Mike Brookes

‘The reported demise of the defamation industry that’s been reported every year for the last 20-odd years that I’ve been involved doesn’t seem to have happened,’ Lee & Thompson’s Mike Brookes jokes to Spear’s. The firm’s head of reputation protection is accustomed to working for some of the UK’s most high-profile names, including Jude Law and One Direction. The firm has also seen an upsurge in work for HNW private clients. ‘It’s nice to be involved in that area more and more, and that’s continuing,’ Brookes says. ‘It’s not just taking on the tabloids any more.’