Andrew Willan

Spear’s Review

‘I’m not your traditional libel lawyer,’ Andrew Willan tells Spear’s. ‘I do a lot of cases that involve the mainstream traditional press, but my caseload and practice involve wider reputation threats — whether that’s cyber threats or anything relating to data.’ 

Acting for clients engaged in commercial disputes or state-backed attacks is not unusual for the Payne Hicks Beach partner, who often finds himself in the Family Court, Commercial Court and Coroners’ Courts. 

Willan regularly advises high-profile, high-net-worth individuals, from celebrities and sportspeople to politicians, entrepreneurs and businesspeople. The field of reputation management is evolving, he acknowledges, as clients face new and dynamic threats. ‘Gone are the days where you can just expect blanket privacy,’ he says. ‘Every significantly wealthy individual has to expect their profile to be in the public domain to some extent, so it’s important for clients to pre-empt issues.’ 

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 groundbreaking 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.