• Andrew Stephenson

  • Consultant
  • Reputation and Privacy
Andrew Stephenson

  • “He is very sensible and reliable.”

    Chambers and Partners 2022

  • “Christopher Hutchings, Callum Galbraith and Andrew Stephenson are experts in this field and are highly committed to ensuring that the best judgements are made in their clients’ interests, which means no slavishly being prepared to do anything the clients want. They weigh the options very thoughtfully and give sound and balanced advice.”

    Legal 500 2021

  • “He provides balanced and high-quality advice. He is very friendly and the service I receive has always been excellent.”

    Chambers and Partners 2021

  • “Andrew is noted for his ‘deep knowledge of defamation and privacy matters’. He is particularly recommended for his representation of public figures, politicians and high net worth individuals on cases which often have an international aspect to them.”

    Chambers

  • “Andrew is ‘highly regarded’ in the Legal 500 2017 directory.”

    Legal 500

  • “In the Legal 500 2016 Andrew was recommended for his expertise in reputation management. Andrew is noted for his ‘immense experience in this space and is described in the Legal 500 by his clients as a ‘top- class litigator.”

    Previous recognition

  • “Andrew has featured in the Chambers and Partners Guide for many years as a leading defamation lawyer. Chambers and Partners 2017 highlights his immense experience, describing him as a ‘seasoned reputation management specialist.”

    Chambers and Partners

  • “His knowledge of the law is impressive and he has unrivalled experience in advising high profile political figures on national and international reputational issues. Andrew is described by Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession as “exceptionally bright and collected in even the most tricky cases” and “giving considered, thought-through advice. Whilst that is indeed true, Andrew is much more than this. He is a genuine and compassionate man with a keen sense of justice, intent on gaining fairness and providing access to justice. He had no need to defend me. He chose to. In the two years that Andrew represented me, he was always there for me and worked tirelessly in the preparation of my defence. Andrew is quite simply, a decent and special human being and an exceptional solicitor.”

    Sarah Hermitage
Home / Our people / Andrew Stephenson

About Andrew

Andrew is recognised as one of the leading Defamation Lawyers in the country.

Andrew has unrivalled experience in advising high profile political figures on national and international reputational issues.

He has dealt with many leading High Court cases where jurisdiction has been in issue, including Papandreou v Time Magazine, Bachchan v Dagens Nyheter, Schapira v Ahronson, Berezovsky v Forbes and Jameel v Dow Jones.

Andrew has worked with lawyers from many countries, including the US, Russia, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Brazil and China. He has also had notable successes defending individuals who have been sued for defamation by wealthy claimants.

He acted for the Danish professor Henrik Thomsen when he was sued by the US, UK and Norwegian GE Healthcare companies and for Sarah Hermitage when she was sued by a Tanzanian multi-millionaire, Reginald Mengi. Andrew has also advised book, magazine and newspaper publishers and television companies on matters of libel, privacy and the law of contempt.

Andrew was a member of the Ministry of Justice working group set up in 2010 to consider reform of libel law, which led to the Defamation Act 2013.

Andrew is recognised by Chambers and Partners as a Ranked Lawyer for defamation/reputation management.

Andrew is recognised by Legal 500 as Recommended Lawyer for reputation management.

Work Highlights

  • From 2012 until 2014, Andrew defended Sarah Hermitage, when she faced a libel claim over a blog in which she recounted how she and her husband had been forced by corruption and intimidation to abandon a farm they had established in Tanzania; the court ruled in her favour and found the claimant and his witnesses to have given evidence which was misleading and untrue
  • From 1997 Andrew represented the Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky until his death in 2013, advising on media issues and defending him against two sets of extradition proceedings.
  • From 2008 until the case was settled in 2010, he acted for the Danish Professor Henrik Thomsen, who was sued for libel after he had raised well-founded suspicions of a link between a pharmaceutical product and the rare but serious disease, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis.