Robin Shaw obituary

When the Guardian was sued by the Doctor Who actor Noel Clarke for reporting allegations of sexual misconduct, it called upon the services of Robin Shaw – one of the most cool-headed and skilful defamation lawyers of his generation.

Shaw, who has died aged 66, had accumulated decades of experience in London’s libel courts defending Private Eye, the Guardian, the Mirror, the Daily Telegraph and other publishers. He secured landmark victories for freedom of speech and overturned oppressive privacy injunctions.

The case brought by Clarke against the Guardian involved a claim of £10m in damages – later sought to be raised to £70m – and a six-week trial at the high court. More than 20 women gave evidence detailing or corroborating incidents of harassment, unwanted sexual contact and bullying.

In its investigation, the newspaper revealed that Clarke faced accusations of abusing women, professional misconduct and sharing explicit pictures without consent.

Shaw, who had been advising the Guardian on legal matters since 2010, helped organise the complex defence that culminated in Mrs Justice Steyn comprehensively dismissing Clarke’s claims in August. The judge found that the paper had successfully made out its truth defence as well as its public interest defence under the requirements of the Defamation Act 2013.

He had been undergoing cancer treatment for more than a year, but Shaw lived long enough to learn that he and the newspaper had scored a significant legal success, his encyclopedic knowledge of court cases and tactical acumen again safeguarding journalists’ ability to report freely and fairly.

Renowned for his dry, irreverent wit, Shaw was unflappable and unflashy. He combined the curiosity of an investigative reporter with the expertise of a case-hardened lawyer. Colleagues testified to his generous support and delight in legal team work.

Born in West Sussex, Robin was the middle child of three born to Paula (nee Gisborne) and David Shaw. His father was a City financier and business partner of the 1960s pop entrepreneurs Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, and Robert Stigwood. David Shaw helped set up the Robert Stigwood Organisation, which represented the Bee Gees.

Robin was sent to Ludgrove preparatory school in Wokingham, Berkshire, and Gresham’s school in Norfolk, which he left in 1975. He started training as an accountant but switched to law in 1978 and qualified as a solicitor in 1983.

Shaw completed his articles at Wright Webb Syrett, a Soho-based showbusiness and media law firm run by Oscar Beuselinck, a flamboyant lawyer who represented, among others, Sean Connery, Mia Farrow, Richard Harris and Robert Maxwell. Beuselinck also became principal solicitor for Private Eye. When he moved firms to join Davenport Lyons, he recruited most of his former litigation team from Wright Webb Syrett.

Shaw, a partner at Davenport Lyons from 1995 to 2014, had always been, as he explained, an “avid reader” of the Eye. On arriving at the firm he made a point of visiting to “see how it worked”. A few years later he took over as its main provider of legal advice.

His association with Private Eye and its editor Ian Hislop – reputedly the most sued man in English legal history – endured for four decades. Shortly after Shaw began he was phoned by Peter Carter-Ruck – notorious at the magazine due to the number of lawsuits he brought. The veteran libel lawyer objected to being pilloried by having his name regularly misspelt with the R of Ruck replaced with an F. The message was passed on. In the following edition the name was changed to Peter Farter-Ruck.

Shaw at one point explained: “If I were to try to make an issue of the Eye non-libellous, it would just be blank pages. My job is to help them get away with as much as they can.” His astute understanding of legal tactics deterred most menaces.

As the Eye’s tribute recorded: “Threats to sue were met with a response in which scrupulous politeness and an air of slight bafflement that anyone could possibly think they had a valid claim against the magazine were the velvet wrapping around a spiked club of factual backup and legal precedents.”

Some cases did reach court. Shaw coordinated the 10-year long battle against the accountant Stuart Condliffe, represented by Carter-Ruck, who sued the magazine after being accused of overcharging clients. On their way into court, a Carter-Ruck partner gloated about buying himself a Ferrari when he won with his “no win, no fee” agreement. “They lost [their payday – the claimant dropped the case], spectacularly – so we brought the partner a Dinky-toy Ferrari instead,” Shaw later recalled.

He challenged several privacy injunctions. On behalf of HarperCollins in 2010, Shaw defeated a BBC attempt to prevent publication of the autobiography of Ben Collins – the mystery driver known as the Stig in Top Gear. For Private Eye the following year, he forced the then BBC presenter Andrew Marr to relax the terms of a superinjunction banning the media from reporting an extramarital affair.

Shaw, who also represented several boxing promoters including Mickey Duff, later moved firms, going to Gordon Dadds from 2014 to 2022 then Wiggin from 2022 to 2025.

Outside court, he was a keen opera-goer, enjoyed travelling and spent time in Norfolk where he had a house.

In 2008, he married his long-term partner, Rupina Ahluwalia, a barrister. He is survived by Rupina and his mother, Paula.

• Robin Henry Ledgard Shaw, lawyer, born 2 January 1959; died 5 September 2025