Schillings

Schillings

Law at the speed of reputation
Type	Limited Liability Partnership
Industry	Law
Founded	London, 1984
Headquarters	Bedford Square, Soho, London, United Kingdom
Area served	United Kingdom, international
Services	Legal advice and Advocacy
Website	www.schillings.co.uk

Schillings (originally boutique law firm Schilling & Lom) is a London-based multi-disciplinary business specialising in reputation management and privacy protection. The company is an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) and regulated and authorised by the United Kingdom's Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). It employs over fifteen lawyers, risk managers and IT security consultants and offers services covering risk consulting, legal services and IT security.

In November 2012 Schillings were named Law Firm of the Year (Reputation & Privacy) by Spears WMS.^[1] In January 2012, Schillings provided a submission to the Leveson Inquiry.^[2]

History

The firm was founded in 1984 by Keith Schilling and Nicholas Lom and focused largely on media law, libel, and privacy protection. It soon became known as the scourge of many Fleet Street editors for obtaining anonymised gagging orders to protect celebrity clients' privacy.^[3] In the early 2010s, the firm began to move away from pure media and libel work towards reputation protection for a largely corporate, non-celebrity clientele.^[4]

In 2012 Schillings acquired the information security firm Vigilante Bespoke.^[5] In March 2013 the firm was granted two Alternative Business Structure licenses, one for the Schillings partnership and one for Schillings Corporate Limited which owns Vigilante Bespoke.^[6][7]

The company restructured its organisation in September 2013 and is now an integrated legal, risk management, IT security and investigation business.^[8] This move was accompanied by a re-branding and website relaunch.^[9][10]

Notable cases

In 2004, Schillings helped Lance Armstrong in his fight against doping allegations in the book L. A. Confidentiel, by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester. Schillings was told to tell "every UK paper and broadcaster" to not re-state what was in the book.^[11] Gideon Benaim and Matthew Himsworth worked for Schillings on Armstrong's libel actions,^[12] including a 2004 defamation suit against The Sunday Times for referencing information in the book.^[13]

In May 2008, Keith Schilling won a privacy case in the Court of Appeal for the son of Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling. The case effectively established a law of privacy for children of famous parents granting them protection from intrusive photography by paparazzi.^[14][15]

In April and May 2011, Schillings acted for Ryan Giggs in CTB v News Group Newspapers, and obtained a "super-injunction" aimed at preventing the publication by The Sun of the details of an alleged extra-marital relationship between Giggs and Imogen Thomas. The case was notable for the widespread media coverage and political discussion that it generated in the UK.^[16][17][18]

In October 2012 Schillings' family division acted for the respondent husband in reported case BP v KP and NI. A unique divorce case, it drew in not only companies by which one of the spouses was employed but also former colleagues and associates with whom a spouse was professionally acquainted.^[19]

In January 2013 Schillings acted for Ned RocknRoll, husband to Kate Winslet. The firm obtained an order preventing the Sun newspaper from publishing private images of RocknRoll taken from a Facebook page.^[20]

In May 2013 Schillings acted for Dale Vince who won his appeal against his ex-wife’s claim for maintenance. This was viewed as a landmark judgment which set a precedent for future financial claims that may be made many years after a relationship has ended.^[21][22]

In July 2013 Schillings acted for the author JK Rowling who brought proceedings against a lawyer who revealed that she had been writing under a pseudonym.^[23]

Notable partners

• Founder Keith Schilling was listed as 10th in the Times 100 most Powerful Lawyers list 2008,^[24] and named in the Evening Standard‍ '​s 2008 Survey of the 1000 most influential people in London.^[25] In 2013, Schilling was awarded the ‘Super Lawyer’ leading lawyer accolade.^[26]
• Rod Christie Miller spoke to the parliamentary joint committee in 2011 on the draft defamation bill.^[27]
• Rachel Atkins acted for Jimmy Nail and Sir Stelios Haji-loannou in his libel case against Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary.^[28]
• Chris Scott, who was promoted to partner in January 2012,^[29] was involved with the firm's submission to the Leveson Inquiry. He discussed the effect of the Leveson report's findings on reputation management in The Lawyer.^[30]
• Jenny Afia, who was also promoted to partner on 1 January 2012, was named Young Solicitor of the Year at the British Legal Awards 2008.^[31] She was listed in Management Today’s 35 Women Under 35 in 2013.^[32]
• Davina Katz (née Hay) heads the firm's family division. She is recommended as a top family lawyer by Spear's Wealth Management,^[33] and is included in Private Client Practitioner’s ‘Top 35 Under 35’ listing and the CityWealth Leaders list.^[34]

Former partners

• John Kelly who represented John Terry.
• Simon Smith, former Schillings managing partner, who has Hollywood actress Keira Knightley, Pam Brighton,^[35] Caprice, the Government of Saudi Arabia, Tiger Woods and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo among his clients.^[36]

References

External links

• The Schillings website
• The Vigilante Bespoke website