England - London • Risk advisory

4

Data protection, privacy and cybersecurity

Bates Wells

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With a niche specialisation in advising charities and not-for-profit organisations, Bates Wells has particular strength in advising public sector bodies and political organisations on complex privacy issues. The team is now led by Eleonor Duhs, formerly at  Fieldfisher. Duhs’ practice focuses on GDPR compliance matters and has significant government experience, where she worked on the UK’s negotiations on the GDPR. Also in the core team are Rupert Earle and associate Hannah Lyons; Earle handles media and regulatory issues, while Lyons specialises in charity sector-related data protection issues.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Eleonor Duhs in particular with her background in government service has a strong insight into the policy background to both EU and UK GDPR and data protection reforms which enables her to describe the key changes and divergence between the two regimes with considerable critical accuracy.’

  • ‘The team is attentive to our needs, understands our business and what makes us unique. Their advice is commercial and balances risk well.’

  • ‘Hannah Lyons is great to work with and is always attentive to our needs, providing straightforward and practical advice.’

  • ‘Bates Wells is extremely innovative and client-focused. The firm has a very clear identifiable vision about its role and values in delivering their services.’

  • ‘Rupert Earle is an excellent lawyer - he's very perceptive, knowledgeable and provides a wonderful calming presence in difficult situations.’

  • ‘We have found the team at Bates Wells to be very approachable, quick to respond to queries and willing to take the time to discuss ways to explain complicated legal jargon to different audiences with less expertise.’

  • ‘From our first contact with Ms Duhs, she has been extremely approachable and shown great enthusiasm to aid us in our dialogue with the government. She clearly and skillfully demonstrated her expansive expertise in legislation related to the EU as well as data protection, privacy and cybersecurity. We, therefore, highly recommend Ms Duhs as a legal expert.’

  • ‘Bates Wells gives very practical and timely advice on privacy matters, in a manner that is understandable to non-experts.’

Key clients

  • Effective Ventures Foundation
  • Vodafone Foundation
  • Smile Train
  • Liberal Democrats
  • Architects Registration Board
  • Webster, Chamberlain and Bean
  • LifeArc
  • GambleAware
  • TechSoup
  • SOAS
  • Internet Watch Foundation

Work highlights

  • Advised Vodafone Foundation on data privacy issues relating to new technologies being rolled out.
  • Briefing the DCMS group of Liberal Democrats peers on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, including areas where the UK could breach standards set out in international law or undermine the free flow of data from the EU to the UK.
  • Advised LifeArc on data protection compliance in the scope of its activities and assisted with data protection compliance.

Lawyers

Next Generation Partners

Eleonor Duhs

Eleonor Duhs

Bates Wells

Eleanor is a Partner and our Head of Data & Privacy, having a plethora of experience in GDPR and privacy law. Before moving into private practice, Eleonor was the UK Government's lead lawyer in negotiations on the GDPR. Eleanor represented the UK in meetings in Brussels, drafted text for inclusion in the GDPR legislation, and worked with the European Commission, representatives from other EU Member States, regulators and stakeholders to develop the regime. Since moving into private practice, Eleonor has advised clients on a wide range of privacy laws including tracking or monitoring of data subjects, collection, use and retention of personal data, data sharing, data protection in the context of commercial contracts, data breaches, international data transfers, and the impact of Brexit on data protection and the privacy aspects of emerging technologies.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Eleonor Duhs

Other key lawyers

Rupert Earle, Hannah Lyons

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