McDonald's hired prominent London libel lawyer Richard Rampton to take on the two defendants who showed up in shirt sleeves, often appearing awkward and bewildered by trial procedures as they represented themselves throughout a record 313 days in court. McLibel set several milestones for legal longevity in England, duly taking a place in The Guinness Book of Records. When the case was handed to the judge late last year, it had become the longest English trial ever, outdoing the 291-day case of a Londoner caught impersonating a nobleman during the 1870s. McDonald's would find it hard if not impossible to fight such a libel case in the United States, where plaintiffs who are public figures face the difficult task of proving in court that they have been falsely and maliciously defamed. In Britain, laws are much more favorable to those bringing libel cases, because defendants are forced to prove that what they said was true.
Critics say the rich and powerful can easily manipulate such a system.
The late publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell is frequently cited as an example of a corrupt figure who used threats of lawsuits to silence his foes. Despite its legal advantages, McDonald's may have underestimated the consequences of picking a fight with people who had nothing to lose. When it brought the case, McDonald's apparently thought that Morris and Steel would cave in along with three other activists the company sued. Morris and Steel said the leaflets are true, so they decided to fight. They slugged it out through 28 pretrial hearings before the trial finally began on June 28, 1994.