Dr Sam Fowles appears in the Supreme Court in Key Freedom of Information Case

Today, Dr Sam Fowles appears in the Supreme Court (led by Christopher Knight of 11 Kings Bench Walk) in a case likely to have a significant impact on freedom of information decisions. The case concerns whether public bodies can aggregate the different public interests in withholding information in order to add weight to the balance between disclosure and refusal.

Sam acts for Brendan Montague, an investigative journalist, who asked the (then) Secretary of State for International Trade (now Secretary of State for Business and Trade) to disclose information relating to the UK’s post-Brexit trade talks. The Secretary of State refused, and (acting unled) Sam succeeded in obtaining disclosure of some of the material in the First Tier Tribunal. However, the Tribunal withheld some of the information after aggregating the public interest in withholding the information. The Upper Tribunal subsequently held that such aggregation is not permitted. The Court of Appeal disagreed. The matter now falls to be determined by the Supreme Court.

Dr Sam Fowles is a public lawyer with a particular interest in constitutional, administrative, information, and planning/environmental law, inquests, and public inquiries. He has appeared in many of the leading matters of recent years including Miller/Cherry v The Prime Minister, Hamilton v Post Office, and The Liberal Democrat Party/Scottish National Party v ITV. He has appeared at every level of tribunal, including the Supreme Court.