Robin Hopkins
Barrister
11KBW

Robin Hopkins is a Barrister at 11KBW in London. A major part of Robin’s practice involves advisory and litigation work on freedom of information, data protection and environmental information matters. He regularly appears in the First-Tier and Upper Tribunals on issues ranging from national security to commercial confidentiality, often against or alongside silks or senior juniors.

Robin’s notable recent cases include Bruton v IC and Duchy of Cornwall (Duchy of Cornwall a public authority for EIR purposes), Marriott v IC and Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis (police information on the “Jack the Ripper” case), All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition v IC and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK’s role in rendition to Guantanamo Bay) and Chichester District Council v IC and Friel (local authority planning decisions and commercial confidentiality).

Together with Tim Pitt-Payne QC and Anya Proops, Robin edits the Information Law Reports. He also regularly advises public and private sector parties on data protection duties and on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Robin is a Member of the Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Freedom of Information.

Patricia Barratt
Lawyer
Clifford Chance

Patricia Barratt has been a lawyer with Clifford Chance since 1991. She has extensive experience of advising on all aspects of parliamentary and public policy related work with particular expertise in parliamentary procedure, freedom of information and standards of conduct in public life, including advice on corruption and political donations.

She travels regularly to Brussels for meetings of the European Services Forum Policy Committee, a pan-European organisation representing the interests of the services industry. She speaks frequently on freedom of information, and is a contributing author of the Law Society’s Freedom of Information Handbook, as well as co-author of the Clifford Chance guide to the Freedom of Information Act.

Patricia is a Member of the Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Freedom of Information

Hazel Grant
Head of Privacy
Field Fisher Waterhouse

Jackie Gray
Managing Associate
Bond Dickinson

Jackie Gray is a Managing Associate at Bond Dickinson. She has acted on a variety of PPP/PFI Projects and advised on a wide range of public sector commercial work, with particular expertise in BSF, IT and outsourcing.

Jackie specialises in Freedom of Information and Data Protection for Public Sector clients but advises on all aspects of information governance in the Public Sector.

Jackie has worked with public authorities on the implementation of FOI and advises on the application of exemptions in relation to specific requests, handling reviews and appeals and dealing with information requests and confidentiality issues in public procurements. She also advises on a wide range of data protection issues including data sharing arrangements, subject access requests, dealing with data security issues and advising on compliance programmes.

She regularly provides client training on FOI and DPA and speaks at conferences and presents seminars on information law issues. Jackie also sits on the Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Freedom of Information.

Rosemary Jay
Senior Attorney
Hunton & Williams

Rosemary Jay is a Senior Attorney in Hunton & Williams Global Privacy Practice. She advises clients on privacy, data protection, human rights, access to information and related information law issues. She has worked in the area of information law since 1987.

Rosemary joined Hunton & Williams in 2011 having previously been a Partner and Head of the Information Law group at PinsentMasons. Prior to that she worked in the public sector, including 12 years spent at the office of the Data Protection Registrar where she headed the Legal Department.

Rosemary is the author of Data Protection Law & Practice published by Sweet & Maxwell (3rd edition November 2007) and an editor of the White Book.

Key relevant experience includes:

Advising government departments, local authorities and other public bodies on dealing with requests under the Freedom of Information Act, including vexatious requests and the application of exemptions. Representing and advising clients in Tribunal proceedings under the Freedom of Information Act.

Extensive experience in training including the appointment by the Scottish Executive for the preparation of all training materials on Freedom of Information for the public sector in Scotland and appointment by the Northern Ireland Civil Service to provide training on Freedom of Information.

In the area of privacy and data protection Rosemary's work spans national and international work and both public and private sector clients She has acted as a legal expert to a European Commission Study on the role of standards in achieving privacy protection, carried out work for the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth Secretariat and for overseas Governments.

Rosemary speaks and writes widely on data protection and access to information, both nationally and internationally.

Brian Jones
Consultant
Herbert Smith

Brian Jones joined Herbert Smith as a consultant in 2000 following a career in which he taught administrative law and environmental law at a number of universities in the UK and in Australia.

Between 1994 and 2000 he was Professor of Environmental Liability at De Montfort University in Leicester.

He has published extensively in both subject areas: his most recent book being a co-authored work on Environmental Liabilities (Shaw and Sons, 2004).

He was involved in the late 1990's in several consultancy projects, advising Governments in EU accession countries about requirements for harmonisation with EU environmental law. Since 1992 he has been editor of the bi-monthly professional journal Environmental Liability. He was recently appointed an Honorary Professor in the Department of Law, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Brian works closely within Herbert Smith with the Environmental Law, Planning Law, Public Law and IP Groups.

Christopher Knight
Barrister
11KBW

Christopher Knight as a wide-ranging information law and data protection practice. He appeared in the Supreme Court hearing in Kennedy v Charity Commission on the role of Article 10 in FOIA cases. He regularly advises public and private sector clients on data protection issues and recently successfully assisted a local authority defend two potentially serious data breach allegations. He is currently acting in Reactiv Media Ltd v ICO defending a monetary penalty notice made under PECR against a cold-calling business. He has appeared in the Information Tribunal for the Commissioner, public authorities and requestors on the full range of FOIA exemptions, and in the Upper Tribunal recently in Voyias v ICO & Camden LBC (the ‘squatters list’ case), Matthews v ICO (strike-out power), UCAS v ICO (the scope of FOIA to partially designated bodies), Metropolitan Police v ICO & Mackenzie (the section 16 FOIA duty) and Goldsmith IBS v ICO (personal data exemption). He has written on information law issues in Public Law and the Law Quarterly Review, is a contributor to The White Book and is the co-author of the classic student textbook Bradley, Ewing & Knight, Constitutional and Administrative Law (2014, 16th ed). He is listed in 2015 Chambers & Partners for Data Protection and for Administrative and Public Law.

Hazel Moffat
Partner
DLA Piper

Hazel Moffat is a Partner in DLA Piper specialising in information law and public law. She is particularly well-known for her specialism on FOI issues. Hazel has been working with a wide range of public and private sector clients over the last six years on freedom of information and privacy matters.

She was appointed in 2004 to provide all freedom of information training to over 500 staff at the Scottish Parliament and has since conducted specialist training sessions for lawyers and managers at major public sector bodies across the UK.

She has been working closely with central government departments including the Department of Health and NHS Connecting for Health on data-sharing projects including the NHS National Programme for IT.

Hazel is a regular speaker on freedom of information issues.

Hugh Tomlinson
Founding Member
Matrix Chambers

Hugh Tomlinson QC is a founder member of Matrix Chambers and has a wide ranging practice in media and information, human rights and public law. His most recent publications in this area include Privacy and the Media: the Developing Law ( Matrix, 2002 ) and The Law of Human Rights (OUP, 2000).

Damien Welfare
Former Public Law Barrister

Damien Welfare is a former public law barrister. He came to the Bar in 2001 after a career in local government, and also worked in central government. In his practice, he specialised in Information Law (data protection, freedom of information, and environmental information). He is the author of Cornerstone on Information Law (Bloomsbury, 2019), a one-volume guide to the GDPR, Environmental Information Regulations, and FOI Act. He is a contributor to Data Protection - A Practical Guide to UK Law (ed. Peter Carey) (OUP, 6th ed., 2020). Damien is a Member of the Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection.