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Private eye

21 March 2014 / Tom Morrison
Issue: 7599 / Categories: Features , Data protection
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Tom Morrison returns with his quarterly review of the world of information law

Christmas 2013 may have become a distant memory, but any work-related party of note will have left its indelible mark somewhere on a social network. Party-goers up and down the land will have made sure that those special moments from their work dos were captured in prose on Twitter, through grainy fake Polaroids on Instagram or with amusing clips posted on YouTube. There can be few workplaces where an employee has not done something like tweeting a picture of a photocopied body part with the hashtag #mybossisanidiot or posted a video of themselves drinking vodka via their eye sockets.

The anecdote becomes somewhat less amusing for the employee if, once the alcohol-induced haze has cleared, his or her employer decides that the employee may have brought the business into disrepute because the company’s social media account was used, or the star of the video was in company uniform at the time. There is an employment law minefield to navigate, not only in relation

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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