In the first seminar of 2024/2025, we are pleased to welcome David Hooper as our guest speaker. David will be talking about his book 'Buying Silence' which describes how wealthy individuals and corporations have gradually hijacked our libel laws and how Russian oligarchs, plutocrats and corporations suborned English law firms into bending to their will getting them to act in cases and using methods which they should have declined to be involved with.

David will discuss who brings SLAPP actions, why and how and what it is like taking on an oligarch such as Boris Berezovsky. He will also speak about what it is like being personally hacked and working with the FBI and then being personally subjected to a SLAPP action in Greece. 

David will talk about the importance of freedom of speech and the need for a proper anti-SLAPPs law and the need for equality in this area of the law and an end to the gross overcharging by law firms in libel cases.

David Hooper is a leading libel solicitor, having worked with top publishers and newspapers, as well as a serving prime minister and many key figures in business and politics. His previous books include Public Scandal, Odium and Contempt, Official Secrets: The Use and Abuse of the Act and Reputations Under Fire: Winners and Losers in the Libel Business.

A Google Meet Link will be emailed before the event takes place.