About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of proposed anti-SLAPP legislation in the UK and features a debate between legal experts with differing views on the topic.

Last week two parallel Private Bills were introduced in the House of Commons and House of Lords by Baroness Stowell of Beeston and Sir John Whittingdale MP (https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4163) with the aim of expanding the existing law to tackle so-called SLAPP litigation – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – defined by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as “a misuse of the legal system through bringing claims or threatening claims that are unmeritorious or characterised by abusive tactics in order to stifle lawful scrutiny and publication”. To debate the justification for extending the existing law as set out in sections 194 and 195 of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (currently limited solely to freedom of expression in relation to economic crime issues) Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by two media law Titans – Hugh Tomlinson KC and Gavin Millar KC – who have dramatically different views on the need for and practicality of anti-SLAPP laws. Is it right, as the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition argue, that the UK legal system tops the bill in terms of SLAPP suits (https://antislapp.uk/what-is-a-slapp/cases-in-focus/)? Is the…

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