Spear’s Review

'More often than not, the client just wants fair treatment by the media, which is not unreasonable, and I think we’re particularly good at getting that,’ says Simkins partner Tom Iverson, who has more than 20 years’ experience in reputation law.

He splits his practice between reputation protection work and entertainment disputes, drawing on strong experience in media law issues, including privacy, defamation and intellectual property.

While Simkins is ‘traditionally a media and entertainment firm’ and thus counts several high-profile musicians and actors as clients, Iverson also works with companies, royalty and high-profile politicians. He is as confident in securing injunctions as he is in lodging appeals with various industry regulators, including Ofcom, the Advertising Standards Agency and the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The majority of his reputation work is handled through pre-publication correspondence. He tells Spear’s that ‘95 per cent of the time [the reputation team] are solving things without the need to sue for defamation’.