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Louise Freeman

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Louise Freeman represents parties in complex commercial disputes, and co-chairs the firm’s Commercial Litigation and European Dispute Resolution Practice Groups.

Described by Legal 500 as “one of London’s most effective partners” and by Chambers as “a class act,” Louise helps clients to navigate challenging situations in a range of industries, including life sciences, technology and financial markets. Most of her cases involve multiple parties and jurisdictions, where her strategic, dynamic advice is invaluable.

Louise also represents parties in significant competition litigation proceedings, including a number of the leading cases in England.

Louise is a key member of our market-leading Privacy and Data Security Litigation team, which advises a broad range of international clients on data privacy-related litigation. She has recently represented a client in an intervention in an appeal in the leading UK case making new law in relation to both data privacy claims and class actions.

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In this blog post, we look at a recent decision by the UK Court of Appeal and a separate prosecution brought by the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”; the UK data protection authority), which together serve as a cautionary tale for employees and prospective future employers of the risks of civil liability and criminal conviction for confidential information and data theft.

Clear contractual terms and policies, supplemented by training, remain critical tools for employers seeking to deter employees from misappropriating corporate information.  Employers may wish to make use of these examples to underscore the importance of compliance.…

Continue Reading Employee Confidentiality and Data Theft: Recent UK Developments

The English High Court has recently awarded damages in a data privacy case, with two features of particular interest.  First, the nature of the claim is more reminiscent of a claim in defamation than for data privacy breaches, which is a development in the use of data protection legislation.  Secondly, the damages awarded (perhaps influenced by the nature of the case) were unusually high for a data privacy case.

The decision highlights an unusual use of data protection in English law, as a freestanding form of quasi-defamation claim, as the claimants sought damages for reputational harm (as well as distress) solely under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA”, since replaced by the Data Protection Act 2018, which implemented the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (GDPR) in the UK) rather than in a libel or defamation claim, or in parallel with such a claim.  It also sets a potentially unhelpful precedent by awarding two of the claimants £18,000 each for inaccurate processing of their personal data, an amount that is significantly higher than has been awarded in other data protection cases brought under the DPA.  If such awards were to be made in the context of a class action, the potential liability for data controllers could be significant.
Continue Reading English High Court Awards Damages for Quasi-Defamation Data Claim

On 1 April 2020, the UK Supreme Court handed down its ruling in WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants [2020] UKSC 12.  The Court ruled that Morrisons was not vicariously liable for a data breach deliberately perpetrated by an employee.  The judgment is significant in that it overturned the decisions of the two lower courts (the High Court and Court of Appeal) and provides guidance for employers on when they may be held vicariously liable for data breaches and other violations of the GDPR involving employees, who act as independent controllers in their own right.
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Continue Reading UK Supreme Court Rules That Supermarket Is Not Vicariously Liable For Data Breach Committed By Employee