Robert Sharp

Pupil Barrister

Tag: free speech (Page 1 of 47)

Open Justice and Journalist Access to the Courts

17 February 2026 / / 0 Comments

I have written another judgment summary over at Family Law Week, this time for the case of Jessica Bradley v CM & Ors [2026] EWHC 125 (Fam).

This was an application by a journalist for access to the reports of a clinic psychologist in four separate child arrangements proceedings. The application went beyond what journalists are routinely allowed access to under the ‘template transparency order‘.

This case is in many ways a companion judgment to Re AB (Disclosure of Position Statements) [2025] EWCOP 25 (T3) in the Court of Protection. This was another judgment of Poole J, in which disclosure of documents from previous hearings (that an observer had not attended) was ordered on the open justice principle. That judgment is under appeal.

I am aware that access to documents in order to understand hearings is not limited to the Family Court and Court of Protection. Last month I noted that criminal court reporters were grumbling about lack of access.

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Re-Learning the Importance of Free Speech

22 September 2025 / / 0 Comments

The cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live! by ABC, in response to comments made by the Chair of the FDC, is an example of government coercion. The pressure put on ABC by Brendan Carr, and Donald Trump’s celebration of Kimmel’s departure were classic authoritarian manoeuvres and, given the central importance of the First Amendment in US Culture, deeply un-American.

My former colleague Suzanne Nossell, erstwhile CEO at PEN America, wrote a Los Angeles Times op-ed lamenting the “dark turn of American democracy.”

Some of us warned that this would happen. In response, I posted the following:

I must say this feels like a hideous “I told you so” moment. Progressive free speech campaigners spent the last few years listening to our allies in social justice movement trot out mantras like “freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences” or “it’s not my job to educate you” and sharing that annoying xkcd comic about ‘showing you the door’ somehow not being a kind of censorship.

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Royal Courts of Justice in 1909
Royal Courts of Justice in 1909

Defamation Claims in 2020: A Libel Thaw?

8 June 2021 / / 0 Comments

Just published on the International Forum for Responsible Media (Inforrm) Blog – an article by yrstrly on what we can learn from the High Court defamation claims issued in 2020.

I scraped data from the HM Courts & Tribunal Service e-filing system and was able to extract some insights on how the Defamation Act 2013 and recent Court judgments have affected the kinds of claims made.

Judicial Statistics, Defamation Claims in 2020: A Libel Thaw? – Robert Sharp
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