A live fireside chat and Q&A with Professor Richard Moorhead OBE and Zelda Perkins CBE, CEO & Founder of Can’t Buy My Silence UK

Students, staff, alumni and members of the South West legal community are warmly invited to join us at the University of Exeter on Thursday 12 November 2026 for a live fireside chat and Q&A with Professor Richard Moorhead OBE and Zelda Perkins CBE, CEO & Founder of Can’t Buy My Silence UK.

Zelda Perkins CBE was the first woman to break an NDA in 2017, signed decades earlier with Harvey Weinstein. Her decision to speak out brought the systemic abuse of NDAs to the attention of the British Government and international press. Since 2017 she has led the fight for legislative and regulatory reform to end the misuse of NDAs, founding Can’t Buy My Silence UK in 2021. The campaign has worked with governments in the UK, Ireland and across Canada and Australia, achieving successful legislative reforms in three countries, the most significant reforms being in the UK with landmark amendments to the Employment Rights Act 2025, Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2021, and the Victims and Courts Bill 2025, which will together make NDAs void if used to silence victims or witnesses of harassment, discrimination, or crime. Zelda’s work has been recognised with several awards including being named a TIME Person of the Year and receiving the UN Women UK Award for Outstanding Contribution to Gender Equality. Her story was portrayed by Samantha Morton in the Universal Pictures film 'She Said', which documents her role in exposing Weinstein and spotlighting the culture of silence that enabled him. In December 2025, Zelda was awarded a CBE in the New Years Honours list, for her services to social justice. For further details on the campaign, please visit https://www.cantbuymysilence.co.uk (https://www.cantbuymysilence.co.uk).

Professor Richard Moorhead OBE is a former solicitor, Professor of Law and Professional Ethics at the University of Exeter and a Professor of Law at Monash University, Melbourne, as well as being an Honorary Professor of Law at University College London. He sits on the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board advising the Department for Business and Trade on Post Office compensation schemes. In 2024, he gave the Hamlyn Lectures on lawyers’ ethics. His forthcoming book (September 2026) is called 'Frail Professionalism', and the Post Office Project, that he leads, won the ESRC’s Prize for Outstanding Societal Impact. He blogs on lawyers at https://lawyerwatch.wordpress.com/ (https://lawyerwatch.wordpress.com/) and on the PO Scandal at https://richardmoorhead.substack.com/ (https://richardmoorhead.substack.com/) and in 2026 was awarded an OBE for services to legal ethics.

For further information, please contact Dr Louise Loder, Director of Employability at the University of Exeter Law School.

This event is open to students and staff of the University of Exeter as well as members of the public, and is made possible with the generous support of the Alumni Annual Fund.

Description supplied by the event organiser.