Mathilde is a Senior Associate in the Media Litigation group. Her practice encompasses all aspects of media law.

As part of her defamation and reputation management practice, Mathilde advises both claimants and defendants, individuals, charities and corporations, often acting against multiple defendants. She has been the lead associate in a number of recent media cases, and assisted on various successful injunctions, which are detailed under “Experience”. She is highlighted as a key lawyer and a rising star in the Legal 500.

She represents clients both at the pre-publication stage and after publication, obtaining injunctions, corrections and apologies, as well as statements in open court and statements summarising judgments and orders.  In her recent cases, she has obtained the publication of various apologies and corrections, and several payments of 5 figure and 6 figure damages for her clients.  Mathilde has also successfully obtained interim injunctions which were converted into permanent undertakings to the Court and into a permanent injunction following an application for summary judgment.

She has acted against private individuals, social media platforms and a variety of publishers including the Daily Mail and MailOnline, the Mirror, Express Newspapers, the Guardian, the Times and the BBC, as well as foreign newspapers in both English proceedings and multi-jurisdictional matters. She also deals with complaints to IPSO and assists on media law issues arising in arbitration proceedings

As part of her privacy practice, Mathilde regularly acts for clients in anonymised proceedings involving misuse of private information, breach of confidence, blackmail and harassment, both in the High Court and in arbitrations. She obtains urgent injunctions for celebrities, leading business figures, politicians and others, restraining breaches of privacy, in litigation and arbitration matters, and secures the removal of sensitive material from the internet. She also advises on confidentiality provisions within settlement agreements, and drafts and advises on non-disclosure agreements.

Mathilde’s data protection practice involves work asserting the Right to Be Forgotten, from the initial stages of online removal of search results and links through to court proceedings against search engines, as well as complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office. She also advises on rights and obligations arising from the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, including subject access rights.

Mathilde also has experience in contentious and non-contentious intellectual property and information technology cases and general litigation matters.

She regularly publishes expert commentary on recent legal developments, including in the national and legal press. Mathilde is a pro bono legal adviser at the Waterloo Legal Advice Service.

Mathilde is a member of the Paris Bar and of the Franco-British Lawyers Society and is practicing in England and Wales as a Registered Foreign Lawyer. She speaks fluent English, French and Italian.

Mathilde contributes to key publications on Media, Reputation Management and Privacy issues.  She is highlighted as a rising star and recommended lawyer in Legal 500

  • Chambers 2024 praise Mathilde as being ‘a highly regarded senior associate with experience on both the defendant and claimant sides of disputes.’ They also report that she is ‘knowledgeable and good to work with’.  Mathilde is also noted for her experience in international matters.
  • Legal 500 2024 highlight Mathilde as a Key Lawyer and report she is ‘experienced in acting for both claimants and defendants’
  • Chambers 2023 report that Mathilde is ‘a real rising star, very responsive and hard-working. She understands the law well and explains it easily.’  A source reports  they are  ‘incredibly impressed by Mathilde’ [and that] ‘she has a truly inspiring work ethic and tremendous knowledge in her area of expertise.’   Mathilde is also praised for her experience in international matters and defamation.  Sources report she is ‘hard-working, bright, proactive and a pleasure to work with’
  • Legal 500 2023 sources report ‘Mathilde has a responsiveness to her clients, and a work ethic that is truly unparalleled. She combines an expert knowledge in defamation law with delivering at extreme speed. She manages to conduct herself professionally while still maintaining extreme empathy for her clients who are struggling due to serious defamation’
  • Legal 500 report that Mathilde is ‘Outstanding’, is ‘part of a formidable team’ and is highlighted as a rising star
  • Business Today Lawyer Awards 2023 – Mathilde is listed in the Top 10 Influential UK Defamation Solicitors
  • Entertainment Law Review – providing an analysis in the April 2020 case of the Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers and the significance of the judgement which held considerable interest in the UK and abroad
  • The leading UK health title Health Service Journal on the privacy and policy issues for states, health services, individuals and businesses.
  • Inforrm’s Blog – When the Prime Minister announced the COVID-19 lockdown on 23 March 2020, many litigation practitioners were concerned about the impact this would have on upcoming hearings.  Mathilde’s article examined the current efficacious adjustment of the UK court process
  • LexisNexis:  webinar on recent developments in the law of defamation, and regularly publishes case comments for Lexis PSL’s TMT analysis.
  • Global Data Review: security risks associated with video-conferencing platform Zoom amid its coronavirus-related explosion in popularity, and how users can use the software safely
  • Thomson Reuters: analysis on the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Google v CNIL
  • The Law Society Gazette: analysis on the decision of the Supreme Court’s clarification of the ‘serious harm’ threshold following the judgment in Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd & Anor [2019] UKSC 27 for defamation claims and provided her prediction of its likely impact

Mathilde is currently working on numerous pre-publication and post-publication matters for high profile clients, including HNW and UHNW clients, corporate bodies and private equity firms. She was the lead associate in various recent media cases:

  • A case in which she obtained takedown of articles published by a national newspaper and a letter of apology for use by the client in relation to false allegations relating to the end of their employment
  • Hamblin v NGN Limited, a libel and data protection case which resulted in the Defendant making an offer of amends, which was accepted by the Claimant, and pursuant to which the Defendant published an apology and paid the Claimant a substantial sum by way of compensation, and costs. A statement in open court was also read on behalf of the Claimant. The press release is available here
  • Stoimenov v MGN Limited, a libel case which resulted in the Defendant making an offer of amends, which was accepted by the Claimant, and pursuant to which the Defendant published an apology and paid the Claimant £75,000 by way of compensation and costs. A statement in open court was also read on behalf of the Claimant. The press release is available here
  • A confidential media arbitration involving issues relating to data protection, misuse of private information and breach of confidence
  • Hanson v ANL, a libel case which resulted in the payment of £65,000 and costs following the publication of allegations in the Mail on Sunday and on MailOnline. The press release is available here
  • Gilham v MGN Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 2217, a libel case which resulted in the payment of £49,000 and costs following the publication of allegations online on mirror.co.uk and in a regional publication. The press release is available here. Permission to appeal the judgment was refused by the High Court and the Court of Appeal
  • Ghannouchi v Middle East Online Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 1992, a libel case which resulted in the payment of £45,000 and costs following the publication of allegations on an online news website publishing news items in English and Arabic. Damages were assessed following a successful application for default judgment. The press release is available here
  • Ghannouchi v Al Arab Publishing House Limited, a libel case which resulted in the payment of substantial damages and costs following the publication of allegations on an online news website publishing news items in English and Arabic. The press release is available here
  • NPV v QEL [2018] EWHC 703, obtaining an injunction in misuse of private information involving blackmail for the Claimant
  • A case in which she secured a front page apology and compensation for a Member of Parliament over false allegations published in his constituency’s newspaper

Mathilde has also assisted on various successful injunctions:

  • SOJ v JAO [2019] EWHC 2569, obtaining an interim injunction in misuse of private information involving allegations of blackmail
  • BVG v LAR [2019] EWHC 2388; [2020] EWHC 931, which resulted in the granting of a permanent injunction on an application to strike out and for summary judgment
  • DEF & Ors v VWX (unreported), obtaining an interim injunction in misuse of private information and harassment involving allegations of blackmail

Mathilde’s practice also involves:

  • Dealing with complaints to the ICO in relation to data controllers’ refusal to comply with data subject requests, including de-listing requests; and advising clients in relation to complaints made about them to the ICO
  • Assisting on complaints to IPSO for breaches of the Editors’ Code of Practice, and on media arbitrations
  • Dealing with cases involving the removal of information online and advising on the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation, and her commentary on this was published in The Times
  • Assisting on sensitive litigation matters
  • Publishing commentary about recent cases in key publications for media practitioners and the general public