Elizabeth Denham CBE was appointed UK Information Commissioner in July 2016, having previously held the position of Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, Canada and Assistant Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

She has set out a commitment to increase consumer trust people have in what happens to their personal data. This forms the basis of her strategic plan, and has been demonstrated in her commitment to ensuring companies are transparent with the public about how personal information is used, notably with high-profile investigations into Yahoo, Camelot, WhatsApp and Facebook.

The Commissioner has also demonstrated a focus on the essential role data protection can play in innovation, and the importance of organisations understanding the growing impetus on companies to be accountable for what they do with personal data. This forms a central part of the General Data Protection Regulation, which came into force in May 2018.

Ms Denham is a strong voice for public access rights. A proponent of open government and open data, Ms Denham has called for the proactive disclosure of records and published best practices for government ministries and public bodies. While at the ICO, she has called for the Freedom of Information Act to be extended to private bodies doing work on behalf of the public, and proposed a review of legislation around the duty to document information.

Ann Bevitt is a partner in Cooley's London office, where she focuses on employment, labour, privacy and data security issues.

In her privacy and data security practice Ms. Bevitt assists clients with privacy and data security compliance and risk management, and advises on issues such as effecting data transfers, drafting privacy policies, marketing electronically, monitoring employees and their  use of social media, implementing BYOD schemes, dealing with e-discovery, undertaking internal investigations, responding to subject access requests, rolling out whistleblowing hotlines, notifying breaches, conducting privacy audits and handling data protection complaints

Ms. Bevitt was named as one of the top 50 UK executives across all industries who work part time or flexibly in Timewise's 2014 Power Part Time List.

Bridget Treacy leads the UK Privacy and Cybersecurity practice at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.  Her practice focuses on all aspects of privacy, data protection, information governance and e-commerce issues for multinational companies across a broad range of industry sectors. Bridget's background in complex technology transactions (including wide-ranging experience of advising on outsourcing agreements, strategic alliances and other collaborative arrangements with a technology focus) enable her to advise on the specific data protection and information governance issues that occur in a commercial context.  Bridget is the Editor of Privacy & Data Protection journal.

James Clark is a Senior Associate in the Data Protection, Privacy and Cyber Security group at DLA Piper.  He advises a broad range of private and public sector clients on compliance and contract issues in the fields of data protection, privacy, direct marketing and freedom of information law, and also regularly helps clients to respond to and manage multi-jurisdictional data security incidents.   In addition to his practice area, James is a member of his firm's multi-disciplinary Insurance and Life Sciences sector teams, and regularly attends, organises and speaks at events attended by organisations in these sectors.

John O'Brien is an Associate at Reed Smith's IP, Tech & Data group specialising in privacy, data protection and technology law.

John advises leading companies on technology contracting issues, transboundary data flows and cross-border investigations by data protection agencies. John also has experience working in-house on secondment with the privacy and data protection legal teams of some of the world’s largest social media and technology companies. John advises clients across a diverse range of industry sectors.

Leonie Power is a Director in Fieldfisher's top-ranked Privacy, Security & Information Law Group and a highly experienced privacy and data protection law specialist. Leonie qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2000 and provides strategic and practical advice on the full range of data protection and privacy issues affecting business operations. She has particular experience advising on privacy issues affecting new technologies and big data and other projects.  Leonie has advised on data protection issues across the retail, premiership football, telecommunications, construction, media and financial services sectors over a period of 15 years and has recently advised extensively on privacy issues arising in an ad tech context.  She has completed a number of successful secondments including for a major retail group and a global media brand. Leonie has extensive experience on data protection gap analyses and advises on global privacy compliance projects.

Liz Fitzsimons is Partner at Eversheds specialising in data protection and freedom of information and EIR.

Liz helps clients with all aspects of data protection, GDPR and e-privacy, freedom of information and compliance with environmental information regulations. Her work includes strategic advice on UK wide and multi-national data privacy, including assisting clients with audits, transfer and compliance programmes and development of supporting documents, such as privacy notices and policies. Liz has also worked closely with clients on key data sharing and shared service arrangements, in relation to mergers and acquisitions, and on critical data privacy issues when outsourcing.

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

Mark Watts is a Partner at Bristows. He advises companies on IT legal issues such as software development, system deployment, outsourcing, E-Commerce and data protection. Much of Mark's experience was gained in-house at IBM where he held various roles. This gives him a good insight into the ways and workings of the TMT sector. Mark has advised on many high-profile private and public sector outsourcing transactions. He advises companies deploying business critical IT platforms and applications, as well as advising on the creation of social networking websites, WIKIs and online trading websites. Mark has particular expertise in data protection; he was Global Privacy Counsel at IBM for many years. He advises many multinationals companies on general international data protection compliance issues, particularly on international data transfers matters. Mark is a member of the editorial board of Privacy & Data Protection Journal.

Peter Given is Legal Director at Womble Bond Dickinson specialising in data protection and privacy law. He advises clients on a wide range of data protection matters in a variety of contexts, including in relation to general data protection compliance, data processing and outsourcing arrangements, direct marketing, data subject access requests and cross-border transfers of data. In addition to data protection and privacy matters, Peter also advises on general commercial law including in relation to outsourcing, information technology, e-commerce and intellectual property matters.

Peter has previously undertaken secondments to a global US-based financial institution and a major European pharmaceutical organisation. In both secondments Peter supported the internal legal teams on a variety of matters and projects, including those relating to data protection and privacy. He also spent time as a Judicial Assistant to Lord Justice Jackson, assisting him with his review of the costs of civil litigation in England and Wales.

Peter wrote the ‘Marketing’ chapter of Data Protection – a practical guide to UK and EU law (5th Edition, 2018).

Peter regularly contributes articles to academic and trade publications. He has authored articles which have been published in Privacy and Data Protection Journal.