Mark Lewis

Mark Lewis   (lawyer)
Spouse	Caroline Feraday

Mark Lewis is an English media lawyer who is a partner at Patron Law. He is married to TV and radio broadcaster, Caroline Feraday, and is the son-in-law of discredited forensic witness Alan Feraday. The couple separated in May 2014.

In August 2018, Mark Lewis and his partner Mandy Blumenthal told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that they are quitting the UK as they no longer feel safe because of "anti-Semitism", saying they have received so much abuse that "enough is enough" and are moving to Israel in December 2018. Ms Blumenthal laid part of the blame at the door of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Bankrupting Labour

"If this bankrupts the Labour Party, so be it."

A leaked internal report shows that the Labour Party’s bureaucrats conspired to undermine their own leader Jeremy Corbyn from the start, even sabotaging the UK/2017 General Election campaign. Following its emergence on 12 April 2020, some of those mentioned in the document have contacted lawyers, with each person said to be considering several different claims. It exposes Labour to a potentially huge bill should it lose in court or opt to settle. Mark Lewis told the Observer:

“There are lots and lots of claims. There are claims under the Data Protection Act, there are claims for breach of confidence or invasion of privacy and there are claims for libel. It is a very lengthy report that mentions a lot of people. I’ve been contacted by 15 people. Each one of them could well have several claims. What is going on is phenomenal. It’s a bit like the soldiers leaving a barracks that they have to desert and setting it on fire.

“For four years, people in Labour have said there is no antisemitism in the party, it’s just a smear. Now they say that of course there was antisemitism, ‘but it just wasn’t us’. They have not noticed the absurdity of their change of position. There are actions against the party, actions against individuals, actions against commentators. People need to be careful about statements that have been made. If this bankrupts the Labour Party or individuals, so be it. Actions have consequences.”

Rachel Riley tweeted: "Mark Lewis's art is suing Jew-haters, and he's about to paint his masterpiece."

Threatening tweets

On 20 February 2019, Mark Lewis tweeted to Mike Sivier:

"I have been instructed by Tracy Ann Oberman and Rachel Riley to take legal action against you. Would you or such solicitor that you nominate please contact mark.lewis@patronlaw.co.uk If you do not provide contact details by 4pm on 28 February 2019 then it will be."

Sivier's colleague Shaun Lawson responded:

"***IMPORTANT*** If you're someone who has received a threat of legal action from Mark Lewis, please seek legal advice. You don't have anything to worry about, because there is nothing libellous in the article. But I'm not a lawyer, so please seek your own. Forewarned is forearmed."

Phone-hacking

According to the London Evening Standard of 22 November 2011:

In the phone-hacking inquiry, Mark Lewis took the Dowlers on a no-win, no-fee basis and his phone hasn't stopped ringing since with requests from victims of phone-hacking to represent him, media appearances, committee appearances. In the final twist, the police, whom he's still suing, have also just announced there are at least 5,795 potential hacking victims, pretty close to the figure of 6,000 he was told in 2008.

His role in exposing the phone-hacking scandal is detailed in a March 2013 Super Lawyers article entitled "One Rogue Solicitor":

In 2006, Mark Lewis happened to be watching television and saw the story of the so-called rogue News of the World reporter, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who pleaded guilty to hacking the phones of the royal family. The report mentioned a few other celebrities whose phones had been hacked as well. One of them was Gordon Taylor.

It might not have seemed like much of a case for a civil lawsuit — after all, no story was actually run on the football executive — but Lewis calls it his Eureka moment. He applied for third-party disclosure with the Metropolitan Police to see the evidence in the royal phone-hacking case, and says he was told:

“You are not having everything, but we will give you enough on Taylor to hang them.”

Unsocial media

Private Eye rumbles "Haselnut" and The Ecologist

Caroline Feraday and dad Alan Feraday on her wedding day in June 2013

On 4 February 2014, Caroline Feraday tweeted to former British diplomat, Patrick Haseldine:

Have you nominated yourself for Twat of the Year (TOTY) too? @BerntCarlsson

Mark Lewis, having favorited his wife's tweet and retweeted it to his 3,481 Twitter followers, added his own tweet:

Lockerbie: Private Eye rumbles "Haselnut" and The Ecologist:

Why tweet as @BerntCarlsson when #Haselnut would be apt?

In response to Mr and Mrs Lewis, Patrick Haseldine tweeted:

"#TwatOfTheYear" is preferable to "#OdiousBombExpert" awarded to your dad: #AlanFeraday

@MarkLewisLawyer Nice nickname @BerntCarlsson remains the highest profile #Lockerbie victim failed by #AlanFeraday

Legal advice-mail

On 22 February 2014, Mark Lewis e-mailed legal advice to his wife Caroline Feraday (copying - perhaps unintentionally - to Patrick Haseldine) as follows:

From: Mark Lewis (mark.lewis@taylorhampton.co.uk)

To: Caroline Feraday (caroline.feradaytv@googlemail.com)

Cc: Patrick Haseldine (patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com)

Sent: Saturday, 22 February 2014, 23:18

Subject: Re: Banning of chief Lockerbie witness Alan Feraday "game-changing"

Not sure it went

Sent from my iPad

Caroline

Clearly Patrick Haseldine is a fruit loop.

Possibly can sue but that gives him the opportunity to use it a show trial: therefore gives the oxygen of publicity.

Whether could sue for harassment is a different matter. Trouble is that he would argue that means it's true.

Inclination is not to bother but on plus side:

1. Some of his theories are so ludicrous that he'd struggle;

2. Such as bomb next to Bernt Carlsson's suitcase;

3. Self-styled Professor;

4. Nominated for Paul Foot Award at Private Eye.

Defending himself might be very expensive but he could represent himself which is a nightmare as trial takes 3x longer.

Ultimately your dad, Alan, has to decide. I think Daniel would be more objective than I am.

Mark.

Mark's day of rage

On 9 August 2014 when Israel was bombing Gaza, Mark Lewis railed on Twitter against anti-zionists, calling them anti-jewish racist scum.

It started at 2:33pm with Mark's tweet:

Why, as a British Jew, I’m terrified by anti-Semitism in my country.

continued with:

Alixir Chabloz@Alixir13

@MarkLewisLawyer @MailOnline Tweeting the Daily Fail? Next: the Sun? Any solid proof of journalist's claims re attack ? Police report ?

and ended at 4:57pm with:

OffCentreNews @offcentrenews

@Alixir13 @3BlockM @frankiescar @contgwirion sad to see @MarkLewisLawyer scream ( again) VILE RACIST SCUM for this.

Ruthless approach to "antisemitism"

The Times of Israel reports that Mark Lewis is ruthless against "anti-Semites" on social media:

“Someone can be a Nazi, but at least [if they are taken to court] they can be a homeless Nazi,” he says. “I’m quite happy to take their homes off them. If these people would have rational debate, I would do that [instead], but they are nutters who have conspiratorial theories and I will never change their outlook. I always think, well, if people don’t like me, at least I’ve hit them".

A couple of years ago Lewis became a director of UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI):

“None of us charge for our time but we devote it to putting legal arguments forward for Israel,” he says.

Many nights he stays up to midnight, giving legal advice on behalf of UKLFI.

Making Craig Murray "homeless"

In September 2017, it was reported that Jake Wallis Simons, associate editor of the Daily Mail Online, was suing Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, for £40,000 in damages plus £100,000 legal costs for lawyer Mark Lewis, who is representing Simons in the High Court case commencing on 7 November 2017.

Craig Murray reacted:

"I sincerely hope [Mark Lewis] does not consider me a Nazi, though plainly this case is started by my falsely being smeared as an anti-Semite. But no matter how objectionable somebody may find my views on Israel/Palestine, how does it serve justice that “at least my” wife and 8-year-old son “can be homeless.” That is however precisely what Mr Lewis seeks to achieve and to be plain, he has threatened me in person with bankruptcy. The money, of course, would go to Mr Lewis and his team still more than to Mr Wallis Simons.

"English libel law is recognised throughout the world as a draconian affront to democracy. Its survival is due not only to the fact that it is an invaluable tool for the wealthy to use against poor radicals, but also to the fact that libel is a very wealthy industry, feeding money to rich and influential individuals, including of course not only the libel lawyers but also the judges and court system which are all part of this massive vested interest, which is extremely well represented in the Westminster parliament.

"All of which I am afraid leads me to renew my appeal for funds for my defence, which despite the extremely generous response so far, do not yet match the scale of the threat. I should say that I was extremely depressed and humiliated a few days ago in having to ask for money in this way, but the response has been so overwhelming and so kind, and accompanied by so many warm words for my work over the years, that the feelings of deep shame have been completely displaced by gratitude, friendship and affection."

Prosecuting Mark Lewis

On 28 September 2018, the Solicitors Regulation Authority decided to prosecute Mark Lewis, a partner at London firm Seddons.

The allegations are that in May 2017 he used his Facebook account to post ‘offensive and profane communications’ towards a third party.

The SRA also alleges that between July 2015 and December 2016 he used his Twitter account, which publicly identified him as a solicitor, to post offensive and profane communications.

The allegations were subject to a hearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on 22-26 November 2018 when Lewis was fined £2,500.

Multiple sclerosis

In the summer of 2016, having suffered from multiple sclerosis (MS) for many years, Mark Lewis heard about stem cell research taking place at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital along with clinical trials for a number of neurological diseases including MS. He successfully applied to be part of the Hadassah clinical trial and, with his Israeli-British partner Mandy Blumenthal, travelled to Jerusalem every six weeks for treatment. The process was filmed every step of the way for a British Channel 4 documentary entitled "The Search for a Miracle Cure" which was screened on Thursday 23 November 2017 at 10:00pm.

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:I Go to Stand My Trial	Blog post	2 November 2017	Craig Murray	The Trial starts on Tuesday 7 November at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, High Court Queen’s Bench Division, and lasts for two or three days. By the time I come back online the Tories will have appointed their next Disgraced Former Defence Secretary in Waiting.
Document:Is The BBC Anti-Labour?	Report	December 2019	Paddy French	Paddy French's antidote to John Ware's Panorama programme "Is Labour Anti-Semitic?"
Document:President Abbas’ Rebuke to Theresa May over Palestine	blog post	24 September 2017	Craig Murray	The ignored part of the Balfour Declaration to which Abbas referred is of course: “It being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”
Document:What is UK Lawyers for Israel’s relationship to the Israeli government	Article	12 March 2019	Hilary Aked	Israeli diplomat Shai Masot – who worked for the anti-BDS Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs in London – was recorded in Al Jazeera’s 2017 undercover documentary The Lobby saying of groups such as UKLFI: "It’s good to leave those organisations independent. But we help them, actually."

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