Addressing Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs): a Critical Interrogation of Legislative, and Judicial Responses

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are abusive legal actions or threats brought by powerful parties to suppress criticism. This article is the first to interrogate the efficacy of the policy and legislative responses to SLAPPs in Europe and in England and Wales. It is also the first to provide extensive analysis of how SLAPPs have, to date, been treated by domestic courts, and how judges have applied the Civil Procedure Rules to the phenomenon. In assessing the existing early disposal mechanisms that have hitherto been deployed in these cases, and the early disposal mechanism prescribed in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 anti-SLAPP provisions, it argues that they are flawed, and in the case of ECCTA, a false dawn for tackling SLAPPs. Furthermore, and significantly, it advances an alternative model for a novel dedicated SLAPP early disposal mechanism.