Keith named as one of the 1000 most influential people in London for the second year - Evening Standard, November 2009
Sunday Times article - Keith Schilling -22 March 2009
Keith Schilling - The Hot 100, 2007 List - The Lawyer
Features Editor Gemma Westacott talks to Hot 100 star Keith Schilling,
[Interview starts at 12 min 15 seconds] – The Lawyer, January 2007
Keith Schilling named as one of the UK’s top 10 most powerful and influential lawyers - The Times, April 2008
Keith Schilling is Senior Partner and Co-Founder of Schillings, which is regarded as the pre-eminent claimant law firm in England, specialising in safeguarding the reputations and privacy rights of celebrities, international corporations, brands, as well as high-profile business and political figures. He also specialises in Divorce and family law where his expertise in handling consequential media issues involving threats to privacy and reputation of those involved is highly valued.
Keith is a Solicitor-Advocate and in 2008 was placed 10th in the Times list of the 100 most powerful and influential lawyers in England for his work in achieving a number of landmark decisions in privacy law and was named as one of the 1000 most influential people in London for the second year according to the Evening Standard’s 2009 survey. He has been described as “the Rottweiler” by Private Eye magazine, as well as the “Injunction King” by the Guardian, and a “formidable litigation lawyer” by the Telegraph. In an interview by the Sunday Times, Keith was quoted as being “… exactly the sort of lawyer you need in the libel trenches with you in dangerous times.” and The Economist magazine has referred to Schillings as being “…the City’smost fearsome defamation lawyers”.
His work in defamation, privacy, breach of confidence, copyright and divorce, has made him one of the most sought-after media lawyers in Britain. He has helped to protect the reputations of film, sport and entertainment stars as well as top companies and business executives.
“Our mission is to be the first port of call for every chief executive, politician, celebrity and high-profile individual who has an issue with the media,” Keith says.
Keith has represented Oscar-winning actresses Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie, actors Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig, seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, Manchester United and England’s striker Wayne Rooney, Chef Gordon Ramsay and Elizabeth Hurley as well as other high profile figures including President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, for whom Keith secured a public apology, significant damages and legal costs in July 2009 against The Guardian newspaper.
“We’ve acquired our knowledge through a lot of high-profile cases. We are really tenacious,” he says. “We are innovative and we are not scared of changing the law.”
In May 2008, Keith won a major privacy case in the Court of Appeal for the son of Harry Potter author JK Rowling. This case effectively establishes a law of privacy for children where the parents wish to protect their children from intrusive photography by the paparazzi.
His ground-breaking work acting for the Law Society in 2006 resulted in a successful judicial review against the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) relating to the retrospective application of rules on disclosure of Court documents. The privacy of thousands of litigants was protected as a result.
Keith represented Roman Polanski, the director of “The Pianist” and “Chinatown”, in his successful bid in the House of Lords in 2005 to be allowed to give evidence in a defamation case via video link from France. It was the first time a claimant did not have to appear in person in an English court in a libel case.
In a claim by supermodel Naomi Campbell against the Daily Mirror newspaper, Keith secured a landmark ruling by the House of Lords in 2004 creating for the first time a right of personal privacy in England. In October 2005, Keith won a third House of Lords hearing after the Daily Mirror applied to have “success fees” under a Conditional Fee Agreement disallowed in the Naomi Campbell case.
In family law, Keith represented Shan Lambert, in the first case in England in which a wife was awarded half the marital assets in a “Big Money” divorce settlement. The 2002 ruling by the Court of Appeal was a landmark decision, recognising the work of wives as homemakers. He also represents clients in pre-nuptial agreements and custody cases.
For press enquiries please contact:
Christopher Mills
Business Director
christopher.mills@schillings.co.uk
020 7034 9000