City firms’ representative body forms data law committee to offer the government help on Brexit

A new data law committee formed by the City of London Law Society (CLLS) will offer the government the expertise of specialists at City law firms to ensure that data can continue to flow freely between the United Kingdom and European Union in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The CLLS data committee is chaired by Jon Bartley, partner at RPC, and its vice chair is Slaughter and May partner Rebecca Cousin. As the Law Gazette reports, although the committee’s remit is to look at a wide range of data protection, privacy and cyber security issues, its primary focus is currently Brexit. This is because businesses are concerned that if the United Kingdom exits the European Union without a deal in place, the free flow of data between the two entities will cease until it has been determined that British data protection measures are up to standard, which could take some time.

Bartley commented: “We stand ready to help. We are offering our expertise to stakeholders so that we can help review policy both at a high level and at the level of particular draft legislation.”