An Enlightened Approach to Taxpayer Confidentiality: The Story of the First Income Tax – Wilberforce Chambers

‘Confidentiality is a fundamental concept at the heart of the modern taxation system. The need to strike a balance between the taxpayer’s right to privacy and the requirement of HMRC to carry out its functions has been the subject of much legislation and litigation.[1] There has been an explosion in the exchange of information between revenue authorities of different countries and British politicians have for years been under pressure to emulate the tradition of American presidents publishing their tax returns. But there is nothing new under the sun: the introduction of income tax in Britain at the end of the 18th century was dominated by concerns over taxpayer confidentiality, which led to measures being developed which have left their mark on today’s income tax system.’

Full Story

Wilberforce Chambers, 6th April 2021

Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk

Legal action begins against climate lawyer in Heathrow expansion row – The Independent

‘Court proceedings have been launched against a climate charity lawyer for leaking a decision to expand Heathrow Airport.’

Full Story

The Independent, 18th February 2021

Source: www.independent.co.uk

N.A. Moreham: Police investigations: privacy, confidence and public duties – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted February 18th, 2021 in confidentiality, misuse of private information, news, police, public interest by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has recently affirmed the proposition that a person can be liable under the misuse of private information tort for revealing that someone is the subject of a police investigation before they have been charged. This raises important questions about the relationship between the citizen and the state when the former has the latter under investigation. But so far that relationship has not been central to the courts’ decision-making on this issue. Rather, the basis for liability has been a broad-brush conclusion that a person will generally have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the fact that they “have simply come under suspicion” of the police or other state authority. This blog post will suggest there is a better way to resolve these tricky cases.’

Full Story

UK Constitutional Law Association, 18th February 2021

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Council secures injunction against man who circumvented redaction in child protection papers – Local Government Lawyer

‘The London Borough of Lambeth has won a final injunction against a man who was able to remove a redaction on papers concerning child welfare.’

Full Story

Local Government Lawyer, 11th February 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Case Comment: Halliburton Company v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd (Formerly known as Ace Bermuda Insurance Ltd) [2020] UKSC 48 – UKSC Blog

‘In this post, Neil Newing and Olivia Flasch who both practice at Signature Litigation, comment upon the decision handed down by the UK Supreme Court in the matter of Halliburton Company v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd (Formerly known as Ace Bermuda Insurance Ltd) [2020] UKSC 48. They ask: is the decision a missed opportunity?’

Full Story

UKSC Blog, 2nd February 2021

Source: ukscblog.com

Racing Partnerships Ltd v. Sports Information Services Ltd: Court of Appeal sheds light on economic torts of breach of confidence and unlawful means conspiracy – Littleton Chambers

‘The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Racing Partnership Ltd & others v. Sports Information Services Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 1300 has provided clarity on the economic tort of unlawful means conspiracy and provided much food for thought on claims for breach of confidence.’

Full Story

Littleton Chambers, 1st December 2020

Source: littletonchambers.com

Confidential information—knowledge of unlawfulness not required for unlawful means conspiracy (The Racing Partnership Ltd v Sports Information Services Ltd) – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted November 12th, 2020 in confidentiality, horse racing, news, unlawful means conspiracy by sally

‘Practitioners acting in the more challenging cases of conspiracies involving the misuse of confidential information or otherwise interested in the history and development of tort (outside the tort of negligence) will find this case compelling and essential reading.’

Full Story

Hardwicke Chambers, 26th October 2020

Source: hardwicke.co.uk

Woman jailed after forging court order in bid to obtain medical records of relative subject to Court of Protection proceedings – Local Government Lawyer

‘A woman has been sentenced to an immediate term of imprisonment of 12 months after a High Court judge found she had forged a purported court order and sent it to an NHS trust with the intention of obtaining the medical confidential records of a relative, despite the court refusing to direct this.’

Full Story

Local Government Lawyer, 5th October 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Disclosure of information to GP: not “data” under GDPR – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted August 13th, 2020 in charities, confidentiality, consent, disclosure, medical records, news, vetting by sally

‘The High Court has struck out a claim that the disclosure of certain personal information made by a charity to the claimant’s GP was unlawful. Although only summary, this judgment goes to the heart of what we believe data protection to be about. As you will tell from my somewhat trenchant comments at the end of this post, I find it difficult to accept the main conclusion in this ruling.’

Full Story

UK Human Rights Blog, August 2020

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Contempt of Court – Centek Holdings v Giles – NIPC Law

‘A case that shows how the committal procedure works is Centek Holdings Ltd. and others v Giles EWHC 1682 (Ch) (26 June 2020). For over 17 years Mr Trustram Files has been the claimant companies’ product development manager. In August 2019 Mr Giles left the claimants to take up a job in Malaysia. He took with him what was described as “very substantial amounts of confidential and proprietary material” belonging to his employer. His bosses suspected what he was doing and contained an order (“the Order”) from Mr Jystice Norris “not to use, access or distribute Centek Material (paragraph 2 of the Order), abide by specific restrictive covenants (paragraph 3 of the Order), disclose and preserve Centek Material and the “Devices” and “Accounts” on which it was kept (paragraphs 4 and 5(a)-(b) of the Order), preserve disclosable documents (paragraph 5(f) of the Order) and facilitate the imaging of such Devices and Accounts by “Independent Experts” (paragraph 6 of the Order).”‘

Full Story

NIPC Law, 7th July 2020

Source: nipclaw.blogspot.com

Quality of legal advice for suspects “faltering under lockdown” – Legal Futures

‘The quality of legal help for suspects in police custody has “suffered significantly” due to Covid-19 amid concerns over confidentiality and restrictions on lawyers talking to clients, a new report has found.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 30th June 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Machine Learning in Healthcare: Regulating Transparency – UK Human Rights Blog

‘PHG, linked with Cambridge University, provides independent advice and evaluations of biomedical and digital innovations in healthcare. PHG has recently published a series of reports exploring the interpretability of machine learning in this context. The one I will focus on in this post is the report considering the requirements of the GDPR for machine learning in healthcare and medical research by way of transparency, interpretability, or explanation. Links to the other reports are given at the end of this post.’

Full Story

UK Human Rights Blog, 18th June 2020

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Knowledge test for duty of confidence – what is a sufficient state of mind to make an employer liable for breach of confidence when it receives a client list from a recruited employee? – Employment Blog

Posted June 11th, 2020 in confidentiality, contract of employment, EC law, employment, news by sally

‘In the recent case of Trailfinders v Travel Counsellors & Ors [2020] EWHC 591 (IPEC) the court reiterated that the test was not subjective: the recipient of the client list did not have to know the information was confidential. It was objective: in equity the recipient is under a duty of confidence whenever he ought to know that the information received is fairly and reasonably to be regarded as confidential, irrespective of his actual state of mind. Further, this was now also the statutory position because under Art. 4 (4) of Directive (EU) 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition: “The acquisition, use or disclosure of a trade secret shall also be considered unlawful whenever a person, at the time of the acquisition, use or disclosure, knew or ought, under the circumstances, to have known that the trade secret had been obtained directly or indirectly from another person who was using or disclosing the trade secret unlawfully within the meaning of paragraph 3.”’

Full Story

Employment Blog, 9th June 2020

Source: employment11kbw.com

High Court rules employer had to pay settlement even after ex-employee breached confidentiality clause – Duchy Farm Kennels Ltd v Steels [2020] EWHC 1208 (QB) – 3PB

Posted June 4th, 2020 in confidentiality, dispute resolution, employment tribunals, news by sally

‘In Duchy Farm Kennels Ltd v Steels [2020] EWHC 1208 (QB), the High Court addressed the consequences of a party breaching the confidentiality clause in a COT3 settlement, noting that the issue of law arising regarding the status of the clause had not been the subject of a previous appellate ruling.’

Full Story

3PB, 2nd June 2020

Source: www.3pb.co.uk

Can you sack your opponent’s solicitor? You can try… Glencairn IP Holdings Ltd v Product Specialities Inc (t/a ‘Final Touch’) [2020] EWCA Civ 609 – Hailsham Chambers

Posted May 26th, 2020 in chambers articles, confidentiality, disclosure, law firms, news, solicitors by sally

‘It is well established that a litigant may restrain his former solicitors from acting for his opponent where: (i) those former solicitors are in possession of relevant, adverse confidential information and (ii) there is even a slight risk of that information being disclosed (Bolkiah v KPMG).1 But the issue in Glencairn, was whether a litigant could prevent solicitors from acting for his current opponent because that firm had acted for a former opponent in similar litigation which was settled on confidential terms. Did the solicitors’ knowledge of the applicant’s confidential settlement strategy in similar litigation (against a different party) give an unfair advantage which meant the solicitors should be prohibited from acting?’

Full Story

Hailsham Chambers, 13th May 2020

Source: www.hailshamchambers.com

High Court rules on the effect of confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement – St Ives Chambers

Posted May 18th, 2020 in appeals, chambers articles, confidentiality, contracts, damages, employment, news by sally

‘In Duchy Farm Kennels Limited v Steels [2020] EWHC 1208 (QB) Alexander PritchardJones appeared in an important case about the effect of breaches of confidentiality clauses contained within settlement agreements.’

Full Story

St Ives Chambers, 14th May 2020

Source: www.stiveschambers.co.uk

Solicitor cleared over alleged confidentiality breach – Legal Futures

Posted May 12th, 2020 in confidentiality, disciplinary procedures, news, solicitors by sally

‘A solicitor accused of disclosing to a client confidential information about a former client has been cleared of wrongdoing by a disciplinary tribunal.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 11th May 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Scott v LGBT Foundation Ltd: When Dealing with Personal Information Falls Outside the Data Protection Regime – The 36 Group

‘In Scott v LGBT Foundation Ltd [2020] EWHC 483 (QB) the High Court held that “a verbal disclosure does not constitute the processing of personal data” under the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA 1998”).’

Full Story

The 36 Group, 5th May 2020

Source: 36group.co.uk

Children seeing parents “distressed” by remote hearings – Legal Futures

‘Children are “coming in and out of the room” during remote family law hearings and in some cases witnessing their “distressed” parents, a major study has found.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 7th May 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Working from Home during COVID-19 – Thomas More Chambers

‘During these unprecedented times, working from home on a full-time basis has become the ‘new normal’. This is in stark contrast to before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began, when out of 32.6 million people in employment, only 1.7 million regularly worked from home. The change to enforced homeworking was swift and represented significant changes to the lifestyle and routines of both employers and employees, which, in turn, creates a number of legal and practical issues for employers. It is currently unknown how long homeworking will last for, or indeed if the outbreak of COVID-19 will cause a shift towards homeworking on a permanent basis.’

Full Story

Thomas More Chambers, 30th April 2020

Source: www.thomasmore.co.uk