Data, Privacy & Cyber

Maximising the use of data has never been more critical to the success of an organisation. However, misuse of data, even if unintended, has the power to turn success into catastrophe overnight. The value of data, and good data protection compliance, is reflected in the constantly evolving regulatory regime which shows no sign of slowing down. In particular, post Brexit, the UK is seeking to position itself as a global leader in this arena.

Our Data, Privacy & Cyber team is a specialist practice within the firm, comprising of a nationwide team of lawyers. We advise on all areas of information law including:

• privacy and data protection regulations including the UK/EU GDPR;
• marketing and targeted advertising;
• confidentiality;
• freedom of information;
• environmental information regulations;
• cyber incidents; and
• privacy claims.

We help our clients to harness the power of the data they hold whilst ensuring they are acting in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements, as well as maintaining customer, employee and public trust. We also support when things go wrong and an urgent response is needed to a cyber-incident, regulator enquiry or privacy claim.

We advise clients across all sectors but have particular expertise in advising clients in health; insurance; real estate; and technology. This sector expertise means that our lawyers are able to advise specifically in the context of industries which have their own, unique challenges. 

Our team is particularly recognised for its practical, pragmatic approach. We pride ourselves on our ability to digest complex issues of law and regulation into accessible, commercial advice, enabling clients to maximise their use of data and respond to challenges whilst managing complex risks.

What we do

Queries range in size, from the very small, when all it takes is a quick call to us, to the major strategic matters, involving data protection advice being obtained and distilled on a global basis – we have experience of dealing with them all. We have recently advised on topics such as:

• targeted advertising on social media sites;
• use of facial recognition technology;
• employee temperature checking during the pandemic;
• ransomware attacks; and
• group privacy claims.

Many of our clients are part of groups operating and implementing data processing systems on a global basis. We recognise our clients need a cost effective, seamless solution for handling global projects or responding to global incidents in compliance with the plethora of data protection laws and requirements across the globe. We have formulated a panel of handpicked data protection specialist law firms in jurisdictions across the world to provide our clients with a seamless global advice. This comprises of DAC Beachcroft offices across the world and a panel of bespoke best friend law firms.

As well as providing bespoke solutions to our client needs, we have specific, fully outsourced offerings which including data protection healthchecks, handling of data subject access requests, corporate due diligence and data breach response planning.

For more information on our dedicated teams, please see:

• Insurance advisory
• Cyber and Data Risk
• Public law
• Employment and Pensions