Joshua Rozenberg gives keynote speech at CONFERENCE5RB 2008
5RB held its second Conference at BAFTA, Piccadilly yesterday. The keynote speaker at the Conference, which sold out, was Joshua Rozenberg, whose talk entitled ‘Another strap across the bottom’ discussed developments in privacy law including the Mosley case.
Mr Rozenberg considered that Eady J’s judgment in Mosley spelled the end of ‘kiss and tell’ stories, a development he welcomed but he expressed his concern about the potential chilling effect of the judgment on freedom of expression.
Members of 5RB spoke on various aspects of media, entertainment and sports law, including liability for online publications, the neutral reportage defence and the benefits of mediation. They were joined for a panel discussion on the day’s topics in the afternoon by Professor Gavin Phillipson from the University of Durham, well known for his writings on privacy and freedom of expression, and by Angela Weaver from leading media insurer Hiscox, who supported the conference as they did two years ago.
5RB‘s joint head of Chambers, Desmond Browne QC, said “Two years after our very successful 5RB Conference in 2006, we decided that the time had come to hold a repeat. Much has happened in the meantime in the developing fields of privacy and internet publication. These topics and many others were covered in this week’s conference, which proved to be a sell-out. We are delighted that those who came have told us how valuable they found it – and how enjoyable.”