Top Ten Reputation Managers

Niri Shan has been described as a ‘polished operator’ by a contemporary, and one can see why. ‘It’s my USP,’ he tells Spear’s, ‘I try to deal with things in a low-key, collaborative way – we’re not super-aggressive in our approach.’

The Taylor Wessing partner, who works in the firm’s ‘strategic partner’ team advising both claimants and defendants, describes an instance when he resolved a particularly salacious allegation involving high-profile individuals ‘through one letter and a series of phone calls’.

‘I got 30 articles taken down,’ he says, adding that his dual advisory role means he has long-standing relationships with the lawyers working for media companies.Shan has been bombarded with right-to-be-forgotten requests from clients, many from the Middle East and Russia, who are finding that old Google articles are affecting their applications to open UK bank accounts.

‘I had a Russian family come to me with what they thought was one article in the Telegraph that was causing a problem,’ he says, ‘I looked at it and discovered a much bigger problem with the positioning of their family and its perceived relationship with Putin.’ Shan observes that Google is taking down ‘more than I ever remember before’, but sighs that Twitter and Instagram are less cooperative. ‘They judge by American standards of free speech; it’s difficult with them.’