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Liz Fitzsimons

Partner

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Languages: French (Basic), German (Basic)

Liz Fitzsimons is a partner who helps clients to overcome their data, privacy and cyber security challenges.

Liz has over 30 years of legal experience which she uses to assist clients like you. She has been helping clients with their data protection and information law needs for over 20 years and has been counselling clients on their on-line privacy and direct marketing risks and strategies for almost as long. The risks of cyber security attacks have increased through this period and Liz can also help you to prepare for, risk assess and deal with those incidents. Assisted by her wide and varied practice over the years in this field for private and public clients in numerous sectors, Liz applies a valuable breadth of knowledge, combined with depth of detailed understanding of relevant issues, to your needs in order to provide you with risk based strategies and pragmatic solutions. Her clients include global multi-nationals, household brand names, leading national businesses, public bodies, water utilities and public transport organisations.   

In addition to helping with day to day issues, Liz can help you to deal with your regulatory compliance needs, preparation of templates agreements, or revising and negotiating your contracts. Liz has also frequently helped clients with product counselling, including for connected devices, and 'smart' IOT products, and development of data transfer and compliance programs, working with global colleagues to deliver approaches which can operate across multiple countries or global regions.

A large part of Liz’s work is helping clients to manage sensitive data issues, including third party or public requests for data, complaints to regulators and their investigations, helping to defend enforcement action and claims and appealing regulatory decisions, including in the Information Tribunal. This includes dealing with Freedom of Information legislation and issues arising in respect of the Environmental Information Regulations. Liz often helps clients to understand to what extent data legislation and information law regimes apply to them, their activities and records, and how they best manage their impact, overlap and interaction. This includes providing clients with data-driven advice on structures, arrangements and documentation around complex partnering, outsourcing, joint venture and data sharing arrangements.

Helping clients to upskill their teams and help themselves, Liz frequently provides data related training to clients. Liz has particular experience working with technology and telecoms clients, industrials, retail/consumer businesses, insurers, clients in the life science and healthcare sector, utilities, energy companies, public bodies and those in the education sector.  

Liz’s recent experience includes:

  • leading the information law strategy for a multi-disciplinary legal team defending multiple clients from a cutting edge, multi-million pound information law based class action
  • preparing a data transfer risk assessment framework for use by a global technology client on a global basis for all relevant cross border transfers
  • helping a global manufacturer, retailer and distributor to deal with complaints and claims in respect of its website operations and use of cookies and providing advice in respect of its use of data analytics
  • assisting a client to deal with a complex range of information law requests, complaints and data protection issues relating to a report dealing with highly controversial matters which was published with redactions
  • assisting a private sector client providing services to a national public authority to successfully win an Information Law appeal protecting a requested audit report from disclosure on the basis of confidential information obligations, due to concerns that the unfinished report contained substantial errors and was misleading
  • leading the data strategies to support our public inquiries team with two highly sensitive and complex inquiries
  • supporting a global client with the migration of its product base to connected devices and advising on the implications of the portability of smart products
  • assisting clients at risk of protests and disruption with advice on data collection and use to facilitate their ability to protect their property and people and obtain injunctive relief where appropriate
  • heading the data team exclusively providing data and information law advice to a large utility business, providing data sharing advice leading to industry wide strategic changes, and developing their data sharing protocols
  • preparing the intra group data transfer agreement for a global client, coordinating European, UK and US advice and assisting with its data transfer risk assessment and strategy

 

  • Liz frequently speaks and runs workshops at conferences
  • She has provided the training for PDP's national Advanced FOI Exemption training course for several years
  • Liz developed PDP's online FOI e-learning programme 
  • She presents the data and data protection presentation on the Soft IP day at Informa's Winter/Summer Intellectual Property School in Cambridge each year
  • Liz is leading a workshop on 'Reasonable and lawful monitoring at work in the 21st Century' at PDP's Annual 2022 Data Protection Conference in London in October 2022

 

Liz is recommended by Chambers and Legal 500.

  • Liz writes the expert comment section for PDP’s Freedom of Information
  • Liz is a member of the Examination Board for PDP's  Practitioner's Certificate in Freedom of Information 

Law Society Finals: First Class Honours, Chester College of Law 1989-1990

LL.B (Hons) Business Law 2:1 Coventry University, 1985-1988

Liz Fitzsimons

Partner

Liz Fitzsimons

Partner

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