This is a past event
Join a webinar with Prof Justin Borg Barthet and Dr Francesca Farrington, University of Aberdeen.
Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation or SLAPPs refers to legal actions or threats of legal action that are initiated to suppress communications on matters of public interest. The targets of SLAPPs are a broad range of public watchdogs and civil society actors, including journalists, academics, environmental defenders, and whistle-blowers. The initiator is typically a powerful political or economic actor who has the resources to co-opt the legal system to silence activism. SLAPPs may take different forms including actions under defamation, national security, data protection, and copyright laws.
In this webinar, we will discuss an underexplored aspects of strategic litigation against public participation – the use of private international law rules to magnify the psychological and financial cost of defending an action. SLAPP pursuers (those initiating the abusive lawsuit) may take proceedings in multiple jurisdictions with the aim of (a) increasing the cost of defending the action, (b) exposing the defender to unfamiliar legal rules, (c) to manufacture jurisdictional conflicts and delay the conclusion of the matter, (d) to avoid legal regimes with Anti-SLAPP measures, or (e) to access more favourable substantive rules. Combined or in isolation each of these tactics have the potential to deny the defender their right to freedom of expression and to a fair trial.
- Speaker
- Prof Justin Borg Barthet and Dr Francesca Farrington
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