Information Law

Our cross-departmental Information Team consists of specialists from our housing management & property litigation, employment, litigation & dispute resolution and corporate teams, advising a large array of clients on data protection and freedom of information issues.

Data protection

In the light of recent high profile data breaches and the resulting demand for ever improved standards of security and confidentiality, it’s vital that companies are well versed in matters of data protection. We have data protection expertise across our business, in sectors such as public services, social housing, employment, housing management and dispute resolution, meaning that no matter what field you operate in, our experts will be able to tailor specific data protection advice which is relevant to your needs. Our knowledge of the way in which regulations are set up and implemented means that the service we provide is flexible and responsive to this rapidly changing environment.

Our main areas of practice are;

1. GDPR compliance- reviewing and revising existing policies, procedures and data protection associated documentation (or where necessary creating new documents) to ensure they comply with the latest regulations.
2. Data Protection Impact Assessment and Data Audits – reviewing DPIAs to identify and advise on risks on upcoming projects.
3. Data Sharing- advising on data sharing arrangements and drafting and negotiating data sharing agreements.
4. Personal data breaches and notification – advising on containing data breaches together with making notifications to the Information Commissioners Office (“ICO”) and handling investigations.
5. Data subject rights including Subject Access Requests- advising on complying with data subject requests, including the use of exemptions and assisting clients to review and redact information before disclosure.
6. Drafting data protection contract clauses.

7. Data Protection Compliance Health Check – assessing your organisation’s compliance against the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. For more information regarding our comprehensive data protection legal compliance health check, please click here.

Freedom of Information Act

Our Information Team has extensive experience advising on Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests and the Environmental Information Regulations. We advise public authority clients on applying exemptions to resist disclosing information as well as advising businesses on making FOIA requests. We have successfully challenged a decision of the ICO of the applicability of FOIA to a client business.

We advise clients on the impact of FOIA clauses in public sector contracts and help businesses contracting with public sector bodies to protect their commercially sensitive data from the FOIA.

For more information, please contact one of our specialists detailed on the right hand side.