High-profile ex-City tax partner Dan Neidle faces £8m libel claim

Campaigning tax lawyer Dan Neidle is facing an £8 million defamation claim from a barrister he investigated - a case he says could be among the biggest English libel actions ever brought.

The former Clifford Chance head of UK tax and founder of Tax Policy Associates confirmed the claim in a post on his organisation’s website. He said barrister Setu Kamal is suing him over a February report on Arka Wealth - a firm that worked with Kamal and which Neidle alleged promoted a tax avoidance scheme and should be "closed down to protect the public."

The report said Arka Wealth’s claims "on TikTok and elsewhere are nonsense," adding that Kamal’s arguments "have been repeatedly rejected by the courts." It warned users they were likely to face "large up-front tax liabilities" instead of savings.

According to Neidle, Kamal first sought an interim injunction against him in September but failed - and later filed the defamation claim, which Neidle says is for £8 million.

SLAPP claim

Neidle said he is applying to have the claim struck out as a SLAPP - a strategic lawsuit against public participation, considered to be an illegitimate attempt to silence public-interest reporting.

He has instructed the Good Law Project, the campaigning organisation led by Jolyon Maugham KC, to represent him. GLP’s defamation lawyer Matthew Gill - a former Linklaters, Wiggin and Howard Kennedy lawyer - is acting for Neidle.

From tax partner to campaigner

Neidle left Clifford Chance in 2022 and has since become one of the most visible figures in UK tax policy. His work at Tax Policy Associates has included high-profile investigations into tax schemes and policy analysis, as well as the 2022 reporting that led to scrutiny of former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs.

That story resulted in disciplinary proceedings against Osborne Clarke partner Ashley Hurst, who was accused of professional misconduct for trying to silence Neidle on behalf of Zahawi - a case that helped put SLAPP tactics in the spotlight, even though the tribunal ultimately stopped short of calling Hurst’s actions a SLAPP.