Mark Stephens life and biography

Mark Stephens (born 1957) is a British media lawyer with the firm Finers Stephens Innocent. He started his career representing artists, setting up ArtLaw, which was the first legal advice centre for artists. According to The Guardian he made his name defending Greenpeace in a case of litigation brought by Shell over what Shell alleged to be an illegal occupation of the Brent Spar oil platform. He was on ICSTIS' (a premium telephone line regulator) emergency committee, but resigned in 1996, after it emerged he had not disclosed a possible conflict of interest. He founded a partnership, Stephens Innocent and in 1999 this merged with Finers, forming Finers Stephens Innocent which Stephens describes as being a “niche within a niche”. He was described in The Times Law100 list as "Mr “Media Lawyer” himself", as a "passionate supporter of human rights" and "one of the best advocates for freedom of expression".

Commenting to The Times on the perceived glamour of being a media laywer, he said that this is incorrect "It’s not glamorous, not a good work-life balance and you need to be available 24/7" but he added that "the work can be very stimulating". He was the Vice Chairman of the Internet Watch Foundation.

In August 2009 he was appointed Chairman of the Governors at the University of East London, the university at which he gained his law degree in 1980. He is a Freeman of the City of London. In January 2010, he appointed to a working group on libel laws, set up by the then Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, which published a report in March 2010.

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