emily@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 7837 405 135
Emily is a highly experienced content lawyer advising across television, digital, film, audio and publishing. Emily started her career in private practice in a top tier media litigation team, before being recruited to join Channel 4’s award winning Legal & Compliance team in 2011. Emily joined Reviewed & Cleared in 2019.

Emily advises production companies, broadcasters and SVoDs at every stage of production, from development to broadcast, advising on:

• all pre and post-publication media law issues;
• regulatory compliance;
• editorial ethics matters;
• production best practice;
• bespoke production protocols;
• undercover filming;
• duty of care and contributor welfare issues.

Emily has extensive experience advising across all genres, including complex factual documentaries - including those filming with emergency services and specialist police units; political programming; undercover investigations; film; factual and fictional drama; satirical comedy; entertainment (including dating shows and set-ups) and live records.

Emily is commended by clients for her collaborative, in-house lawyer approach and for her in-depth consideration of issues and pragmatic solutions. Emily has worked with leading production companies, content producers and broadcasters on high profile and BAFTA award winning programmes and assists programme makers in finding creative solutions to issues and in taking creative risks, in order to broadcast challenging, innovative content.

Programme Experience

A selection of the range of programmes that Emily advised on whilst at Channel 4 includes: many Dispatches investigations; 2020: The Story of Us; Unreported World; Three Identical Strangers; SAS: Who Dares Wins; the Educating documentary series; What British Muslims Really Think; War Child; The Children Who Beat Ebola; President Trump: Can he Really Win?; Britain’s Child Drug Runners; 24 Hours in Police Custody; 24 Hours in A&E; 999: On The Frontline; Kid Criminals; The Tribe; Diana In Her Own Words; The Undateables; First Dates; Young Free & Single; Murder In The Carpark; The Cure; This is England ’90; It’s OK to be Ray; Toast; The Windsors; Derry Girls; Derren Brown; Gogglebox; Made In Chelsea; The Jump; The Last Leg; 10 o’Clock Live; Alan Carr Chatty Man; Big Fat Quiz of the Year; British Comedy Awards; 8 out of 10 Cats; TFI Friday; Alternative Election Night; Election 2017: Corbyn v May Battle for No 10; European Referendum Debate With Jeremy Paxman; The Paralympic and Winter Paralympic Games programming.

A selection of the range of programmes and content that Emily has recently advised on at R&C include: All Or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur; Sex Education (S2); Top Boy (S4); Suspicion; Awakening; The Missing; Inside Cinema; Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back (S2); Channel Hopping with Jon Richardson; Rhod Gilbert’s Growing Pains; Black British and Funny; Critical Incident; Code Zero.

Comments from our clients
We have worked with Prash Naik and Emily Barber over the years and recently on a complex and legally intricate international documentary series and really benefited from their breadth and depth of long standing experience in documentary projects. They involve themselves fully in the subject matter, are quick to respond and provide pragmatic solutions for the team, an approach we really value. We would not hesitate in recommending their services.

Katrina Dick and James Vaughan Jones, Vice Media Group, EMEA

Emily Barber has been working closely with the production and business affairs teams at Eleven Film, providing advice on content legals for Sex Education Season 3 for Netflix. Emily has been fantastic to work with throughout the production process, very quick to respond to any ad hoc queries, as well as providing comprehensive script reports for each episode of the programme. She offers very practical, actionable advice on the content legal aspect of the programme and is a great source of knowledge regarding copyright, libel and privacy issues.

Eleven Film

jan@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 777 5446 949
Jan was admitted as a Solicitor in 1996. She initially specialised in criminal law and public law, such as judicial review and later developed a niche editorial legal practice.

In 1999 she joined Guardian News & Media as a media lawyer and helped to set up the in-house editorial legal department. She was in-house senior editorial lawyer atGuardian News & Media for some 18 years, playing a leading role in award winning in-house team for the Observer and Guardian. Since 2016 she has developed her own practise as a media lawyer offering pre-publication advice and training to news organisations, broadcasters, specialist publishers and NGOs. Jan has worked with highly respected publishers and broadcasters including The Times & Sunday Times, Guardian News & Media, ITN as well as with NGOs such as Global Witness and specialist publishers such as British Medical Journal.

Jan advises on editorial (including digital and broadcast) content; on prepublication issues; data protection policies and practices; ethical issues around newsgathering; intellectual property; and compliance questions.

She has expertise in freedom of information having handled several successful FOI appeals including the case of R(Evans) v HIM Attorney General (Supreme Court) 2015 (access to Prince Charles’ correspondence with government Ministers).

Publications
Her publications include training materials on journalistic privilege and freedom of expression to the European Council 2014-2015 and co-author “Regulating the media” in Media Law, Oxford University Press 2009 (former name Jan Johannes), and “The Rise of Collaboration in Investigative Journalism”, The Reuters Institute 2018.

Qualifications Include
Practitioner Certificate, Data Protection PDP
Practitioner Certificate, Freedom of Information Distinction PDP
Admitted to Solicitors Roll 1996
Legal Practice Court, College of Law 1994
Common Professional Entrance, Commended 1993
Food Resources Related to Community Development, Queen Mary’s College, University of London 1981
BA Social Anthropology 2:1 University of Sussex, 1980

anna@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Anna has been a content lawyer since the beginning of 2000, when she joined our sister business, Wiggin LLP. For 20 years she worked providing production advice for the major US studios and broadcasters on their UK and European productions and giving pre-publication advice to UK print and digital publishers.

Alongside her pre-broadcast and pre-publication work, she practised as a litigator defending media clients and their insurers in content-related claims, particularly in ‘idea submission’ claims, copyright. libel, privacy, and contempt. Notable cases include:

Nick Martin v Julia Kogan [2019] EWCA Civ 1645 and [2017] EWHC 2927 (IPEC) -acting for the film companies on a case concerning the authorship of the script for Florence Foster Jenkins

Nicholas Brown v Tom Bower [2017] EWHC 2637 (QB) - acting for the publisher Faber & Faber Ltd in defence of a libel claim

Banner Universal v Endemol Shine Group [2017] EWHC 2600 (Ch) -acting for the television companies in defence of an ‘idea submission’ claim

The Attorney General v The Conde Nast Publications Ltd [2016] EWHC 682 (Admin) -acting for the publisher in response to a contempt of court prosecution

This unique experience means she is very well equipped to give realistic and practical advice to media clients on their risk exposure and how to keep themselves out of trouble.

She now focusses exclusively on content work.

Experience

Books

Anna regularly reads for the major publishers of print and audiobooks, both non-fiction and fiction and in all genres, but particularly memoirs, including the best-sellers Mel B’s ‘Brutally Honest’, Pete Paphides’ ‘Broken Greek’, Ben Stokes’ ‘Firestarter’, Noel Fitzpatrick’s ‘Being the Supervet’, Tara Westover’s ‘Educated’, David Jason’s ‘My Life’ and ‘A Del of a Life’, Ant Middleton’s ‘Zero Negativity’, Megan Phelps Roper’s ‘Unfollow’ and Oliver Stone’s ‘Chasing the Light’.

Films & Television

Anna has 20+ years’ experience of assisting productions and their clearance co-ordinators with legal advice on scripts (principally for libel, privacy, copyright issues), neg check reports, set decoration, props, costume, including advice on incidental inclusion and fair dealing. She is used to assisting US productions on the different approach taken to production clearances in the UK. She regularly advises insurers and their clients on their applications for Errors & Omissions insurance.

TV Productions advised have included ‘Chernobyl’, ‘Black Narcissus’, ‘The Serpent’, ‘The Crown’, ‘Ted Lasso’, ‘Treadstone’, ‘The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann’, ‘Ted Lasso’, ‘The Rhythm Section’ and ‘A Very British Scandal’.

Film productions advised include ‘Blue Story’, ‘Ex Machina’, ‘The Children Act’, ‘Paddington’, ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’, ‘Another United Kingdom’, ‘Official Secrets’, ‘Eye in the Sky’, ‘Made in Dagenham’, ‘My Week with Marilyn’, ‘Belle’, ‘Annihilation’, ‘Stan & Ollie’, ‘Starred Up’ and ‘Sunshine on Leith’.

Audio

Anna regularly advises audio producers and audiobooks in all genres. Recent productions include ‘Sex, Lies and DM Slides’ (Heydon Prowse Productions for Spotify), ‘Kurupt FM’ and ‘From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge podcast’ for Audible and ‘Power, Lust and Glory: The Story of Gold’ (Just Radio for Audible).

Magazines

Anna has worked for the UK’s popular weekly and monthly consumer magazines for 20 years, including the infamous ‘lads’ mags’ in the noughties, the weekly gossip magazines, motoring titles, sports titles, food titles and the glossies. She is a regular lawyer on Reviewed & Cleared’s Legalmypage service.

louise@reviewedandcleared.comLouise became a consultant to Reviewed & Cleared in September 2016. Before that she had been employed at The Independent and Evening Standard group, where she was Group General Counsel for 17 years.

Having graduated from Cambridge with a degree in English Literature, Louise worked in various roles in the theatre before deciding to go into law. She trained with City firm Herbert Smith, and after a post-qualification year there moved into media law as Programme Legal Adviser at the largest ITV broadcaster, Thames TV. She went on to gain invaluable experience of how media companies are run working as the CEO’s strategy adviser, before returning to private practice at a top media law firm.

Among Louise’s clients during her years at Oswald Hickson (now part of Farrers) were broadcasters, The Financial Times and The Economist, for whom she handled litigation as well as providing pre-publication advice and media law training. At the Independent/Evening Standard she was hands-on across all areas of legal involvement: commercial, contractual and intellectual property as well as editorial.

Louise specialises in providing pre-publication advice to magazines, newspapers and book publishers, to non-profit organisations publishing cutting edge investigations, film and television companies and to social media and other digital publishers. Her interest in training journalists and campaigners has been a career constant, along with lecturing and presenting on media law. Known for her pragmatic approach, Louise relishes day-to-day interactions with journalists and other content creators. Her career high: not the various accolades from professional directories but when, as the sole in-house editorial lawyer at Thames TV, her efforts fighting off one legal complaint were attributed by Private Eye to a “wall to wall team of lawyers”.

simon@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Simon has almost 30 years experience working for major national newspapers, news agencies and television news companies.

His media career started in private practice, before working as a night lawyer for Times Newspapers and later joining a specialist media practice working for IPC Magazines. He soon expanded his roster to include several national newspapers and media companies.

He has worked extensively in-house in the legal departments at Mirror Group, News International, Northern & Shell Plc and ITN Television News. He has therefore amassed considerable commercial, contractual and litigation experience in addition to his pre-publication expertise. This has given him a pragmatic approach in resolving legal issues prior to publication or broadcast.

As a newspaper night lawyer he has worked for The Times, The Sun, The Mirror, The People, The Independent and The Telegraph, along with their Sunday editions.

As a television programme lawyer he has worked for the short lived L!VE TV (Mirror Group) and Channel One (Associated Newspapers), before joining ITN as a part time in-house lawyer where he has worked for ITV News, ITV London News, Channel 4 News, Channel 5 News, and IRN Radio News.

Simon has in-depth knowledge and experience of the legal issues most likely to affect publishers and broadcasters including libel, contempt, privacy, copyright, the OFCOM and IPSO codes. With a first degree in English, Simon is particularly adept at working with editors, journalists and authors.

clare@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 7715 797 422
Clare Hoban is a highly experienced content lawyer across television, film, audio and print. Clare started her 20-year specialism in content in print, followed by years as a senior television content lawyer at the BBC. Clare now advises broadcasters, production companies, podcast producers and publishers at Reviewed & Cleared.

Television and film

Clare has an in-depth understanding of how television is made and enjoys long-standing, trusted relationships with broadcasters, production companies and industry insurers. She prides herself on her calm, practical and creative approach and her experience spans every genre from drama, factual entertainment and comedy through to undercover investigations, current affairs, live records and news reporting. A regular advisor to multiple UK radio and television newsrooms, Clare was previously awarded the BBC Outstanding Services to News and Current Affairs award for her work in this area.

Clare regularly advises on content following the work of the emergency services, including police and medics, and is actively sought out to help navigate issues including duty of care, consent and privacy. She also sits as a magistrate in the UK adult criminal court, giving her a unique depth of understanding of the criminal process and contempt risks.

Over the years, Clare has advised on a large number of high-profile, controversial documentaries and factual dramas. She has also advised on hundreds of hours of live, ‘as live’ and fast-turnaround output including high-risk entertainment and current affairs.
Comments from our clients
Clare’s guidance is consistently sharp, clear and aimed at enabling editorial content to be broadcast to maximum effect. She has unrivalled insight into the way big organisations work, anticipating issues, finding solutions and protecting programme-makers.

Steve Anderson, Executive Producer, Shearwater Media 

Clare knows everything worth knowing in this sector.

Caroline Keane, Partner, Wiggin 

Clare works so closely with us on our blue light shows she’s virtually a member of the production team, always responding quickly and providing clear, pragmatic advice to achieve the best possible result. From GDPR to contempt, Ofcom compliance to privacy she is always well informed and up to date, often suggesting innovative ways of getting a programme on air.

Ian Cundall , Director Air TV 

Clare is calm, thorough, friendly and a pleasure to work with. She has helped us with a range of tricky programming, always responding quickly with clear, practical advice.

Caitriona MacLoughlin,  Head of Compliance, UKTV 

We have worked with Clare Hoban on a complex international documentary series and really benefited from her breadth and depth of experience. She is clear and quick to respond and due to her long-standing experience provides pragmatic, solution-oriented advice which we really value. We would not hesitate in recommending her services.

Katrina Dick and Aimee van Hattum, Vice Media Group EMEA 

Audio and podcasts

Clare is trusted by a wide range of podcast producers, regularly advising on every genre of podcast content from sensitive ‘real life’ stories, through to high-risk factual investigations and true crime. Clare is also a trusted advisor to radio producers, regularly advising on complex and high-risk output for national and international broadcasters. 

Comments from our clients
It is a pleasure working with Clare – she provides thorough, expert content and Ofcom advice within a fast turnaround. It is immensely reassuring to have someone so reliable, experienced and approachable at the end of the phone.

Kate Giannini, Compliance Manager, Global Media & Entertainment Limited

Clare is brilliant at making the law accessible, and her talks are always bespoke for our industry and its requirements. Would definitely recommend

Caroline Elliot, Audio UK/Audio Train

Clare goes out of her way to really understand clients and has excellent judgement

Head of Editorial Legal, international radio and television broadcaster

Print publishing

Clare advises book publishers, regularly carrying out legal reviews across every genre. Her many years as a libel lawyer mean she is able to provide publishers with practical low-impact solutions to manage legal risk.  

Comments from our clients
Clare’s expert pre-publication advice is always reliable, clear and prompt, and she is also a pleasure to work with

Sybella Stephens, Senior Managing Editor, Octopus Publishing Group

Clare is a trusted advisor and provides clear, usable advice whilst always preserving our editorial aims

Lucinda McNeile, Orion Books

Bespoke training

Clare loves delivering training, and regularly creates bespoke sessions for clients and through industry partners such as Women in Film and Television and Audio UK.

Feedback from WFTV session attendees:
Clare was so well versed in her subject, delivering complex and vital legal information in an understandable and engaging way

Great clarity from an articulate and knowledgeable speaker

Fabulous speaker with amazing knowledge and guidance

So engaging. This was actually fun!

In-depth knowledge of so many areas!

louise.lambert@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Louise is a specialist media content lawyer with over 15 years’ experience working in the media industry.

Prior to joining Reviewed & Cleared in 2018, Louise spent 10 years working in Olswang’s top-ranked Media Litigation team.  There, she specialised in contentious media work, including defamation and privacy cases, advising across a range of platforms. Her claimant clients included household names from the financial world to the high street, as well as celebrities and other high profile individuals. On the defendant side, she acted for newspapers and online publishers, film and television companies. Working with the film team, she also undertook script reads and viewings for E&O insurance purposes, including for Slumdog Millionaire and Philomena among many others.

After leaving Olswang in 2015, Louise set up her own freelance practice, advising newspapers on pre-publication issues, complaints and publishing-related contracts.  She continues to work with Times Newspapers on a regular basis.

Louise undertakes a broad range of work at Reviewed & Cleared, from film and TV, to podcasts, magazines, newspapers, online publications and books.  She is a regular on the “Legalmypage” service.  Louise also enjoys live studio work and, being based in Surrey, can travel to all the major studios in London and the South-East.

david.marshall@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
David joined Reviewed & Cleared as a consultant lawyer in January 2019. He has a pragmatic approach to risk and has advised on media law issues for over 10 years. ​

David trained at a City firm and qualified in 2004 spending two years as a commercial litigation lawyer before seeing the light and joining Which?, the Consumers’ Association. Which? publishes a range of magazines and websites and David, as lead lawyer for content, was responsible for providing legal advice to senior management and editorial colleagues alike on a wide range of media law issues including defamation, privacy, undercover reporting, citizen journalism platforms and press stunts. He also successfully resolved regulatory complaints about published material and complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority as well as advising on compliance with the CAP Codes and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.

David left Which? to join TruRating, an award winning disruptive fintech start-up as Head of Legal where he advised on a broad range of privacy, technology and commercial issues before deciding to return to his passion for media work as a night lawyer at Guardian News and Media.

David has had some first-hand insight into life at the sharper end of broadcast production after what he likes to think were successful appearances on live national television and radio including BBC’s The One Show, ITV’s This Morning, GMTV and Radio 4. He was not offered his own show.

sean@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Before joining Reviewed & Cleared, Sean ran his own specialist media law firm for 16 years, advising a range of television production companies and publishers on pre-publication matters. He has worked as a night lawyer for the BBC, The Independent, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times and continues to spend time at the coalface, advising journalists and editors in newsrooms.

Between 1985 and 1999 Sean was employed in-house at the BBC as a litigator covering media, employment and commercial matters, and then as a pre-publication adviser. In addition to news output, he was closely involved with drama, documentary and comedy. He has also worked in-house at Carlton and United International Pictures, and has advised many publishers on legal issues in books and magazines.

Sean trained as a mediator with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and mediated on issues ranging from television programme format disputes to local neighbour problems. He has lectured on media law within the media industry and educational establishments, including a recent spell at Essex University.

miceal@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 7730 015 753
Miceal has 30 years’ experience in giving pre-publication law and regulatory advice. He trained at the Bar and undertook a specialist defamation pupillage advising Fleet Street in his earlier career in private practice. He headed Channel One TV legal department before joining the BBC where he worked for 18 years advising in the Editorial Legal and Editorial Policy departments.

Miceal has advised on a number of series and programmes familiar to most people in the UK: Have I Got News For You, Jonathan Ross, Mock The Week, Louis Theroux, Who Killed Jill Dando (Panorama), Cradle To Grave (the Danny Baker Story), Coup (factual drama about a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea) , Rack Pack (the Hurricane Higgins dramatisation), In Denial of Murder (a miscarriage of Justice in Murder conviction of Stephen Downing), The Alan Clarke Diaries, Britain In A Day (a crowd sourced documentary), Traffic Cops, Crime Squad, Trouble At The Top, Kilroy, Frankie Boyle on iPlayer, News Quiz, 15 Minute Musicals on Radio 4, and BBC Worldwide Books.

Miceal firmly believes that “There is always a practical solution if advice can be given and taken in time.”

Recently Miceal was admitted as a lawyer in NSW, Australia and spends time in both jurisdictions.

Miceal is pronounced /me-haul/ and is Irish for Michael. He doesn’t add the accents.

prash@reviewedandcleared.comTel: + 0061 434 022 115
Prash is the former General Counsel for Channel 4 Television in the UK. He began his career in London working in private practice before being recruited by Channel 4 where he spent 23 years.

At Channel 4 he played a key role in creative risk-taking and is now much sought after by producers as the ‘go-to’ lawyer to defend and get challenging content to air. He has advised across many ground-breaking programmes, films and digital content including the Channel 4 News undercover investigation into Cambridge Analytica, The Trump Show, I May Destroy You and Bad Boy Billionaires. Prash regularly acts as legal counsel for producers on productions for Netflix, Sky Documentaries, Discovery and HBO.

He is also highly respected as an expert crisis management advisor. He has advised at executive and board level on many high-profile cases involving editorial ethics, press controversies and kidnap & ransom.

He was named UK In-House Lawyer of the Year after being recognised by the judges as ‘one of the most influential leaders within Channel 4, widely respected for his collaborative and creative thinking’ (The Lawyer Awards 2017 ).

Prash also acts as General Counsel to the Doc Society a non-profit foundation based in London, New York, Amsterdam and Sydney supporting independent documentary filmmakers globally.

Prash is now based in Sydney and works between London and Sydney advising TV, film and digital clients internationally. He is admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and Australia (where he advises through his Australian law practice Prash Naik Consulting).

Comments from our clients
I’ve had the pleasure of solving legal problems with Prash since we were at Channel 4 together. To say that he’s the best lawyer we’ve ever worked with is an understatement. To have him as the General Counsel of Doc Society means that we can step into high risk projects all over the world with calm and confidence. Ideally, we’d never do a film without him.

Jess Search, CEO Doc Society

Prash has a claim to be the best media lawyer in the world. I have known him for over 20 years. Channel 4, where we both worked, is an organisation that is designed to test all the boundaries, and create new kinds of television. As a result C4 has been deliberately embroiled in thousands of controversies. However those involved in those programmes knew ultimately it would be ok, because Prash was across it. The result - some of most outstanding and bold TV ever broadcast - from Ali G to Waad Al-Kateab’s reporting from Syria.

David Glover, CEO 72 Films

Prash is a brilliant content lawyer, as knowledgeable as he is practical. Each of us has been fortunate to work closely with him for many years, both during his time as Channel 4’s General Counsel, and now as an independent consultant. His nuanced understanding of complex programme legal issues and vast experience in addressing them mean that he is uniquely placed to help producers navigate those challenges and make the programme they want to make.

Prash methodically guided us through the various legal complexities involved in producing I May Destroy You, from first draft scripts to final edit, and we literally could not have done it without him. He is also a lovely man, a joy to work with, and having him on board a project is an absolute seal of confidence for producer and broadcaster alike.

Phil Clarke & Roberto Troni – Joint MD, Greg Allon – COO, Various Artists Limited

Prash has been our first choice lawyer for many years. We make a wide range of programmes with difficult legal and compliance challenges and we know we can always depend on his judgement and amazing wealth of experience. Whether it’s dealing directly with institutions, individuals or broadcasters his expertise is second to none. He is simply the best in the business!

Ed Coulthard & Claire Bosworth, CEO & MD Blast! Films

Prash has become an integral part of the team on our legally challenging international programmes and he brings a wealth of experience and expertise. He is thorough, thoughtful, supportive, calm, clear, quick to respond, and we trust his judgment implicitly.

Morgan Matthews & Clare Voyce, CEO & MD Minnow Films

We have worked with Prash Naik and Emily Barber over the years and recently on a complex and legally intricate international documentary series and really benefited from their breadth and depth of long standing experience in documentary projects. They involve themselves fully in the subject matter, are quick to respond and provide pragmatic solutions for the team, an approach we really value. We would not hesitate in recommending their services.

Katrina Dick and James Vaughan Jones, Vice Media Group, EMEA

felicity@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Felicity is admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and Australia, and has practised in both jurisdictions. Having qualified with and worked for Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst Australia) in Sydney, Felicity relocated to the UK in 2002 to read for the Master of Law at St. John’s College, Cambridge (as a Chevening Scholar).

After Cambridge, Felicity worked at London claimant litigation firms Schillings and then Carter Ruck, where she obtained her English qualification. Since 2008, Felicity has been a full-time Fleet Street lawyer, providing advice on prepublication issues to major national newspaper groups (News UK, DMG Media, Telegraph Media Group, and Independent Print Media) and working with their in-house teams on legal and regulatory complaints (including litigation).

Since joining Reviewed and Cleared in 2016, Felicity has diversified her practice and now legals magazines, books for Hachette UK and content for film and television (including live television). She still works in newsrooms advising journalists and editors at the BBC, MailOnline, Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.

michelle@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Michelle has over 15 years of experience working in media and sports law.

Her career began in London, as a trainee at Schillings, before joining Carter-Ruck’s media law team. During her time in private practice, Michelle worked on high-profile libel cases as well as advising on privacy, pre-publication and intellectual property matters. Many of her clients have included celebrities and, later on, a growing number of international sport professionals and clubs.

In 2010, Michelle moved to Switzerland where, in addition to sports commercialisation advice, she provides reputation management and media law/IP advisory services. Based close to the Olympic Capital of Lausanne, she has worked as Legal Counsel for the international sporting bodies AIBA (International Boxing Association) and FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey) advising on IP contractual and content related matters, including content clearance.

Michelle can be relied upon to deal effectively and efficiently with contentious media issues and regulatory issues, particularly in sport, and has built trusted relationships with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), international, continental and national sports governing bodies and distinguished persons working in sport.

Michelle joined the team at Reviewed & Cleared in 2021.

susanna@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 7795 084070
Susanna is a highly experienced intellectual property lawyer, providing practical and commercial IP and title clearance advice to media clients.  Susanna joined Reviewed & Cleared in November 2019.

Susanna has a background in high-level IP litigation, having trained at Freshfields before moving to Field Fisher to work in their renowned IP litigation team.  At Field Fisher, she gained a wealth of experience in passing off, copyright and trade mark infringement claims and domain name disputes. During  a secondment to NatMags (now Hearst UK), Susanna advised on pre-publication matters for numerous weekly and monthly magazines, as well as dealing with various privacy, defamation, contempt, data protection, IP and advertising standards issues.

Susanna subsequently moved to Arsenal Football Club, working as one of only two lawyers. This hugely varied role provided a unique opportunity to work with Arsenal Media as well as the Premier League, UEFA and various high-profile footballers, deepening her expertise with both IP and commercial law. She has also worked at Unilever, both in a Senior Legal Counsel, and subsequently General Counsel role, where she advised leadership teams in various parts of the business on both legal issues and strategy.

Susanna continues to focus on intellectual property law, but also has significant experience in media, advertising (working frequently with the ASA and advising on the CAP and BCAP Codes), commercial, contract and charity law. Susanna has a very practical, risk-based approach to legal issues and is at home working closely with clients to resolve their legal issues on tight timescales.

harvey@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Harvey comes to Reviewed and Cleared from more than 35 years as a top-ranked barrister practising across the spectrum of media and information law.

A Cambridge English graduate, Harvey began professional life as a newspaper journalist, training and working on Westminster Press regional titles before moving to Sydney to work on News Limited’s national paper, The Australian. Back in the UK and called to the Bar, a spell in criminal and general common law practice was followed by Harvey joining top media chambers, One Brick Court.

Consistently ranked as a leader in the field, Harvey has acted in a huge variety of claims for defamation, privacy, confidence, data protection and copyright, as well as advising on contempt and reporting restriction issues.

Meanwhile, Harvey has always made pre-publication work with journalists, newspaper, magazine and book publishers and broadcasters a core part of his practice, including among his clients the Sun, The Guardian, the Evening Standard, Today, the Sunday Chronicle, BBC and Sky. Detouring briefly from private practice, he was recruited as legal manager by The Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers to set up and run their first in-house legal department. For some 27 years Harvey was pre-publication advisor for various Conde Nast titles (Tatler, GQ, Vogue, Glamour, CN Traveller, Easy Living, Wired). He has been retained by TIME magazine as its pre-publication advisor for more than 25 years. On the academic side, Harvey is co-author of the practitioner textbook Carter Ruck on Libel and Privacy.

Harvey says: “Going to court has its excitements. But there is nothing more satisfying than working creatively with a client to publish as much as they want, how they want, as soon as they want – and safely!”

sara@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 792 0022 624
Sara is a highly experienced media lawyer with over 15 years post-qualification experience and 12 years of specialist media law work.

Since joining Reviewed & Cleared in November 2019, Sara has worked for producers and broadcasters to provide legal advice for feature films and dramas, investigative journalism, documentaries, entertainment programmes and podcasts, for both linear and streaming platforms. She advises on all aspects of media law and compliance including privacy, data protection and defamation, copyright and “fair dealing”, Ofcom standards, fairness, commercial content and branding, as well as developing production protocols and considering sensitive editorial ethics and duty of care issues. In May 2020 she was appointed a legal expert for the FOCUS programme run by Film City Futures in Glasgow, providing legal and compliance advice to a number of Scottish production companies.

Prior to joining Reviewed & Cleared, Sara was a lawyer in the award-winning Legal & Compliance team at Channel 4 Television for eight years, providing editorial teams with pre- and post-broadcast media law and regulatory advice including programmes such as the Dispatches strand, 24 Hours in Police Custody, Grand Designs and The Undateables.

Sara has a background in high-level litigation having qualified as a solicitor in the Commercial Litigation department of magic circle law firm Allen & Overy in 2006, working on complex commercial claims. She then moved to Claimant law firm Schillings in 2010, where Sara advised private clients, corporations and high net worth individuals on media law and regulatory issues in relation to newspaper publications and investigative broadcasts.

Sara has been described as “quick, clear and supportive” and prides herself on providing practical and pragmatic advice on all aspects of publication and broadcast media law. She has recently left the bright lights of London for the rolling hills of East Devon.

alex@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Alex qualified as a solicitor with Carter-Ruck in 1994 and went on to be head of legal for Northern & Shell plc. He also worked for Wiggin, Theodore Goddard and Prisma Sports & Media before, in the early 2000s, opting to combine working as a night lawyer for newspapers with being a freelance journalist.

Alex has advised almost every UK newspaper, and continues to work regularly with The Times, Sunday Times and Guardian. He works with a number of clients in book and magazine publishing, and is also an experienced TV lawyer, with credits for legal work on BBC prime time shows and many years’ work for independent production companies on documentaries, comedies, films, music and sports series.

Alex is also a professional writer. He has been short-listed by the Sports Journalists’ Association as sports feature writer of the year, worked as an editor of supplements and microsites for The Guardian, and has written three non-fiction sports books. In 2016, Alex’s first novel, Flack’s Last Shift, was published. Set on Fleet Street at a fictional newspaper, the novel was described by The Times as “Wickedly observant… this witty, pacey thriller is a portrait of newspapers at a time of mighty upheaval.”

Having worked with journalists, editors and broadcasters all his life, as both a lawyer and writer, Alex brings a quick-thinking, practical approach to content clearance, with one overriding aim: to see the story published.

Comments from our clients

Working with Alex has been fantastic. His extensive experience in media and publishing and his commitment to freedom of expression have made him a pleasure to work with at every stage. The timely, pragmatic and thoughtful advice he has provided us with has enabled us to publish with more conviction than ever.

Sarah Braybrook, Managing Director, Scribe Publications

As someone who has been an investigative journalist for many years, I have a general distrust and dislike of media lawyers. However, Alex is the exception that proves the rule. Someone who prioritises getting it right over covering his arse. Someone who makes a genuine effort to understand the subject matter as well as understanding the importance of getting difficult and complex issues into the public domain and who works with the client to get stuff done.

George Turner, Executive Director, TaxWatch

Alex Wade is our go-to lawyer. He understands the risk association within our market sector, giving clear and sound legal advice in a timely fashion. Understanding the nuances within our market is key to our commercial success and Alex delivers in spades.

Hannah Fernando, Editor, Woman

Alex at Reviewed and Cleared has always done a great job overseeing People, Just People with Dermot O'Leary for Audible. Always prompt with sound advice.

Ben Walker, Ora Et Labora

Alex Wade has been Byline Times' sole source of legal advice for two years, and during that time he has always been available at short notice to provide sound and reliable advice in all circumstances. He is charming, down to earth and a pleasure to work with. 

Peter Jukes, Founder, Byline Times

I highly recommend Alex. He's an absolute dream to work with. His feedback was always clear and actionable and delivered promptly. I also appreciated how personal and friendly our interactions were, which made the experience of handling our legal requirements an absolute joy instead of a headache.

Imriel Morgan, Founder & CEO, Content Is Queen

As an editor running three busy news websites it is hugely reassuring to be able to call up Alex when a tricky story comes through. He responds quickly to urgent calls and provides very well considered and practical advice so that I can understand our legal position and make informed decisions. If I am ever in any doubt that something could be libellous, I do not hesitate to get in touch. Often a quick conversation is enough to clarify the issue and put my mind at ease, other times Alex needs to thoroughly consider a piece and give back detailed notes. But always Alex enables my team to run the strongest possible story while making sure it is balanced and fair.

Chloe McCulloch, Editor, Building

I’ve worked with Alex Wade at Reviewed & Cleared on a number of legal reads for books we have published at Canongate, and always found the process to be professional, efficient, collaborative and thorough. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him and their services.

Simon Thorogood, Editorial Director, Canongate

I’ll be forever grateful that my nephew recommended Alex. That he knows his stuff is without question. It’s his dedication that makes him so special and made us, as his clients feel special too. A panicked email or call  about something we couldn’t comprehend would be answered swiftly with patience. Alex not only gave us his legal knowledge but supported us where he had other knowledge too. His understanding of the world of books, film and networking were invaluable and we thank him for generously sharing that knowledge with us. 

Suzette Llewellyn, Actor and co-author of 100 Voices

Alex is a brilliant media lawyer who has saved our skin on countless occasions. He also understands journalists and the needs of a small publication like Legal Cheek. So as well as being spot on legally his advice is always pragmatic and streetwise.

Alex Aldridge, Founder, Legal Cheek

It was our extra good luck, following research about firms with the right reputation, to engage Alex Wade and his very professional firm from far away Australia to advise us of any potential pitfalls in the UK publishing of  a true crime book on a controversial case. During this seamless process we visited the UK on holiday and Alex went out of his way to meet us in a coastal village to establish a personal relationship, which continues to this day.  

In 20 years of writing 15 high profile true crime books I’ve never had a better lawyer to work with.

Robin Bowles, Australian Crime Writer

Alex Wade has been of enormous help to the Atlantic Council on many occasions. He is quick, smart, and tuned in to our needs - his advice is quickly actionable and has helped us not only avoid legal risk but improve our work. We see Reviewed and Cleared as key supporters of our work and their ability to get involved in the most complex of matters in good time has been invaluable for us. We would unhesitatingly recommend Alex Wade and Reviewed and Cleared to others. 

Andrew Marshall, Atlantic Council

We have regularly worked with Alex Wade on digital editorial pieces, many of which are factually and legally complex. We have and really benefited from his breadth and depth of experience and guiding hand. He is clear and quick to respond and due to long standing experience on both sides of the media advice world as a writer and lawyer has great judgement and is able to provide pragmatic and solution oriented advice which we really value. We would not hesitate in recommending his services.

Katrina Dick, Vice Media Group EMEA

tonia@reviewedandcleared.comTel:+44 (0) 7787 847167
Consultant neg checker (non-solicitor)

Tonia established a dedicated in-house Neg Checking Team at ITV that provides clearance service for dramas produced by ITV. She has over 20 years’ experience, having worked with household name broadcasters and independent TV and film production companies. Tonia joined Granada TV in 1995 as Compliance Manager and was responsible for ensuring that ITV programmes being produced in Manchester, such as Coronation Street, and CITV programmes and Granada Dramas complied with UK broadcasting rules governed by OFCOM and with relevant legislation. 

In 2007 Tonia started Capello Media Solutions, providing a freelance neg checking service to a wide range of productions working on well-known films such as Slumdog Millionaire and The Imitation Games and a large range of TV dramas including, The Stranger, Years & Years, Bridgerton, Peaky Blinders, Des, The Trial of Christine Keeler, Car Share and Ghosts. Tonia's work for R&C includes Life (Drama Republic)and The Nest (Studio Lambert) and the feature films The Midnight Sky (Netflix) and The Duke (Pathe).

duane@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 203 086 7708
Duane joined Reviewed and Cleared in February 2020. During the previous 15 years, Duane worked for a number of high profile UK-based broadcasters including UKTV, Sky and BT. In all these roles, Duane relished working collaboratively with brands, broadcasters and production companies to help achieve their commercial and editorial goals. Before working directly for broadcasters, Duane worked at Clearcast for 2 years, reviewing and approving advertising on behalf of UK broadcasters.

As well as advising on editorial matters across all genres (such as consent, duty of care, harm & offence and ‘blue siren’ formats), Duane’s area of specialism is commercial compliance, particularly the opportunities product placement, programme sponsorship and competitions/voting can bring to both brands and content producers.

At BT, Duane advised the editorial teams and BT’s production partners across all programming, from live events to the award-winning BT Sport film strand as well as regulatory compliance (for content and platform issues) & editorial ethical matters, drafting and revising BT’s editorial policy. Duane has also successfully defended many formal Ofcom investigations following viewer/competitor complaints.

kevin@reviewedandcleared.comTel: +44 (0) 333 011 6771
Neg Checker

Kevin joined Reviewed & Cleared in early 2019, returning to work after three years as a stay-at-home dad.

Having studied Film and Production in Sheffield, Kevin left the UK in search of some adventure. He began by giving guided ski tours in the French Alps before heading to Vienna and then Munich, where he taught English as a second language. Kevin spent some years working on magazines, first for Hearst UK on its then bestselling title Men’s Health, and as Staff Writer for a lifestyle magazine in Kuwait.

Kevin eventually found his way back home with two young sons to look after and he has continued to pursue his passion for writing, working on screenplays, short stories, a novel or two and taking one of Curtis Brown’s prestigious creative writing courses.

With a love of scripted productions, a keen eye for detail and a genuine desire to help the creative process; Kevin is a perfect support to film and TV production clients requiring Neg Checking services.