Iain Wilson

Iain is the managing partner of Brett Wilson LLP and specialises in libel, privacy and harassment. His clients range from private individuals and corporations, to local government and regulatory bodies. Iain is recognised as a leader in the field of defamation/reputation management by the prestigious Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners directory. Iain headed up a team instructed by the Law Society to bring representative proceedings on behalf of the legal profession to close down the controversial website Solicitors from Hell. The landmark judgment in the successful action (The Law Society & Ors v Kordowski [2011] EWHC 3185 (QB)) provides important guidance on representative proceedings, online harassment and the applicability of the Data Protection Act 1998 to the publication of material on the internet. Iain acted for the claimant/appellant in Tamiz v Google Inc [2013] EWCA Civ 68, which was the first time the Court of Appeal considered the liability of internet service providers for libel. The Court held that Google Inc could be liable as publisher at common law in relation to its Blogger platform. This decision remains the leading case in this important area.

Presently Iain is acting in a number of cases against newspapers and other defendants where private information has been obtained unlawfully by phone hacking, the making of corrupt payments, 'blagging' and other means. Iain is also heading up a number of cases where his clients' medical information has been leaked.