Ian Birdsey

Career

Ian is a cyber and TMT specialist with a focus on data protection matters, technology related disputes and media litigation. He has over 15 years’ experience of managing cyber matters and is recognised as a leader in the cyber market. Ian has a global reputation for his involvement in the most significant cyber matters. Most recently, Ian was nominated for Advisen’s Cyber Risk Person of the Year award (London).

Ian advises corporate and insurer clients on managing domestic and international cyber incidents and data breaches, claims and recovery actions, regulatory investigations and subsequent litigation including group claims. Ian manages regulatory enforcement challenges for clients including ICO fine appeal processes. In addition, he assists clients to improve their overall cyber resilience through a range of pre-breach services such as cyber simulations.

Ian has a wealth of experience advising on technology litigation including a number of significant disputes in this area over the past 20 years.

He also advises on defamation and ‘Right to be Forgotten’ claims, as well as corporate reputation management more broadly, helping clients to navigate reputational crises including potential claims in defamation and malicious falsehood. In addition, he also advises on media law from a defamation, privacy and data protection perspective.

Ian is a core member of the firm's resilience team. The team delivers solutions to clients with the aim of building organisational resilience.

• Cyber Experience

• Acting as GDPR Counsel following a data breach which necessitated notice to all 28 EU supervisory authorities and involved managing a number of regulatory investigations across the EU.

• Obtaining one of the first cyber injunctions in the UK against Person(s) Unknown for Clarkson plc.

• Advising a travel organisation following a data breach including negotiating with the attacker, liaising with criminal authorities and successfully managing a number of parallel regulatory investigations.

• Managing an international data breach for a financial services client following a multi-million dollar payment diversion fraud including notifying regulators and clients in dozens of different jurisdictions and settling the claim by the defrauded customer.

• Acting for a high street retailer and plc following a high-profile data breach including managing a regulatory investigation and subsequent enforcement challenge with involvement in the subsequent appeal process.

• Advising a building society following a data breach including notifying all customers, establishing a call centre and offering credit monitoring services.

• Representing a private bank following the theft of credit and payment card details by a rogue employee including managing the internal investigation and dealing with the Information Commissioner's Office, Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

• Delivering cyber simulations to corporate clients based on realistic and hypothetical security incidents.

• Advising a technology company following a breach of a client account connected to its news platform which led to a high-profile and widely reported data breach.

Data Protection Experience

• Advising on several Right to be forgotten claims before the UK courts.

• Managing data protection, privacy and breach of confidence claims made by a student against a London based University.

• Representing a marketing company in connection with 1,000+ threatened group claims made following a monetary penalty notice issued by the UK's data protection authority – the Information Commissioner's Office.

• Acting for a Tier 1 IT supplier in proceedings against a corporate business partner in connection with a long term government agency contract.

• Representing an IT supplier and its insurer in proceedings brought by an online retailer in the Technology and Construction Court following a project failure.

• Managing a procurement challenge for an IT supplier against a government department.

Defamation Experience

• Involvement in several high-profile defamation cases for publishers and broadcasters including Fiddes v Channel 4

Privacy Experience

• Acting for three defendants in the Douglas v Hello privacy litigation before the UK courts.

Copyright Experience

• Involved in Da Vinci Code litigation and copyright claim made by Baigent & Leigh v Random House in the High Court in London.

Corporate Reputation Management

• Corporate reputation management: representing a pharmaceutical company in defamation and malicious falsehood proceedings brought by a competitor.