His directory of clients reads like a royal wedding guest list. In matters of defamation and privacy, it doesn’t get much more A-list than David Sherborne — acting as The Duke of Sussex’s lawyer in today’s civil case.
In the past, Sherborne has represented Tony and Cherie Blair, Donald and Melania Trump, Johnny Depp, Chelsea Clinton, Paul McCartney, Benazhir Bhutto, Harry Styles, Mike Tyson – and even Harry’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
“David is a leading barrister in the field of media and communication, specializing in privacy, confidentiality and defamation, as well as matrimonial and sports law,” his profile on the 5RB chambers website reads. He has become the first port of call for celebrities seeking damages for undue intrusions by the press into their private lives.
Sherborne was Lead Counsel for the victims of press intrusion at the Leveson Inquiry – a judicial public inquiry into ethics and practices of the British press launched in 2011, in the wake of the News International phone hacking scandal.
What was the Leveson inquiry?: In the years leading up to 2011, several celebrities, royals and politicians had claimed to have had their phones hacked by the News of the World – a British tabloid. The paper’s royal editor and a private investigator had even been convicted of intercepting phone messages and spent time in prison.
The scandal reached its peak when the Guardian reported that police suspected the cellphone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler had been hacked by News of the World and that messages had been deleted to free up space for new voicemail. The allegations sparked huge public outrage and resulted in the paper’s boss Rupert Murdoch closing down the 168-year-old tabloid newspaper.
In 2011, at the conclusion of the inquiry, Lord Justice Leveson delivered his damning report on the “culture, practices and ethics” of the British press. Leveson claimed that sections of the press “had wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained.”