John Kelly

Spear’s Review

 ‘Around 90 per cent of our work is preventative,’ says John Kelly of Harbottle & Lewis, who has been involved in many of his field’s most high-profile cases and developments.

Over the years he has represented A-listers and, for Melania Trump, secured one of the largest settlements to go through the UK courts.

Kelly – who specialises in reputation protection, privacy and defamation – tells Spear’s that discretion and confidentiality are key. Technology might change the way the game is played, but one tenet of reputation management remains unchanged.

 ‘People think that if you’re in the public eye, it’s access all areas,’ he explains. ‘But the opposite is true. We work with clients to develop safe areas around their homes, children and private lives. It provides enormous comfort to have such sanctuary.’

Adviser Profile

‘Around 90 per cent of our work is preventative,’ John Kelly tells a Spear's staffer all too familiar with receiving one of Harbottle’s firmly worded legal warnings during time served at the Daily Mail.

 ‘Yes. We spend a healthy amount of time on issues with the Mail and others,’ he adds,  ‘but the rules of engagement with traditional media are fairly well understood.’

A specialist in reputation protection, privacy and defamation, and a regular speaker on the subject internationally, Kelly has been involved in many of the field’s most high-profile cases and developments: over the years he has represented A-listers such as Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie and Madonna, he also won a settlement described as one of the largest to go through the UK courts – for Melania Trump, over the Mail’s false claims about her past. Other clients include HNW individuals, sports stars, successful entrepreneurs, well-known brands and FTSE 100 companies.

Kelly tells Spear’s that discretion and confidentiality are key. As technology changes the way the game is played, however, one tenet of reputation management remains unchanged: ‘People think that if you’re in the public eye it's access all areas,’ he explains. ‘But the opposite is true. We work with clients to develop safe areas around their homes, children and private lives. It provides enormous comfort to have such sanctuary.’

Kelly also represents corporate clients, which include leading consumer brands, as well as companies in the financial services and charity sector. He is able to work on corporate brand protection, advising on the media law aspects of complex litigation, and the protection of private and confidential information in such cases. In addition to this, he has extensive experience of dealing with consumer affairs television programmes.