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Private eye

09 January 2015 / Tom Morrison
Issue: 7635 / Categories: Features , Data protection , Freedom of Information
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Tom Morrison returns with his quarterly review of the world of information law

2015 is a year for anniversaries. A ridiculous comment perhaps as by their nature all years are a year for anniversaries. What I mean is that as we start a new year having just celebrated the 30th anniversary of England and Wales’ first—albeit largely irrelevant—Data Protection Act, we are now commemorating 10 years of the full force of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FIA 2000). I have not got my dates wrong; it took five years to implement. This ground-breaking piece of legislation was far from irrelevant—how can anything described by a former Prime Minister as one of his biggest mistakes be irrelevant—and it marked a new era for the right of the public to know more about the decisions public authorities make in all our names.

March also represents the fifteenth anniversary of our first genuinely meaningful piece of data protection legislation—the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998—which took nearly two years to be activated). DPA 1998 was a watershed

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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