'A big mistake': Fieldfisher rapped by court over judgment embargo breach

Fieldfisher has avoided contempt proceedings after a confidential embargoed draft judgment was leaked to journalists ahead of its official release.

What happened

The leak occurred in January, when the draft judgment was sent to journalists at the BBC, Guardian, ITV and the Press Association by a media manager at Fieldfisher.

She had not read the embargo notice and failed to consult legal colleagues for guidance. She later admitted to misunderstanding the court's confidentiality rules, which prohibit disclosure of draft rulings to anyone outside the parties and their legal representatives.

Her actions were done openly and communicated internally within the firm, but the court found they still amounted to multiple breaches.

After the court raised concerns about a potential embargo breach, the firm's lead partner on the case, Jill Greenfield, notified the court of the incident, but she was also criticised for failing to give clear instructions to the firm’s media manager and for not stepping in to stop the embargoed judgment and other material being sent to journalists.

Fieldfisher’s general counsel, IP partner Andrew Dodd, acted to shut down media contact once the breach was discovered but was called out for not reporting the full position to the court - a requirement highlighted in previous case law.

The story was first reported by the Gazette.

What the judge said

In his judgment, Justice Fordham noted that the breaches stemmed from confusion between journalism and court embargoes. He called it a "big mistake", emphasising that embargoed judgments are confidential court documents, rather than marketing materials.

While the court found that a contempt of court may have been committed in relation to one of the breaches, Fordham said that further steps were "neither necessary nor proportionate", the court had received sincere apologies, full cooperation from the parties and the publication of his narrative judgment was enough.

"Lessons will have been learned", he concluded.

Fieldfisher declined to comment when contacted by Non-Billable.