She was second junior for the claimant in the High Court privacy action brought by Max Mosley against the News of the World and also acted on behalf of a private hospital in defence of a breach of confidence claim brought by a high profile sportsperson.

Victoria regularly provides pre-publication advice to newspapers, print publishers, broadcasters and production companies. She gained considerable experience in providing legal and OFCOM compliance advice, often in relation to live broadcasts, while seconded to Channel 4 and advising Channel 5. She has also assisted with securing E&O insurance for the production of West End plays and advised on all aspects of films scripts, including the issue of life rights.

Publications

Victoria is a contributor to the third edition of Tugendhat & Christie on The Law of Privacy and the Media.

Prior to 5RB

After completing her law degree Victoria worked as a legal researcher at the British Institute of International and Comparative law in the field of data protection. She also undertook a legal traineeship at the European Commission working on the EU-US negotiations with regard to the privacy rights of US-bound airline passengers. Immediately prior to commencing pupillage at 5RB, Victoria worked for a year as a paralegal at Walt Disney, providing legal assistance and research on intellectual property and data protection matters.

Called

2005 Called to the Bar of England and Wales

Education

Inns of Court School of Law, BVC
Greyfriars, University of Oxford, BA, Jurisprudence - 2001

Areas of work

Data Protection and Information Law
Defamation and Malicious Falsehood
General Common Law
Intellectual Property
Pre-publication Advice
Privacy and Confidence
Reporting the Courts and Contempt

Testimonials

“She’s very approachable and agile, turns things around very quickly and is easy to work with.”
Chambers & Partners 2020

Hardwicke Scholar of Lincoln’s Inn

Languages

Good French

All cases

Privacy and Confidence

ABC Ltd v Y

[2010] EWHC 3176 (Ch); [2011] 4 All ER 113 06/12/2010

Reporting the Courts and Contempt

ABC Ltd v Y

[2010] EWHC 3176 (Ch); [2011] 4 All ER 113 06/12/2010

Injunctive Relief

Wafic Rida Saïd v (1) Groupe L’Express (2) Guillaume Dubois

[2018] EWHC 3593 (QB) 21/12/2018

Publications

The Law of Privacy and the Media 3rd Edition

OUP
By Victoria Simon-Shore. 22 Jan 2016

In 5RB News

17 Mar 2023

Contact

Email: clerks@5rb.com
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