Landmark complaint issued against UK Lawyers for Israel

In February 2023, Chelsea and Westminster hospital quietly removed a display of artwork from one of its corridors.

The artwork, a collection of decorated plates, had been designed by schoolchildren in Gaza. It depicted symbols of peace and the desire for an independent Palestinian state.

The plates had been on the walls of the hospital for over a decade, but a strongly worded letter from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) ensured they were promptly taken down.

UKLFI director Caroline Turner was quick to claim victory. “We are pleased that the hospital has responded positively to its patients’ complaints”, she declared.

A freedom of information request subsequently forced the hospital to admit it had not received a single complaint about the display, but the artwork was not restored.

UKLFI has since launched several aggressive campaigns against expressions of solidarity with Palestine, including pressuring an NHS trust to ban staff from wearing pro-Palestine badges.

But a landmark complaint has now been lodged against the pro-Israel lawyers by the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and the European Legal Support Center (ELSC).

The 114-page report, which has been sent to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), says UKLFI is using the law improperly to threaten civil society groups and is operating as an unregulated legal firm.

PILC solicitor Paul Heron told Declassified: “UKLFI are acting in a manner that chills public participation and intimidates those who stand in solidarity with Palestine.

“We will not allow legal threats to shut down the public’s right to speak out on Palestine. The SRA has a duty to step in, to uphold professional standards, and to protect civil society from intimidation dressed up as law”.

SLAPPs

The submission argues that UKLFI and its director Caroline Turner use Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to threaten pro-Palestine groups and events in Britain.

SLAPPs, the submission notes, are “legal actions, or threats of legal action, typically brought by powerful individuals or entities to intimidate, silence, or punish critics”.

PILC’s report urges the Solicitors Regulation Authority to suspend Turner “to prevent breaches of professional standards and to set a precedent against the use of SLAPPs”.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority issued guidance on SLAPPs in 2022, warning against actions including making claims without merit, bringing cases in an oppressive manner, and pursuing cases for an improper purpose.

PILC and ELSC cite eight organisations in Britain which have allegedly been targeted with SLAPPs by UK Lawyers for Israel since 2022.

One of those organisations, the Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust (CCCT), had planned a concert entitled “The World Stands with Palestine” at Morley College in London in November 2024.

Shortly before the event, CCCT and Morley College were sent a threatening letter by UKLFI.

The letter claimed the event “lauds Palestinian resistance” and would be “offensive for any Jewish, Israeli or Zionist visitors”. It further said the concert could be in breach of the Terrorism Act 2000, the Equality Act 2010, and Charity Commission guidelines.

The event was subsequently cancelled, with the Trust condemning how UKLFI “can run around threatening reprisals by quoting all these laws and attempt[ing] to intimidate those who host musical events”.

The organisation added: “The threats and pernicious accusations of UKLFI against the CCCT aim to spread fear. In this regard, they represent the latest tactic of the Zionists who are using lawyers in various countries to threaten people and silence their voice”.

A spokesperson for the Trust told Declassified that “PILC and ELSC argue convincingly that the activities of Caroline Turner as a registered solicitor in relation to the threats and claims of illegality sent out by the UKLFI… are in contravention of the SRA codes of practice, and need to be investigated”.

They added that the complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority “demonstrates that, no matter what, the voice of progressive and enlightened people is not going to be silenced, that the people’s voice will in the end prevail”.

Falastin Film Festival

The Falastin Film Festival, which aims to bring “Palestinian cinema, culture and art to Scotland while raising awareness of Zionist colonisation”, was also targeted by UKLFI.

Four days before its 2025 event took place, Caroline Turner sent a threatening letter to the venue, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, with the header “URGENT”.

The letter alleged that the festival’s programme was “inherently antisemitic and anti-Zionist in nature”, adding that it could lead to a complaint to the Scottish Charity Regulator.

UKLFI further requested that the venue, which is owned by the Church of Scotland, cancel the festival and open “a full investigation” into how it “came to be part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s programme”.

The venue was given just three days to respond, but decided to go ahead with the event.

A spokesperson for the Falastin Film Festival told Declassified: “We believe the timing of the letter was calculated – UKLFI hoped that the Church of Scotland would force the venue operators to cancel the festival, and with just four days to go, finding an alternative venue would have been impossible.

“This obviously created a significant stress for us as organisers. Their baseless accusations not only threatened to erase a year’s worth of work, but attempted to defame the festival, and us as individuals, potentially putting us at personal risk”.

They added: “The cancellation of the festival would have caused significant financial damage, as well as damaging the festival’s reputation and integrity as a cultural community platform in Scotland”.

If it walks like a duck

PILC and ELSC’s report also argues that UK Lawyers for Israel should be brought under the purview of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

UKLFI has eight directors with the majority being from the legal profession, while its patrons include former supreme court judge John Dyson and several King’s Counsels.

“The impression given is that UKLFI is a law firm”, the submission notes. “The credibility and weight of these regulated members of the legal profession is routinely used by an unregulated organisation to carry out unregulated legal work”.

UKLFI’s mission statement, moreover, indicates that it frequently engages in legal work and services. “We use the law to counter attempts to undermine, attack and delegitimise Israel, Israeli organisations, Israelis, and supporters of Israel”, it says.

To this end, PILC and ELSC are “deeply concerned that UKFLI may be exploiting their unregulated status to regularly and flagrantly violate the SRA regulations established to govern legal services and service providers”.

Paul Heron commented: “As a solicitor, Ms Turner is not above the SRA’s regulatory framework. We are calling for a full investigation into her conduct and into UKLFI as an organisation that effectively acts as a law firm”.

The Charity Commission recently disclosed that it also had an active case open into UK Lawyers for Israel’s relationship with its charitable arm, the UKLFI Charitable Trust.

UK Lawyers for Israel was approached for comment.