SRA takes action against UK lawyer for alleged SLAPP

Nadhim Zahawi MP

The Solicitors Regulation Authority, which governs the registration of solicitors in England and Wales has launched disciplinary action against Ashley Hurst, of Osborne Clarke, lawyer for Nadhim Zahawi MP.

In July 2022, Nadhim Zahawi was the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, responsible for the UK tax authority HMRC and relevant regulation.

Tax expert and blogger Dan Neidle had written a piece criticising Zahawi for failing to declare that he had been the subject of a HMRC investigation himself, which had resulted in the payment of multi-million pound settlement, which included a penalty for non-payment of tax.

The SRA has become incrasingly interested in SLAPPs, issuing a warning notice to its members in November 2022, which was revised and reissued this May, in response to new UK anti-SLAPP legislation.

The SRA has also asked for referals of SLAPP incidents by its members for investigation. This, however, marks the first time that the authority has taken disciplinary action.

The case before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal is carefully couched and centres on attempts to stop publication of the legal threats received by Dan Neidle, rather than the initial legal threats themselves. The SRA alleges that, notwithstanding that it was not necessarily inappropriate to threaten legal action over the blog post itself, trying to stop the revelation that such a threat had been made was both "inappropriate" and "improper." This attempt was not grounded in legal principles, alleged the SRA, but rathr "appears to have been made to try and shield Mr Zahawi and his affairs from further public scrutiny.”

Neidle himself had referred the correspondence he had received to the SRA. Osborne Clarke deny the allegations. A full tribunal hearing has not yet been scheduled.