Jamie Susskind

Jamie is a leading authority in the law and regulation of digital technology. He is regularly instructed in cases involving online safety, deepfakes, algorithmic discrimination, and all aspects of media, data, and privacy law, including the Online Safety Act 2023.

He is currently instructed by the ICO in the Clearview AI and TikTok litigation, as well as by private clients.

Jamie is the author of two books in this field: Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech (Oxford University Press, 2018) and The Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the 21^st Century (Bloomsbury, 2022). Future Politics received the Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book Prize for 2019, and was an LSE, Prospect, and Evening Standard book of the year. He has held fellowships at Harvard and Cambridge Universities, as well as the Berggruen Institute in California. Jamie’s work has been cited by two justices of the UK Supreme Court, and widely reviewed in academic and trade publications.

Jamie regularly lectures on matters relating to tech and the law. Recent speaking engagements have included Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Princeton University, the LSE, Cambridge University, the British Academy, the Institute for Government, the Law Society, Google, and Microsoft. In 2022, Jamie was invited to present the Leverhulme Lecture on “The End of Public and Private: How New Technologies Erase Old Boundaries”.

Jamie is a leading employment junior. He is frequently instructed in high-profile cases involving particular complexity or a cross-border dimension.

Recent and current work includes:

High Court / Court of Appeal

Jamie’s recent clients in High Court proceedings include a global IT company, a leading hedge fund, a well-known hedge fund executive, and a machine learning start-up. Notable cases include:

• Guy Carpenter and Company Limited & ors v Howden Group Holdings Limited & ors (led by David Craig KC, Michael Lee, and Craig Rajgopaul) – reinsurance industry “team move” litigation involving allegations of conspiracy.
• Alesco Risk Management Services Limited & Ors v Bishopsgate Insurance Brokers Limited & Ors [2019] EWHC 2839 (QB) (led by David Craig KC and Amy Rogers) – insurance industry “team move” litigation involving allegations of dishonesty and conspiracy to injure.
• JLT Specialty Ltd & Ors v Gordon & Ors (led by Gavin Mansfield KC) – insurance industry “team move” litigation.
• Willis v JLT and others (led by Gavin Mansfield KC and Amy Rogers) – insurance industry “team move” litigation.
• Potensis Ltd v Bennett (as sole counsel) – procured an injunction and favourable costs order in the QBD against a real estate employee acting in breach of his post-termination restrictions.
• Vanden Recycling Ltd v Kras Recycling BV and others [2015] EWHC 3616 (QB); [2017] EWCA Civ 534 (led by Jonathan Cohen KC) – employee competition litigation in the QBD and Court of Appeal.

Employment Tribunal (sole counsel unless otherwise stated)

Jamie is regularly brought in to litigate heavy-duty employment tribunal matters. In recent years he has acted for banks, asset managers, hedge funds, private equity houses, and senior executives across all industries. Notable recent cases include:

• Moving Brands Ltd v Heinl & Läikkö [2023] EAT 34 on the law of privilege;
• Mele v Angela Mortimer Plc & Ors – multi-week whistleblowing and discrimination litigation. Jamie acted for the Claimant, a senior executive.
• Cowie v Vesuvius Plc – multi-week whistleblowing and age discrimination litigation. Jamie acts for the successful Claimant, a senior executive.
• Bleasdale v Quest Fund Placement Limited –bonus claim in the private equity industry.
• Confidential (as sole counsel) – a whistleblowing unfair dismissal claim involving allegations of child abuse.
• Mathur v Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and others (led by Mohinderpal Sethi KC) – whistleblowing, discrimination, equal pay, and unfair dismissal claim arising out of the LIBOR scandal.

Jamie regularly accepts pro bono instructions from claimants who are otherwise unable to afford legal representation.

Jamie is the co-author of two chapters in International Employment Disputes (Eds. Oudkerk and Rogers, Sweet & Maxwell, 2019). He regularly speaks to law firms about trends and tactics in employment matters.

Jamie has a thriving commercial practice and appears regularly in the High Court, as sole counsel and as part of a team. As sole counsel, his clients have included Uber, BT, a Brazilian Premiership footballer, and a well-known US Law Firm. He also brings experience of international commercial arbitration, and disputes in the financial services, mining, oil, entertainment and media, retail, and hospitality sectors.

Jamie takes a keen interest in cases involving the tech industry. His recent work includes:

• Gruber & ors v American International Group & Ors [2020] EWCA Civ 31; [2018] EWHC 3030 (led by Daniel Oudkerk KC and Amy Rogers) – Commercial Court and Court of Appeal litigation arising from the US Government bailout of AIG during the financial crisis of 2008.
• Confidential (led by Charles Samek KC) – commercial arbitration arising out of a property dispute in Moscow.
• Khan v Balyasny Asset Management LLP (as sole counsel) – QBD dispute arising out of a settlement agreement between a hedge fund and former senior executive.
• Confidential (as sole counsel) – arbitration, hedge fund industry.
• Confidential (as sole counsel) – commercial dispute between manufacturers in the drainage industry.

Jamie trained as a public lawyer and has written extensively about governance, regulation, and issues relating to free speech and privacy. He was most recently instructed in a judicial review challenge to the use, by the Prime Minister and others, of non-government communications systems when conducting government business.

Jamie acted for the Claimants (led by Brian Kennelly KC) in a judicial review of the DPP’s decision not to prosecute a neo-Nazi for crimes contrary to the Public Order Act 1986. In response to the litigation, the Crown Prosecution Service quashed its own decision. This case received national coverage from (among other outlets) The Guardian, The Independent, BuzzFeed, and the BBC.

Jamie has a keen interest in sports law and accepts instructions on all aspects of commercial and regulatory sports law. His past clients have included (among others) a Brazilian premiership footballer and a rugby league player.