Mark Stephens CBE is a British lawyer specializing in media law, intellectual property rights and human rights. During his career, Mark has undertaken some of the highest profile cases in the UK and abroad defending artists’ freedom of expression and online publishers against charges of libel. He currently heads the international and media department at the London based firm Howard Kennedy LLP.

The Times Newspaper has described Mark as a “passionate supporter of human rights” and “one of the best advocates for freedom of expression.”  London’s Evening Standard newspaper has twice listed him among the “100 most influential people in London.”

In 2011, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for his services to the legal professions and the arts. In 2014, he was awarded Lawyer of the Year in the defamation and reputation category at the global International Jurists Award, as well as the Finance Monthly Art & Cultural Property Law Award.

Mark has sat on many charitable, regulatory, government and academic committees in the areas of art, education, media law and human rights, including the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office Freedom Expression advisory board. He has also assisted in drafting media legislation, on press regulation in the UK in the 1990s and on freedom of information laws in Romania in 2005.

A regular contributor to the media throughout his career, Mark has been a legal correspondent for Sky TV and often appears as a media commentator on legal and current affairs. He has also contributed to two legal books and sits on the editorial board of three legal journals.

Mark studied law at North East London Polytechnic (now the University of East London) and was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by the same university in 2001.