The fund is now at 8,940 after six and half hours.
Lots of support.
Richard Dunstan
5h
It's time to hold Jolyon Maugham KC to account.
Effectively unregulated and accountable to no one, he grifts £ millions from the fearful and ill-informed, to harass and bully those he dislikes.
But by defaming SVPhillimore, he's overreached himself.
Richard Dunstan
Replying to
@SVPhillimore
It is not in any way a waste of money, for the reasons I set out in May. Maugham needs to be held to account, and we simply don't have the luxury of choosing the means by which that is achieved.
I have done so because I have long considered Maugham to be a toxic demagogue and a public menace. Having become wealthy – but bored – by helping other wealthy people pay less tax, he had wet dreams of using undemocratic lawfare to frustrate Brexit, and then to bring down the appalling but democratically-elected Johnson government that overrode those efforts. As Private Eye noted recently, he set up the GLP (in March 2017) to “take legal action against those he disapproves of”, and that has since included public bodies such as the Charity Commission, Ofcom and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, as well as charities advocating for LGB rights and women’s rights.
On social media and through his lawfare, Maugham sows hate, fear and division, and undermines public trust in the legal and political systems. Effectively unregulated, utterly convinced of his own moral rectitude, and accountable to no one, he is a semen stain on the reputation of the legal profession, an industrial-scale grifter, and a conman, extracting vast sums from the fearful and the ill-informed to spend on his personal and ideological hobby-horses as he – and only he – sees fit.
Indeed, to my mind, Maugham’s idiosyncratic, scattergun lawfare is an offence to our parliamentary democracy, while the GLP’s exploitative crowdfunding is sometimes almost indistinguishable from the criminal offence of obtaining money by deception. And £27.1 million is a lot of (other people’s) money.
https://labourpainsblog.com/2025/05/27/lost-cause-the-crowdfunded-lawfare-of-jolyon-maugham-kc/
ON JKR
Sarah Phillimore
Maugham certainly thinks JKR is funding and that explains his peculiar videos last week. I have made an application to the fund: it’s up to the fund what it does. But the only thing that seems to get through to Maugham is a rich woman. I am not a rich woman. But that’s the beauty of crowdfunding. It allows those of us for whom the courts are out of reach to gain access. If the fund does help I will tell you. I appreciate it’s asking a lot for people to give money to actions like this.
The case
Protection against defamation
by Sarah Victoria Phillimore
Who am I?
I am Sarah Phillimore a family law barrister and member of Fair Cop. I have been speaking out on issues of sex versus gender since 2018. I do not believe it is possible to change sex, and women have a right to single sex female spaces.
Summary
I would like to raise money to take legal action in defamation against Jolyon Maugham KC, the director of the Good Law Project. On 29th August 2025 Mr Maugham posted on both his 'X' and Bluesky accounts the following: A barrister, Sarah Phillimore, led a campaign of harassment of a trans woman so wicked that she sought to take her own life'. This is not true. Mr Maugham has no reasonable grounds to believe it is true.
The background to these posts is that the Good Law Project has been assisting a trans identifying man to make a complaint about me to my regulator. If you want more detail about that I have written about it here Response to the complaint of Mr Weddell and the Good Law Project
Mr Maugham has 411.2K followers on his 'X' account and the post was seen, as of September 5th 2025, 159K times.
On 30th August 2025 I emailed Mr Maugham to ask that he delete the posts, apologise and pay £5k to the campaigning group For Women Scotland. On 4th September Mr Maugham posted a video to the Good Law Project's Instagram, Bluesky, 'X' and Tiktok accounts. He did not name me but repeated the allegation and said he would not apologise.
Call to action
I would like to raise money to instruct solicitors and specialist defamation barristers to advise me on how best to pursue my case against Mr Maugham. I am willing to settle at any time with deletion of the posts and videos, a public apology and a donation to For Women Scotland.
What am I trying to achieve?
I am a proud defender of freedom of speech, but it is not an absolute right. Mr Maugham is entitled to disagree with my opinions and use strong, even abusive language or mockery to do so. But one important limit to freedom of speech is that we do not have the right to tell harmful lies about others to thousands of people.
Mr Maugham posts as King's Counsel and must intend for that status to give his false assertions credibility.
I think there is clearly a risk of significant harm to my reputation or even my physical safety, given the vitriolic nature of some of the comments on the posts and videos. I have already had anonymous complaints sent to my place of work, demanding that I am punished for my transphobia.
I am also worried there is a risk of much wider harm. Mr Maugham does not agree with my views on sex and gender identity and is sending a chilling message to other women who share my views about how he will use his power and influence to silence us.
There is recent evidence in the public domain about organised attempts to discredit those with 'gender critical' views and I am concerned about the role Mr Maugham and the Good Law Project are playing.
What is the next step in the case?
I would like to instruct solicitors and specialist defamation barristers to advise me on the strength of my case and the next steps. If Mr Maugham continues to refuse to apologise, I would like to take action in court.
How much am I raising and why?
I am afraid it is difficult to be precise about how much I will need. Defamation is tricky and expensive. I am starting with a £50K target which may need to stretch.
None of the money raised will go to me. If I win any damages from Mr Maugham I will give these to For Women Scotland.
If there is any money left in the fund, this will be dealt with according to CrowdJustice's Unused Funds process and I will ask that this money goes to either an existing or new 'gender critical' case on CrowdJustice.
I cannot guarantee I will be successful, or even get to court. Please don't give any money you can't afford to lose. If you can't or don't want to give me money, please consider sharing the crowdfunder link with those you know.
Thank you very much.