Professor Richard Moorhead comments on Linklaters case for Legal Futures
7 February 2019
The article questions the injunction sought by the leading law firm as chilling discussion on sexual harassment in law firms.
Professor Richard Moorhead, Chair of Law and Professional Ethics at UCL Laws, has written a guest post for the Legal Futures blog about the Linklaters v Mellish case.
Entitled ‘What is really being protected in the Linklaters case?’, Professor Moorhead discusses the motivation in the law firm’s claim – specifically, he argues that the injunction is aimed at information that would harm Linklaters’ reputation; rather than the stated aim of protecting confidential information about complainants and their actual and/or alleged assailants. The central argument is that the judge did not pay sufficient attention to the risk of individual identification being low, thereby protecting Linklaters' reputation rather than free speech.
Professor Moorhead concludes that by “stifling a discussion of firm culture”, victims of sexual harassment may be discouraged to come forward rather than protected.
Read the article in full on the Legal Futures blog.