If you believe that your personal data has been mishandled, or you are having problems accessing information held by a public authority (your own, or information about its activities) then our solicitors can help you secure a fair outcome and obtain compensation.

Our information and privacy work has achieved significant successes and broken new legal ground.

Misuse of Data

Personal information about us is held by a large number of public and private bodies. Considerable damage can result if it is not handled correctly.

We act for clients who may have been affected by the misuse of their data held by public authorities and corporations.

This includes claims for compensation for distress, defamation, and financial losses arising from misuse or incorrect recording of personal data.

We also have experience of securing injunctions to prevent the misuse of information and the removal of information which is false.

For example, we have represented clients in the following cases:

• A challenge to the blanket seizure of, and extraction of data from, migrants’ mobile phones (R (HM and MA and KH) v Secretary of State for the Home Department) and subsequent claims for damages.
• Acting for a parent in relation to the dissemination of false information about him by a social services authority, rectifying the error and securing damages.
• Securing the removal of inaccurate information and substantial damages for distress and financial loses for an individual who lost their job due to inaccurate disclosure of information by the police to his employer.
• Securing compensation for an asylum seeker whose confidential information about persecution in his country of origin was shared with those same authorities by the UK government, thus increasing the risk to him and his family.
• Securing the deletion of information from police and other public authority databases for persons wrongfully referred under the government’s Prevent counter-terrorism programme (see e.g. here and here).
• Securing an apology, compensation and policy change for a human rights campaigner wrongfully refused security accreditation for a political conference by the police.

Access to Data and Transparency

We assist individuals, organisations and public interest journalists in obtaining information and securing transparency from public authorities, under the Data Protection Act 2018, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and other legal information obligations. For example:

• The release of information regarding private operators of immigration detention centres in the UK (Information Commissioner v Home Office & Miller).
• Access to information in relation to UK use of armed drones, including the first cross-examination of a UK armed drone pilot (Cole v Information Commissioner & MoD).
• The release of further information regarding historical activities of the UK Foreign Office in relation to Bahrain (Jones v Information Commissioner & FCO).

Right to Privacy

We work with individuals and organisations in securing accountability and compensation for unlawful surveillance activities and their inadequate oversight. For example:

• The landmark challenge to UK mass surveillance following the Edward Snowden disclosures (Big Brother Watch, Open Rights Group, English PEN & Constanze Kurz v United Kingdom).
• A challenge to the blanket seizure of, and extraction of data from, migrants’ mobile phones (R (HM and MA and KH) v Secretary of State for the Home Department) and subsequent claims for damages and deletion of data.
• A landmark judgment on the UK’s data retention legislation (requiring telecommunications providers to retain users’ data).
• Damages claims for the unlawful seizure and loss of migrants' mobile phones at the UK government's Manston short-term holding facility.