Lawyer of the week - The Times - 23 July 2009
Rachel Atkins is a litigator specialising in reputation management for corporate organisations, entrepreneurs and high-profile individuals from both the business world and entertainment industry.
Rachel is a leader in her field and applies her expert knowledge of the law of defamation, privacy, intellectual property and commercial litigation to provide media management advice on pre- and post-publication issues for clients. She has acted for blue-chip companies ranging from one of the world’s top steel makers to a leading global pharmaceuticals company and a major airline. She has also represented international entrepreneurs.
Her reputation management work for corporate organisations and business entrepreneurs is extensive. Rachel was one of the Schillings partners involved in helping GlaxoSmithKline to obtain an injunction in 2006 to protect its shareholders from animal rights extremists. Rachel has also advised corporate clients, on various media management issues from a legal point of view, such as the London Stock Exchange, Lloyds Pharmacy and Arcelor Mittal.
“We work closely with major corporations. We speak their language. We know how they think, act and what their priorities are. The reputation of a company and its brand has to be safeguarded,” she says. “Acting swiftly to head off threats to a company’s reputation is vital.”
Rachel successfully represented Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, a key shareholder in Premiership football club Arsenal FC, in a high-profile defamation case against The Mail on Sunday. Usmanov received a public apology from the newspaper in March 2008.
Rachel has also represented Hollywood film stars, Premiership football players and a former Fleet Street newspaper editor, as well as fashion designers, publishers and film producers.
In 2009 Rachel acted for a high profile celebrity father, who supported by the mother, successfully challenged the media’s right of access under rules designed to open up family courts to public scrutiny. In the first test case under the rules the High Court division ruled that the media should be excluded from the hearing in the best interests of the child.
She represented the U.S. actor Will Smith in early 2008, securing an apology, damages and costs from World Entertainment News Network for publishing a defamatory article about him. She also successfully represented Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney in a libel case against The Sun and the News of the World. The newspapers agreed to pay damages and publish prominent apologies to the football star in 2006.
Rachel helped actress Rosanna Arquette to secure damages, costs and an apology from The News of the World for an article published by the newspaper in 2007. She also acted for the former editor of The Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan, in an employment dispute with the newspaper which was settled in 2004.
Rachel is a member of the International Bar Association, the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners. Within it, she is a member of the Committee of the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Group.