One of the key changes brought about by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force on 25 May 2018, was a substantial increase in the maximum fines available for data protection breaches, to the higher of €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover. Any breaches which occurred prior to this date were subject to a maximum of £500,000 set by the Data Protection Act 1998 – and this former upper limit…

The new EU copyright law that copyright lawyers, artists, management and media companies have been waiting for was passed on 17 April 2019 as Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC. The directive is not law as is (although some of its provisions are mandatory); most of its provisions will have to pass into the local law of member states by 2021. Other…

The new EU copyright law that copyright lawyers, artists, management and media companies have been waiting for was passed on 17 April 2019 as Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC. The directive is not law as is (although some of its provisions are mandatory); most of its provisions will have to pass into the local law of member states by 2021. Other…

Some commentators have been asking whether law firms and other legal service organisations should adopt an Uber-like model for legal service delivery. From a narrow technological point of view I think is safe to assume that this could well happen. Looking at some of the less benign aspects of the model in practice, it seems regulators will need to ensure a good standard of ethics is adhered to if the model is to work fairly…

Information overload is defined by Wikipedia as “the difficulty in understanding an issue and effectively making decisions when one has too much information about that issue” – although, ironically, it offers alternative definitions based on multiple sources! History The concept of excessive information is nothing new. Back in the 16th Century, renaissance scholar Erasmus blamed the printing press for creating too much reading material: “Is there anywhere on Earth exempt from these swarms of new…

There is often an assumption made that young lawyers (Millennials) entering the profession have the technology skills that my generation (Generation X) and the one that went before me (Baby Boomers) lack. A life brought up with a smartphone in hand equips them to tackle legal technology in a law office standing on their head. Or does it? I had my own personal computers as a schoolboy in the early 1980s: a Dragon computer followed…