A former City partner who sat on the board of press reform campaign group Hacked Off is now leading a charity to support members of the public affected by press abuse.
Press Justice Project, founded and chaired by Stephen Kinsella OBE, held its first conference this month. Kinsella, who co-founded litigation funder Law for Change, which backs cases in the wider public interest, received a Law Society ‘Legal Hero’ award this year for his contributions to legal practice.
The conference heard that Kinsella previously sat on the board of Hacked Off. ‘A lot of work Hacked Off was doing could be described as charitable. But because of the political nature of the work and sensitivities, it would be hard to convert Hacked Off into a charity,’ Kinsella said.
Press Justice Project is not a charitable wing of Hacked Off, Kinsella stressed – but it shares the campaign group’s aims and objectives. Being a charity enables Press Justice Project to fundraise, he added.
Press Justice Project’s board members include Christopher Jefferies, a patron of Hacked Off, and Professor Chris Frost, a former president of the National Union of Journalists who has given evidence to the House of Commons select committee on press regulation and the Leveson Inquiry.
The legal risks of artificial intelligence, media developments and legal implications for dramatic retellings of real-life events were the subjects of panel discussions at Press Justice Project’s first conference, entitled ‘Reputation, Privacy and Media Law’. Speakers included Bindmans’ Tamsin Allen, Matrix Chambers’ Hugh Tomlinson KC, and journalist and playwright Tim Walker. The conference was hosted at City firm Brown Rudnick’s London office.
