The Guardian reports
Dinah Rose KC receives apology over story concerning her involvement in Caymans same-sex marriage case
A leading lawyer has received “substantial” damages and an apology from the Times over a misleading report that claimed she had been censured by her professional regulator.
The story, published in November, concerned controversy over Dinah Rose KC representing the Cayman Islands government in opposing same-sex marriage in a case at the privy council.
Rose, the president of Oxford’s Magdalen College, faced criticism by LGBTQ+ rights campaigners for taking the case. She countered that it was her professional obligation to accept the case under the “cab rank” rule, but this was disputed in a Times story headlined “Law chiefs rule against Magdalen College head in Caymans gay rights row”, which led to her suing the newspaper and its legal editor, Jonathan Ames.
The report quoted the Bar Standards Board (BSB) as having told Colours Caribbean, a campaign group, that Rose’s interpretation of the cab rank rules “might possibly amount to evidence of recklessness” if “taken at its highest”.
In a statement read at the high court in central London on Tuesday, Rose’s lawyer William Bennett KC said she had been “shocked and distressed” by the article.
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