Leading KC sues The Times

Dinah Rose issues claim for defamation

The leading barrister Dinah Rose KC has commenced defamation proceedings against the publishers of The Times and one of it journalists. The case appears in the High Court list, as monitored by the legal information service Vizlegal:

Last year, the Bar Standards Board issued a public apology to Rose in connection with an allegation published by The Times on 21 November.

As I reported at the time, the newspaper had quoted the regulator as having told a complainant that Rose’s interpretation of one of the bar’s professional rules “might possibly amount to evidence of recklessness” if “taken at its highest”.

In fact, said the regulator subsequently, it “did not find Ms Rose to have been ‘reckless’ or to have acted inappropriately”. 

The board confirmed that it had taken no regulatory action against Rose and had made no ruling against her. “We apologise to Ms Rose if this has not been made sufficiently clear,” it said.

The Times report was subsequently taken down although readers’ comments on it remain accessible.

Dinah Rose KC

Rose has made no comment today. But she announced last year that she would be taking legal proceedings:

Dinah Rose @DinahGLRoseKC

@TimesLaw were warned that they were taking a quote from a press release out of context, without the decision being available. They pressed on and published it, regardless. I have instructed solicitors to bring libel proceedings.

Her solicitor Mark Lewis told me:

I confirm that I have commenced proceedings on behalf of Dinah Rose KC. At this time it would not be appropriate to comment.

Rose is a leading member of Blackstone Chambers and president of Magdalen College, Oxford.