Andrew Willan

Spear’s Review

Andrew Willan is a media and privacy lawyer with a background in general commercial disputes. ‘I deal with the whole range: libel, harassment, privacy, cyber, data protection, disclosure, breach of confidence, and your general contractual and commercial claims as well,’ he says. His practice spans various jurisdictions; he regularly liaises with lawyers in LA and across Europe.

Early on in Willan’s career, he secured favourable outcomes in some of the largest data protection cases in the UK. It has been a case of building on that success ever since, and ‘continuing to work with some very interesting people with important reputations at stake’.

His clients reflect the pedigree of Payne Hicks Beach; Willan regularly advises high-profile high-net-worth individuals, from celebrities and sportspeople to politicians, entrepreneurs, and businesspeople. ‘Even though we predominantly act for claimants against the newspapers, we also act for some niche publishers. It’s a broad spread of claimant and defendant work,’ he says.

Adviser Profile

Andrew specialises in reputation management. His work covers all aspects of media law, including defamation, confidence, privacy, harassment and data protection. With a background in commercial litigation, he has considerable expertise in high value disputes, particularly those involving civil fraud and cybersecurity. 

Andrew has particular expertise in the evolving field of cyber and privacy law, representing victims of highly sophisticated cyber-attacks and privacy intrusions in some of the most significant and ground-breaking cases including the high profile litigation in the Family Division of the High Court concerning the hacking of Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein’s mobile telephone.