The Reframing Libel symposium programme
A few more details (subject to change) about the day:
09.30 Registration
10.00 Morning sessions
13.00 Lunch break
14.00 Afternoon Sessions
16.30 Close
PROGRAMME
09.30 Registration
10.00 Morning sessions
• Welcome: Professor Paul Curran, Vice-Chancellor
• Introduction: Lord Lester of Herne Hill, co-chair of symposium
Session One
• Razi Mireskandari
Partner, Simons, Muirhead & Burton
Reframing the cost of libel
• Dr Peter Wilmshurst
Consultant cardiologist at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital
Changing the experience of being sued and the impact on science/medical research
• Professor Roy Greenslade
The Guardian & City University London
What needs to happen from the media’s perspective?
11.20 -11.35 Tea break
Session Two
• Claire de Than
City University London
Libel defences
• Dominic Crossley
Partner, Collyer Bristow
Reframing the time it takes to get to a libel trial
• Robert Dougans
Associate, Bryan Cave
The online perspective
• Magnus Boyd & Andrew Stephenson
Partner and senior partner, Carter Ruck
Corporate libel a special case? / Science and libel
13.00 Lunch break
14.00 Afternoon Sessions
Session Three
• Hugh Tomlinson QC
Barrister, Matrix Chambers
The practitioner’s view
• Tracey Brown
Managing director, Sense about Science
The importance of the citizen critic
• Gavin Sutter
Queen Mary University
Libel reform: an academic perspective
• Professor Alastair Mullis & Dr Andrew Scott
University of East Anglia and London School of Economics
‘Taking (all) rights seriously and where it leads’
15.25 Tea break
15.40 Panel debate
• With Dr Evan Harris, libel reform campaigner and former Liberal Democrat MP; Lord Lester of Herne Hill, barrister, Blackstone Chambers; Padraig Reidy, Index on Censorship, David Allen Green, Preiskel & Co; Mark Lewis, solicitor advocate, Taylor Hampton; and Dr Andrew Scott, the London School of Economics.
16.30 Close
Background
Organised by Connie St Louis of the Department of Journalism on behalf of the Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism at City University London. This symposium brings together leading academics and practitioners in the field of Libel Law .
The event is chaired by Lord Anthony Lester who recently introduced a Defamation Bill in the House of Lords; and Dr Evan Harris, former Liberal Democrat MP and libel reform campaigner.
The contributors to the seminar will discuss various aspects in which Libel Law can be ‘reframed’. It will address issues such as cost, length of time to go to trial as well as improving the experience of the person being sued. The impact of the law on scientific and medical research will also be debated as well as the challenges facing bloggers.
The papers presented by the contributors on the day will become the first in a series of working papers for the Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism at City University London and will be entitled ‘Reframing Libel’. They will be published soon after the event. It’s hoped that this book will add to the debate before the government publishes its White Paper on Libel which is due in January 2011.
City University London, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0DB
