Zelda Perkins

Zelda Perkins was the first woman to break an NDA in 2017, signed decades earlier, with Harvey Weinstein. She brought the systematic abuse of NDA’s to the attention of the British Government and international press, giving evidence at two parliamentary inquiries, which uncovered an epidemic of misuse, and pushed the Solicitors Regulatory Authority to take disciplinary action against the lawyer who created the NDA for Weinstein. Her actions have been inspiring others to come forward by her example. She has been campaigning for legislative and regulatory reform in the UK since 2017 and launched the Global campaign Can’t Buy My Silence cantbuymysilence.com with Canadian Co Founder, Professor Julie Macfarlane in September 2021. They are working with Government in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Canada and Australia to change legislation and regulation around the misuse of NDA’s. In 2022 their first piece of law was enacted in Canada and in the spring of 2023 Royal Assent was granted to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act which prohibits the use of NDAs in cases of sexual misconduct, bullying and discrimination between staff, students and/or visiting speakers - it is the first law of its kind in the UK. In October 2023 their amendment to the Employment Equality Bill in Ireland was passed by the Senate and is the strongest piece of legislation prohibiting NDAs in Europe. Zelda was named a Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2018, by the Guardian in 2020 and in 2023 awarded for her outstanding contribution to gender equality by the UN Women UK. Her character was portrayed by Samantha Morton in the Universal Pictures feature “She Said” documenting her part in the downfall of Weinstein.