Sacked Mirror editor turns to former adversary Schillings to smooth exit

Just weeks after its landmark victory over the Daily Mirror in the Naomi Campbell case, Schillings has again been instructed to act against the tabloid, this time by its former editor Piers Morgan.

Schillings partner Martin Cruddace, a long-time friend and former Daily Mirror colleague of Morgan’s, won the work, despite an acrimonious history between the media firm and the editor. It is understood that Cruddace is helping to negotiate Morgan’s exit from the Daily Mirror after he was sacked as editor last month when photographs printed by the newspaper, claiming to depict the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by UK soldiers, were proven to be fake.

Schillings was instrumental in one of Morgan’s biggest defeats. Last month, the House of Lords ruled in favour of Schillings’ client Campbell against the Daily Mirror for publishing photographs of the supermodel leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting in 2001.
Schillings is set to reap more than £1m in fees after it took the case to the House of Lords on a conditional fee arrangement with a 100 per cent uplift. The Daily Mirror is facing total costs of around £1.5m.

Morgan had vigorously defended his paper in the Campbell case, announcing after the verdict: “This is a very good day for lying, drug-abusing prima donnas who want to have their cake with the media and the right to then shamelessly guzzle it with their Cristal champagne.”

Soon after the judgment was handed down, Morgan sent Schillings a bottle of the exclusive Cristal champagne, bearing the note: “Hope you choke on it. Congratulations.”