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Subject Access Requests under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR)

Purpose: To guide all barristers and chambers’ data controllers on Subject Access Requests under the UKGDPR
Scope of application: All practising barristers and chambers’ data controllers
Issued by: The Information Technology Panel
Last reviewed: 15/12/2022
Status and effect: Please see the notice at end of this document. This is not "guidance" for the purposes of the BSB Handbook I6.4

All barristers in self-employed practice who use a computer for their work are highly likely to be data controllers. This is because the information which is stored on your computer in the course of your work is likely to contain information about individuals (e.g. witness statements, expert reports, emails) and you control what you do with that information. Even if you ask your clerks to keep and maintain records of individual solicitors (rather than firms) who have instructed you, on a computer owned by your chambers, you are likely to be a data controller in respect of this data.


Download: Subject Access Requests under UKGDPR:

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This document has been prepared by the Bar Council to assist barristers on matters of IT. It is not “guidance” for the purposes of the BSB Handbook I6.4, and neither the BSB nor bodies regulating information security nor the Legal Ombudsman is bound by any views or advice expressed in it. It does not comprise – and cannot be relied on as giving – legal advice. It has been prepared in good faith, but neither the Bar Council nor any of the individuals responsible for or involved in its preparation accept any responsibility or liability for anything done in reliance on it. For fuller information as to the status and effect of this document, please see here.

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