Paul Motion accredited by Law Society as FOI and data protection specialist

Paul Motion

This is only the second such accreditation to be awarded in Scotland and is the only one outside the public sector.

Mr Motion is a solicitor advocate who has litigated several ground-breaking data protection cases in the courts and the First Tier Tribunal.

His experience includes leading the only successful UK appeal to date where a fine imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office for a breach of the Data Protection Act was cancelled.

He said: “For many years, data protection law was perceived as a curiosity which presented little in the way of business risk. Increasingly large fines – particularly the new levels under the GDPR – have heightened awareness of the law.

“The Data Subject Rights are also now recognised as potentially entailing significant irrecoverable cost to all organisations. Subject Access Requests and FOI requests are commonly used to build evidence for future litigation.

“To assess and manage the risks, specialist advice is often essential. I hope that our profession will continue to build up a body of expertise in these areas.”