Graham Atkins

Practice Areas

Graham is widely-acknowledged as a leading libel, privacy and reputation management lawyer, recognised in the media, Chambers and other leading independent directories for many years. He has 30 years’ experience in his field, qualifying at Dentons, then working at media and commercial firms before founding predecessor firms Atkins Solicitors, Atkins Thomson (Top Rank Legal 500) and then continuing his work with Rob Dellow and the team at Atkins Dellow.

Career

His work is often of a political nature, dealing with media of all forms in the run up to Leadership Elections and General Elections. Graham has represented Governments, Cabinet Ministers, Political Parties, Chief’s of Staff, Presidents and Prime Ministers, including Tony Blair, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. For over 15 years, Graham represented Cherie and Tony Blair and their family. He worked in media matters for the Qatari World Cup, as well as acting for the FA at a previous tournament, He was instructed by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, for whom he won a ground-breaking libel victory against the BBC, succeeding for a foreign leader in this jurisdiction. This led to him being The Times Lawyer of the Week. He has also been Law Society Gazette Lawyer in the News for a libel case he successfully brought against then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Graham is honoured to have advised dozens of leading individuals across the board, many of whom cannot be named, but including: in the Arts (Sir Norman Rosenthal and Nica Burns); Sport (Shane Warne, Razor Ruddock, Fatima Whitbread); and Entertainment (Michael Jackson, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, David Soul, Naomi Campbell, Simon Cowell, Sally Morgan, Anna Richardson, Sean Bean, Randy and Janet Jackson); He has represented Royalty, UHNWs, business leaders and corporations. In particular, Graham works closely with PR, Public Affairs and Strategic Consultants, Business Intelligence and other related companies, protecting brands and those under attack from digital and non-traditional media threats.

Graham has regularly succeeded in cases against the most powerful and wealthy opponents, national newspapers and broadcasters. Often he has prevented damaging and defamatory material being published or broadcast. He has also dealt with cross-border litigation of a varied nature. He is frequently instructed by international and City law firms in his areas of specialism. He advises in matrimonial matters where privacy interests can be vital, intellectual property work including TV format work, where he succeeded for Brian Belo against the makers and broadcasters of TOWIE. He also undertakes general commercial dispute resolution, and has worked on sanctions and other regulatory matters.