phil.sherrell

Who? Phil Sherrell, partner and head of Bird & Bird’s London office.

Why is he in the news? Successfully acted for the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) in its high-profile trial to determine computer scientist Craig Wright’s claim to be the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Thoughts on the case: ‘COPA v Wright had everything: electrifying cross-examination when Wright, the alleged bitcoin creator, could not explain basic cryptocurrency tech; incredibly complex document forensics evidence; and the electrifying denouement when Mr Justice Mellor, after a six-week trial, announced that he was going to immediately grant the declarations that COPA sought – that Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto and did not own copyright and other IP rights relating to bitcoin. But I was most struck by the fundamental sadness of the story. A man who spent eight years building an edifice of lies, and in the course of doing so ruined the lives of many others (in particular the journalists, bloggers and developers who he attempted to litigate into submission). It was incredibly gratifying to achieve some finality for them. The brave stance taken by COPA, to take the fight to Wright on behalf of the community, was 100% vindicated.’

Dealing with the media: ‘The case proved very popular with the media and the international cryptocurrency community. At one point we had close to 1,000 people logged in to watch the trial via remote link. We became used to every aspect of our strategy being pored over and commented on online, with the running commentary reaching a crescendo during trial. One thing which really helped with media engagement was our use of a Dropbox account. On the first day of trial we posted the pleadings and skeleton arguments, and then added the witness statements as each witness testified. We handed out QR codes with a link to the account to the press in court. It all made management of media interest much simpler.’

Why become a lawyer? ‘I became a lawyer after reading about miscarriages of justice in the 1970s and 1980s, but I stayed a lawyer because working on copyright and other media/IP law litigation is endlessly fascinating.’

Career high: ‘Hearing the judge grant us our declarations on the last day of COPA v Wright. I have never been prouder of the quality of work delivered by our team.’

Career low: ‘A pre-trial bundling crisis 20 years ago, involving malfunctioning colour photocopiers and OXO tins. The less said about that the better.’

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