Hannah Ready
Hannah’s practice covers the full ambit of media and information law, including:
- Defamation
- Malicious falsehood
- Privacy
- Breach of confidence
- Data protection (including data breach and group litigation)
- Harassment
Hannah has broad-ranging experience across each of those practice areas and is particularly well placed to deal with actions involving both data/privacy and reputational issues. She has considerable experience in group litigation claims and has acted in large scale commercial actions involving data protection, privacy and defamation. Hannah also has a keen interest in non-contentious reputation management and strategy work. This includes press and social media monitoring on behalf of both individuals and corporations in the public eye.
Case highlights include:
- A Supreme Court appearance in a landmark privacy action concerning the right of arrestees in child sex offence cases to remain anonymous (Khuja v Times Newspapers Ltd);
- A Court of Appeal appearance in Lachaux v AOL (UK) Ltd, which gave rise to the first appellate decision on the ‘serious harm test’ under section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013;
- Acting for the largest group of Defendants between 2014 and 2020 in multi-million-pound litigation concerning the alleged blacklisting of construction workers (The Construction Industry Vetting Information Group Litigation);
- Continuing to act for English water companies against restitution claims for over £150 million in fees paid for information which it is now said ought to have been provided for free
- Acting for the Defendant in Farley v Equiniti, which is set to give rise to the leading Court of Appeal authority on the existence and applicability of a threshold of seriousness in UK data protection law.
Hannah was awarded a 2012 Pegasus Scholarship to work at the New York offices of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP, where she gained both a broad grounding in American media law and experience in advising on cross-jurisdictional issues.
Recommendations
“Hannah Ready is very thorough, very committed to the client and very user-friendly.” Chambers & Partners 2023 (Defamation and Privacy)
“She has brilliant attention to detail, is always collaborative and part of the team.” Chambers & Partners 2023 (Data Protection)
“Hannah is committed, diligent, knowledgeable and user-friendly.” Legal 500 2023 (Defamation and Privacy)
“Hannah is good at dealing with clients and approachable, having an easy and straightforward manner. Her oral advocacy is particularly impressive, as she marshals complex arguments in a clear and straightforward style.” Legal 500 2023 (Data Protection)
“She is user-friendly, committed and meticulous; a joy to work with.” Chambers & Partners 2022 (Defamation and Privacy)
“She’s very bright, very personable and ambitious, clear and determined to do a good job.” Chambers & Partners 2022 (Data Protection)
“Her work is always excellent. She is pragmatic, meticulous and user-friendly.” Chambers & Partners 2022 (Data Protection)
“Hannah skilfully balances sound legal analysis with commercial awareness” Legal 500 2022 (Defamation and Privacy)
“Her strengths include the capacity to balance intellectual legal analysis with a client’s commercial objective” Legal 500 2022 (Data Protection)
“Highly intelligent, meticulous and a pleasure to work with.” “Excellent – pragmatic, clear and dependable.” Chambers & Partners 2021 (Defamation and Privacy)
“She is very thorough and knowledgeable.” “She is meticulous and has an eye for detail.” Chambers & Partners 2021 (Data Protection)
“Fiercely intellectual, meticulous in her preparation and attention to detail and provides shrewd advice far beyond her year of call. She is wonderfully understated when packing a punch and fantastic with client.” Legal 500 2021 (Data Protection/Defamation & Privacy)
“Fiercely bright, very much liked by clients, very good on paper, and she has very good judgement.” Chambers & Partners 2020 (Data Protection)
“Razor-sharp and approachable.” “Provides excellent advice in conference and on paper.” Chambers & Partners 2020 (Defamation and Privacy)
“Very bright junior, clearly going places in the future.” The Legal 500 2019 (Defamation and Privacy)
“She always brings fresh thinking and a new approach to the discussion.” The Legal 500 2019 (Data Protection)
“Bright, hard-working, focused and very easy to work with.” Chambers and Partners 2019 (Defamation and Privacy)
“She’s very measured, calm, and authoritative beyond her years.” “She gets on top of the legal issues immediately, and she’s extremely pleasant to work with.” Chambers and Partners 2019 (Data Protection)
“She’s bright, hard-working, focused and very easy to work with.” Chambers and Partners 2018
“Has a good eye for detail. Gets stuck into difficult matters and is incredibly bright.” The Legal 500 2018 (Defamation and Privacy)
“She has such a depth of expertise in the data protection area that she is able to comprehensively advise on the spot.” The Legal 500 2018 (Data Protection)
“Up-and-coming barrister who is quickly establishing a reputation as a leading junior at the Defamation Bar.” “She’s an exceptional junior; she’s good at drafting, responsive and hard-working.” “She is very impressive and gives excellent advice in conference and on paper. A rising star.” Chambers and Partners 2017
“She is excellent, efficient and supremely bright.” The Legal 500 2017 (Defamation and Privacy)
“She is very bright and has excellent judgement.” The Legal 500 2017 (Data Protection)
“Popular junior whose impressive and diverse practice has developed far beyond the expected level for her year of call.” “She’s great; fantastic and willing to roll her sleeves up. She’s very clever, but approachable and user-friendly.” “She’s very bright and gives good commercial advice.” Chambers and Partners 2016
“There is a confidence and maturity to her advice that is beyond her year of call.” The Legal 500 2016
“Has quickly become a rising star in the sector since her 2010 call, and has built up a substantial client base. Peers predict she will be a market-leading barrister in the future.” “She’s marvellous” Chambers and Partners 2015
“A confident and robust junior, and a strong team player.” The Legal 500 2015
Recent Cases
Defamation
Richard Lynton-Jones v Baroness Michelle Mone (2022) – acted for Baroness Mone in a libel action arising from comments published by her to the Guardian and via her Instagram page.
Christopher Chandler v Chris Bryant MP (2022) – libel action successfully brought in relation to allegations of money laundering first made in Parliament (led by Adrienne Page KC). Hannah has acted for Mr Chandler and the Legatum Institute on a range of matters, some of which are ongoing.
Kamirih v Facebook & Ors (2022) – Hannah acted for Facebook in successfully defending an action brought against various internet and technology companies.
Baltaci v Refinitiv Limited (2021) – acted for the Defendant in a libel action brought in relation to Mehmet Baltaci’s “nonconviction terror” categorisation in World-Check.
The Corporate Macfarlanes Defendants v Amec Building Ltd (2020) – acted in Part 20 proceedings brought by the construction companies which comprised the largest group of Defendants in The Construction Industry Vetting Information Group Litigation.
Danielle Hindley v Associated Newspapers Ltd (2020) – Hannah acted for the Claimant in a libel action successfully brought over false allegations in the Mail on Sunday that Ms Hindley was a “rogue beautician” who had “botched” treatments.
The Construction Industry Vetting Information Group Litigation (2014-2020) – for the largest group of Defendant construction companies, led by Andrew Caldecott KC and Edmund Nourse KC, in this high-profile group litigation concerning the alleged blacklisting of construction workers.
Kennedy v National Trust for Scotland [2019] EWCA Civ 648 – for the National Trust for Scotland, prior to maternity leave, in this important libel and data protection matter concerning issues of forum and service.
Paul Lunt v Times Newspapers Limited (2018) – for solicitor Mr Lunt, led by Manuel Barca KC, in a libel action successfully brought in relation to an article published in the Times Newspaper which wrongly identified Mr Lunt as the subject of a serious allegation of criminality.
Lachaux v AOL (UK) Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1334 – for AOL, led by Manuel Barca KC and, in the Court of Appeal, by Andrew Caldecott KC, in the first-of-its-kind trial of the preliminary issue of serious harm under section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013.
Rightio Ltd v Twitter Inc. (2016) – for Twitter in relation to an application to disclose information concerning account holders alleged to have published defamatory Tweets.
Gloster v Macmillan Publishers Ltd (2016) – successful strike-out application made on behalf of Macmillan Publishers in relation to an article published in the well-known scientific journal, Nature.
Melvyn Cartwright v Dai Havard MP (2014) – for Member of Parliament, Mr Havard, in a successful application to strike out a defamation claim in the High Court in Cardiff.
Todd v BBC (2014) – for the BBC in relation to an application to disclose information concerning an individual said to have posted a defamatory comment on the BBC News website.
Hank Roberts v Times Newspapers Ltd (2013) – for Mr Roberts, the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, in an action against the Sunday Times.
Cairns v Modi [2012] EWCA Civ 1382 – instructed to assist Andrew Caldecott KC in this successful appeal concerning the award of damages in libel actions, with specific responsibility for submissions concerning ‘the grapevine effect’.
Bento v The Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police [2012] EWHC 1525 – for the Defendant police force (with Catrin Evans KC and led by Richard Rampton KC) in a libel action concerning a murder conviction and later acquittal.
Privacy / Data Protection
CR and 473 Ors v Equiniti (ongoing- judgment awaited) – led by Andrew Sharland KC, acting for pension provider, Equiniti, in relation to a claim brought by police officers regarding the sending of their pension statements to outdated addresses. Equiniti has applied to strike out on the basis of triviality.
The Environmental Information Regulations Litigation (ongoing- six week trial listed for November 2023) – led by Timothy Pitt-Payne KC and Edmund Nourse KC for the water companies in what will be a seminal decision regarding the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Collins v Crossrail & Ors (2021-) – acting for ten of the sixteen Defendants, led by Anya Proops KC, in relation to alleged blacklisting and the Crossrail Project.
Calvin Ayre v Refinitiv Limited (2021) – acted for the Defendant, led by Anya Proops KC, in a matter concerning the Claimant’s World-Check profile and his categorisation as a “politically exposed person”.
Horsfall v Google LLC (2021) – acted for Google in successfully seeking an order that the court had no jurisdiction to try a ‘right to be forgotten’ claim.
The Corporate Macfarlanes Defendants v Amec Building Ltd (2020) – see above.
The Construction Industry Vetting Information Group Litigation (2014-2019) – see above.
Kennedy v National Trust for Scotland [2019] EWCA Civ 648 – (see above).
Bains & Ors v Moore & Ors v Wetherby Select Ltd & Ors (2017-2018) – acted for various Non-Parties in relation to privacy, breach of confidence and data protection proceedings concerning alleged corporate espionage and the asbestos industry (led by Manuel Barca KC).
Khuja v Times Newspapers Ltd & Others [2017] UKSC 49 – for the Claimant, led by Manuel Barca KC, in an application for an interim non-disclosure order preventing the identity of the Claimant as an arrestee from being disclosed by The Times newspaper. The case gave rise to a landmark privacy decision of the Supreme Court.
Daley v Griffiths (2017) – instructed in relation to a complaint by the Olympic diver Tom Daley concerning the destruction of images and video footage obtained via private communications.
Rupert Bonham-Smith v Google UK Ltd (2016) – for Google UK in a successful application to strike out a claim brought on ‘right to be forgotten’ grounds.
Henry Herbert Ltd v Google UK Ltd (2016) – instructed by Google UK in relation to an allegedly defamatory review of the Claimant’s business posted on the ‘Google My Business’ platform.
Secondment to the BBC in order to provide data protection advice (2015) – this followed the alleged disclosure of information by a researcher who had worked for an independent production team in relation to a BBC Panorama investigation into Lutfur Rahman, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets.
Higgins v Totaljobs Group Ltd (2013) – successfully defended a claim brought on data protection grounds against Totaljobs Group Ltd, the UK’s largest online recruitment company.
Inquiries / Inquests
The Hillsborough inquests (2014) – assisted the BBC Litigation Department in relation to the release of footage for use at the inquests.
The Pollard review into sexual allegations against Jimmy Savile (2013) – instructed as junior counsel by the BBC Litigation Department and the BBC Trust in order to advise on the release to the general public of those documents underlying the Pollard report.
The Leveson inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press (2012) – drafted legal submissions on behalf of Associated Newspapers Ltd, Guardian News & Media Ltd and the Telegraph Media Group Ltd.
Publications and Seminars
Contributor to Arlidge, Eady & Smith on Contempt, 5th Edition, 2017
Co-author, Atkin’s Court Forms on Defamation
Qualifications
MA (Cantab) (First Class), Law, University of Cambridge (Churchill College)
Silverman Sherliker Award for Legal Excellence; Churchill College Scholarship, 2008
Lord Denning Scholarship; Hardwicke Entrance Award, 2009
Bar Vocational Course, BPP Law School (Outstanding)
Buchanan Prize; Hubert Greenland Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn), 2010
Pegasus Scholarship (Inns of Court), 2012