Christopher Knight KC

R (ARC Time Freehold & ors) v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
[2025] EWHC 2751 (Admin)
Junior to Monica Carss-Frisk KC; major A1P1 challenge to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and its impact on freeholders through changes to the valuation mechanisms in enfranchisement procedures (instructed by Mishcon de Reya)

Hora v United Kingdom
[2025] ECHR 207
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; first finding in favour of UK in relation to ban on prisoners voting since the Grand Chamber decision in Hirst v UK (No2) in 2004 (instructed by FCDO Legal)

The Information Commissioner v Clearview AI Incorporated
[2025] UKUT 319 (AAC)
Junior to Anya Proops KC; leading authority on the material and territorial scope of the UK GDPR (Articles 2 and 3) in relation to a US facial recognition software service (instructed by Jenner & Block)

Farley & Ors v Paymaster (1836) Ltd (t/a Equiniti)
[2025] EWCA Civ 1117
Leading authority on the approach to compensation for breach of UK GDPR, holding that there is no de minimis threshold, and confirming the proper interpretation of the concept of processing of personal data (instructed by the Information Commissioner’s Office)

R (Tortoise Media Ltd) v Conservative and Unionist Party
[2025] EWCA Civ 673; [2025] 1 WLR 4186
Amenability of a political party to judicial review and the Human Rights Act 1998 in relation to the selection of a Prime Minister, and the scope of Article 10 ECHR in domestic law on the right to request information (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Bradshaw v United Kingdom
[2025] ECHR 188
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; novel claim alleging a breach of a positive obligation on the UK to inquire into and remedy legal frameworks re Russian attempts at electoral interference, contrary to A3P1 (instructed by FCDO Legal)

Department for Business and Trade v The Information Commissioner & Montague
[2025] UKSC 27; [2025] 1 WLR 3456; [2023] EWCA Civ 1378; [2022] UKUT 104 (AAC)
Supreme Court judgment determining issues of principle concerning the permissibility of the aggregation of exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The UT decision on the point at which the public interest test is assessed was not appealed (instructed by Leigh Day)

R (Duke of Sussex) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2025] EWCA Civ 548; [2025] 4 WLR 66; [2024] EWHC 418 (Admin)
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; unique and high-profile challenge by Prince Harry to the changes made to his protective security arrangements following his stepping back from acting as a working member of the Royal Family (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Banking) v Financial Conduct Authority
[2025] EWHC 525 (Admin)
Junior to Richard Coleman KC; judicial review of FCA’s decision not to implement a recommendation of the independent Swift Review into the Interest Rate Hedging Product Redress Scheme to compensate those excluded from Scheme (instructed by Dentons & FCA)

R (GB News) v Ofcom
[2025] EWHC 460 (Admin), [2025] 1 WLR 3164
Junior to Tom Hickman KC; first ever successful challenge to findings by Ofcom of breach of the Broadcasting Code, relating to politician TV presenters referring to breaking news items (instructed by Brown Rudnick)

RTM v Bonne Terre Ltd & Hestview Ltd
[2025] EWHC 111 (KB)
High-profile challenge to the lawfulness of use of data by Sky Betting & Gaming to profile a customer with vulnerability to gambling, now the leading judgment on the principle of consent in data protection law (instructed by AWO)

Meagher v University of Cambridge
[2025] EWHC 30 (KB)
Appeal upholding strike-out of discrimination claims against individual defendants in the application of the Jameel principle, breaking new ground (instructed by Shakespeare Martineau)

R (Knot Builders Ltd) v Construction Industry Training Board
[2025] EWCA Civ 6; [2024] EWHC 115 (Admin)
Novel challenge to the dismissal of a construction industry grant application, raising issues of fettering, policy interpretation, legitimate expectations, consistency and relief (instructed by Fieldfisher)

R (IAB & others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2024] EWCA Civ 66; [2024] 1 WLR 1916
Junior to Laura Dubinsky KC; significant judgment on the scope of the duty of candour in judicial review, rejecting the approach of Government to the redaction of the names of junior civil servants (instructed by Duncan Lewis)

R (the3million) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2023] EWCA Civ 1474; [2024] 1 WLR 3567; [2023] EWHC 713 (Admin), [2023] 1 WLR 3011
Challenge to the legality of the amended immigration exemption within the Data Protection Act 2018 following earlier litigation, in which the High Court and Court of Appeal largely accepted the submissions of the Information Commissioner as intervener (instructed by the Information Commissioner’s Office)

R (AAA & ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2023] UKSC 42; [2023] 1 WLR 4433; [2023] EWCA Civ 745; [2023] 1 WLR 3103; [2022] EWHC 3230 (Admin); [2022] EWHC 2191 (Admin)
Junior to Raza Husain KC; successful major challenge to the Rwanda deportation policy under domestic law, the ECHR and the Refugee Convention; acted as sole counsel at a preliminary hearing on a PII application (instructed by Duncan Lewis)

R (Cabinet Office) v Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry
[2023] EWHC 1702 (Admin); [2024] KB 319
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; challenge to the issue and terms of a coercive notice issued by the Covid-19 Inquiry requiring the provision of certain WhatsApp message threads (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (Good Law Project) v Prime Minister & ors
[2022] EWCA Civ 1580; [2022] EWHC 960 (Admin); [2022] 1 WLR 3748
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; wide-ranging challenge in connection with the use by Minister and officials of non-corporate communications channels, addressing the interpretation of the Public Records Act 1958 and the enforceability of policy documents (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Reference by the Lord Advocate of Devolution Issues under the Scotland Act 1998
[2022] UKSC 31; [2022] 1 WLR 5435
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; unprecedented devolution reference under Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998 of the question of whether the Scottish Parliament has legislative competence to legislate for a second independence referendum (instructed by the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland)

R (Kellogg Company) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
[2022] EWHC 1710 (Admin); [2022] HRLR 17
Junior to Tom Hickman KC; judicial review of food promotion restrictions applicable to breakfast cereals, giving rise to issues of vires, Henry VIII powers, incorporation of extraneous documents, relevancy of considerations and proportionality (instructed by DLA Piper)

Montague v Information Commissioner & Department for International Trade
[2022] UKUT 104 (AAC)
Three judge panel determining issues of principle concerning the permissibility of the aggregation of exemptions and the point at which the public interest test is assessed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (instructed by Leigh Day)

SMO (a child) v TikTok Inc & others
[2022] EWHC 489 (QB)
Junior to Anya Proops KC; consideration of an application to serve out of the jurisdiction in the context of a representative claim for breach of the UK GDPR against the social media giant, TikTok, on behalf of a class of all child users in the EU (instructed by Hogan Lovells)

R (Counsel General for Wales) v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy [2022] EWCA Civ 118; [2021] EWHC 950 (Admin)
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; novel challenge brought by the Welsh Government to the terms of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, raising issues of prematurity and the proper approach to statutes which interact with the devolution settlement (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (FDA) v Prime Minister
[2021] EWHC 3279 (Admin); [2022] 4 WLR 5
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; claim seeking relief in relation to the interpretation of the Ministerial Code in connection with the complaints made against the Home Secretary (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Google LLC v Lloyd
[2021] UKSC 50; [2022] AC 1217
Acting for an intervener in a major appeal concerning the recoverability of compensation for loss of control (or mere contravention) under the DPA 1998, and the role of representative actions in such claims; the only unled junior counsel in the appeal (instructed by Linklaters)

Re the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill & anr
[2021] UKSC 42; [2021] 1 WLR 5106
Junior to Sir James Eadie KC; reference brought by the UK Law Officers against two Bills of the Scottish Parliament as inconsistent with the continuing sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament, and in relation to the interpretative principles (instructed by the Office of the Advocate General)

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office v Information Commissioner & Williams, Wickham-Jones & Lownie [2021] UKUT 248 (AAC)
Three-judge panel finding that it is permissible to cite sections 23(1) and 24(1) FOIA in the alternative to protect national security, and summarising the applicable principles to both exemptions (instructed by the Information Commissioner)

R (A) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2021] UKSC 37; [2021] 1 WLR 3931
Junior to Jonathan Moffett KC; challenge to the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme Guidance, in which the Supreme Court significantly revisited and revised the proper approach to judicial reviews of policies and the ‘unacceptable risk’ line of authority (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (Open Rights Group & 3Million Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2021] EWCA Civ 800; [2021] 1 WLR 3611; [2021] EWCA Civ 1573
Major challenge to the insertion into the Data Protection Act 2018 of a new exemption in Schedule 2 concerning prejudice to immigration control, found to be contrary to the GDPR, and with a consequential judgment on the appropriate relief against primary legislation incompatible with retained EU law (instructed by the Information Commissioner)

Professional Standards Authority v General Medical Council & Hanson
[2021] EWHC 1288 (Admin)
Judgment on the proper approach to costs against the GMC, where it has not sought to defend a decision of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal on an appeal brought by the PSA (instructed by the General Medical Council)

Case C-505/19 WS v Bundesrepublik Deutschland
(EU:C:2021:376) [2021] 3 CMLR 26
CJEU consideration of Interpol red notices, their relation with the European Arrest Warrant, the principle of double jeopardy and the compatibility of transfers of personal data to and from Interpol with Directive 2016/680 (the Law Enforcement Directive) (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

M.C. v. United Kingdom
ECtHR, App. No. 51220/13, 30 March 2021
Junior to Jonathan Moffett KC; European Court of Human Rights decision dismissing claim that the criminal records disclosure scheme was incompatible with Article 8 ECHR (instructed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

R (Good Law Project Ltd & others) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
[2021] EWHC 505 (Admin); [2021] PTSR 1251
Junior to Jason Coppel KC; challenge to the Secretary of State’s failure to comply with legal and policy duties to publish procurement transparency notices within specified time periods, and the proper approach to relief and standing (instructed by Deighton Pierce Glynn)

R (QSA & others) v National Police Chiefs’ Council & Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 272 (Admin); [2021] 1 WLR 2962
Junior to Kate Gallafent KC; challenge to the NPCC policy of retaining convictions for recordable offences on the Police National Computer until the offender was aged 100 as incompatible with Article 8 ECHR (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (3Million Ltd & others) v Minister for the Cabinet Office
[2021] EWHC 245 (Admin)
Junior to Clive Sheldon KC; challenge to the preparation for and conduct of the 2019 European Parliamentary election, and the registration requirements imposed on EU citizens, as incompatible with EU law and Article 3 of the First Protocol ECHR (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Case C-619/19 Land Baden-Württemberg v DR
(EU:C:2021:35); [2021] PTSR 1038
Leading CJEU judgment on the internal communications exemption in Directive 2003/4/EC, domestically implemented in the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, including concerning whether scope of the exemption is time-limited (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Case C-746/18 HK v Prokuratuur
[2021] 1 WLR 4587
CJEU judgment concerning access of electronic communications by law enforcement agencies and the e-Privacy Directive (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Leave.EU & Eldon Insurance Services v Information Commissioner
[2021] UKUT 26 (AAC)
Significant Upper Tribunal judgment against penalty notices, enforcement notices and assessment notices for breaches of email marketing laws which arose from the context of the EU referendum, along with a discussion of the relevance of procedural complaints about the ICO’s decision-making (instructed by the Information Commissioner)

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Information Commissioner & Rosenbaum
[2021] UKUT 5 (AAC)
Judgment of the Upper Tribunal authoritatively collating the principles applicable to cases raising the national security exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (instructed by the Information Commissioner)

R (MP) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
[2020] EWCA Civ 1634; [2021] PTSR 1122
Junior to Jason Coppel KC; challenge to changes to NHS overseas visitor charging regulations on consultation and legitimate expectation grounds (instructed by Deighton Pierce Glynn)

R (Francis) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
[2020] EWHC 3287 (Admin); [2021] PTSR 921
Junior to James Eadie KC; challenge to the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020 as ultra vires, raising issues of whether the self-isolation requirements amounted to quarantine or detention at common law (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (R) v National Police Chiefs’ Council; Secretary of State for Justice
[2020] EWCA Civ 1346; [2017] EWHC 2586 (Admin); [2018] 1 WLR 1651
Junior to Kate Gallafent KC; an Article 8 challenge to the provision of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act that all convictions and cautions be self-disclosed when applying for the office of police constable (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Case C-623/17 Privacy International (EU:C:2020:790); [2021] 1 WLR 4421
Cases C-511, 512, 520/18 La Quadrature du Net & ors (EU:C:2020:791); [2021] 1 WLR 4457
Junior to Gerry Facenna KC; highly significant judgments on the compatibility of powers of intelligence agencies of Member States to gather bulk communications data from communications service providers with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the e-Privacy Directive (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (Elgizouli) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (No.2)
[2020] EWHC 2516 (Admin); [2021] 3 All ER 247
Junior to James Eadie KC; challenge on data protection grounds to the transfer of data to the USA under a mutual legal assistance request for the purpose of prosecuting in the US alleged members of the so-called ‘ISIS Beatles’ (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Case C-311/18 Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd & Schrems
(EU:C:2020:559)
Junior to Josh Holmes KC for the written observations, unled at the oral hearing; highly significant CJEU decision on the compatibility of standard contract clauses as a mechanism for international transfers of personal data, and the EU-US Privacy Shield (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Moss v Information Commissioner & Cabinet Office
[2020] UKUT 242 (AAC)
Junior to Timothy Pitt-Payne KC; consideration of the role of Article 10 ECHR in freedom of information cases in the light of Kennedy v Charity Commission and Magyar Helsinki v Hungary (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Sarkar v General Medical Council & Professional Standards Authority
[2020] EWHC 1896 (Admin)
Consideration of approach to costs where an appeal was allowed by consent against the Medical Practitioners Tribunal, and the extent to which the GMC should be liable for costs when it does not seek to defend the decision (instructed by the General Medical Council)

R (Hussain) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
[2020] EWHC 1392 (Admin)
Junior to James Eadie KC; judicial review and application for interim relief brought by a mosque against the coronavirus lockdown restrictions closing places of worship as a breach of Article 9 ECHR (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

School Facilities Management Ltd & others v Governing Body of Christ the King College & Isle of Wight Council
[2020] EWHC 1118 (Comm); [2020] EWHC 1477 (Comm)
Junior to Peter Oldham KC; two week Commercial Court trial as to whether a school had acted ultra vires in entering into a 15 year lease for a sixth form building, along with extensive restitution issues (instructed by Stone King)

Hudson Contract Services v Construction Industry Training Board
[2020] EWCA Civ 328; [2020] ICR 1344; [2019] EWHC 45 (Admin); [2019] ICR 1001
Construction industry levy appeal worth £8 million; junior to Sam Grodzinski KC on the successful appeal, having been successful unled before the Employment Tribunal and the High Court (instructed by Fieldfisher)

R (Adamson) v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council
[2020] EWCA Civ 154; [2020] 2 P&CR 9; [2019] EWHC 1129 (Admin)
Appeal concerning the meaning of statutory appropriation of land for allotment purposes, where alleged appropriation was historic, overturning first instance judgment (instructed by Kirklees MBC)

R (QSA & others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2020] EWCA Civ 130; [2020] 1 WLR 2062; [2018] EWHC 407 (Admin); [2018] 1 WLR 4279
Junior to Kate Gallafent KC; a challenge to the criminalisation of street prostitution as contrary to Article 14 ECHR as indirectly gender discriminatory (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (Good Law Project) v HM Revenue & Customs (Uber London Ltd as interested party)
[2019] EWHC 3125 (Admin); [2020] STC 145
Analysis of the power of HMRC to disclose taxpayer information consistently with section 18 of the Commissioners for Customs and Revenue Act 2005 and open justice in response to a public interest judicial review of HMRC’s decision-making (instructed by Rook Irwin Sweeney)

R (Liberty) v Prime Minister
[2019] EWCA Civ 1761; [2020] 1 WLR 1193
Junior to James Eadie KC; high-profile claim concerning the effect of, and compliance with, the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.2) Act 2019 and raising issues of case management where the same matters are before the courts of the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (Miller) (No.2) v Prime Minister
[2019] UKSC 41; [2020] AC 373 and [2019] EWHC 2381 (QB)
Junior to James Eadie KC; unprecedented challenge to the exercise of the prerogative power to advise HM The Queen to prorogue Parliament, and the scope and effect of the principle of non-justiciability (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Case C-136/17 GC v CNIL
EU:C:2019:773
Significant reference determined by the CJEU concerning the effect of the right to be forgotten in the context of sensitive personal data available online through internet search engines, balancing privacy and free expression rights (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Maharaj v Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd
[2019] UKPC 21
Junior to Richard Clayton KC; the first substantive consideration by the Privy Counsel of the Trinidad and Tobago Freedom of Information Act, overturning a refusal of permission to bring a judicial review for breach

R (P, G & W) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2019] UKSC 3; [2020] AC 185
Junior to James Eadie KC; a major Article 8 challenge to the legislative scheme for the disclosure of criminal conviction records, as revised following the earlier case of T (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

UKIP v Information Commissioner
[2019] UKUT 62 (AAC)
First appeal to the Upper Tribunal against an Information Notice issued under the DPA 1998, in the context of the data analytics in political campaigning investigation (instructed by the Information Commissioner)

BBC v Independent Office for Police Conduct
(EA/2018/0163) (First-tier Tribunal)
First appeal against an Information Notice issued by the IOPC under the Police Reform Act 2002, raising Article 10 ECHR issues where the recipient was the BBC (instructed by the IOPC)

Re the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill
[2018] UKSC 64; [2019] AC 1022
Junior to HM Advocate General; the first ever reference by the UK Law Officers of a Bill of the Scottish Parliament, concerning the retention of EU law in Scots law after Brexit, and constituting the most significant devolution case since AXA (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (AIRE Centre) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
[2018] EWCA Civ 2837; [2019] 1 WLR 3002
Junior to Jonathan Swift KC; a challenge to Operation Nexus – under which persons arrested are asked questions to establish their immigration status – as a breach of the Citizens Directive and outwith police powers (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (EU Lotto Ltd and others) v Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport [2018] EWHC 3111 (Admin); [2019] 1 CMLR 41
Junior to Jonathan Moffett KC; an Article 56 TFEU challenge to a ban imposed by secondary legislation on betting on the outcome of the EuroMillions lottery draw (instructed by the Gambling Commission)

Case C-207/16 Ministerio Fiscal
EU:C:2018:78; [2019] 1 WLR 3121
Junior to Gerry Facenna KC; consideration of the restrictions on access to communications data under the e-Privacy Directive (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

R (AR) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police & Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2018] UKSC 47; [2018] 1 WLR 4079
Junior to Jonathan Moffett KC; an Article 8 challenge to the disclosure of rape acquittal information in an enhanced criminal records check which also raised issues of principle as to the approach to proportionality on appeal (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Greene King Brewing and Retailing Ltd v Gambling Commission
[2017] EWCA Civ 372; [2017] 1 WLR 3611
Junior to Philip Kolvin KC; the first Court of Appeal case concerning the Gambling Act 2005, involving consideration of the refusal of licence applications and the scope of the regulator’s powers under the statutory scheme (instructed by the Gambling Commission)

Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens RTM Co Ltd; Deer v University of Oxford
[2017] EWCA Civ 121; [2018] QB 256
Junior to Julian Milford; appeared for the Information Commissioner intervening in joined appeals determining a series of important issues under the Data Protection Act and subject access requests (instructed by the Information Commissioner’s Office)

R (Miller & Dos Santos) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
[2017] UKSC 5; [2018] AC 61 and [2016] EWHC 2768 (Admin); [2017] 1 All ER 158
Junior counsel for the Secretary of State in the most important and high-profile constitutional case of a generation. Heard by all 11 Justices of the Supreme Court, it considered prerogative powers, Parliamentary sovereignty, the status of EU law, the devolution legislation and the role of constitutional conventions (instructed by the Government Legal Department)

Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v Hungary
App. No. 18030/11, European Court of Human Rights, Grand Chamber
Junior to Richard Clayton KC; the Grand Chamber revisited contradictory authority to recognise, in part, a right of access to information under Article 10 EHCR (instructed by various NGO Interveners, including the Media Legal Defence Initiative, the Campaign for Freedom of Information and Article 19)

Keane v Information Commissioner, Home Office and Metropolitan Police Service
[2016] UKUT 461 (AAC)
A FOIA appeal concerning access to files concerning 19th century Irish informers, withheld on the grounds of national security (instructed by the Metropolitan Police Service)

Lin v Metropolitan Police Commissioner
[2015] EWHC 2484 (QB)
Junior to Anya Proops; high-profile subject access request by the individuals suspected of murdering Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in Thailand for a Metropolitan Police report into the Thai investigation which considered the scope of the section 29 law enforcement exemption in the Data Protection Act (instructed by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner)

Kennedy v Charity Commission
[2014] UKSC 20; [2014] 2 WLR 808
Junior to Richard Clayton KC; appeared for the Media Legal Defence Initiative and the Campaign for Freedom of Information, intervening on the application of Article 10 ECHR to a right of access to information and the interplay with FOIA (instructed by the Media Legal Defence Initiative)

Christopher is a specialist public lawyer who regularly advises and appears on behalf of claimants, private companies and public authorities of different kinds. He has appeared in the most significant constitutional law cases of recent times, as well as many other high-profile matters. He has published widely on the area in the leading journals and co-authors one of the leading textbooks.

Christopher is an experienced practitioner in media and privacy work, with a particular specialism in data protection and data privacy cases, including regulatory investigations. He has experience of misuse of private information claims, breach of confidence cases, breaches of Article 8 ECHR and urgent injunctive relief claims. He is a leading specialist in the Data Protection Acts, working with individuals, private companies and public authorities, and regularly advises on some of the most sensitive and difficult policy areas. He is a regular contributor on the area on 11KBW’s leading Panopticon blog.

Examples of his work in this field include:

• Farley v Equiniti (t/a Paymaster) – Court of Appeal judgment clarifying the law on whether a de minimis threshold of non-material damage applies under the UK GDPR
• RTM v Bonne Terre – leading case on consent in data protection law, addressing the profiling of customers by Sky Betting and Gaming to encourage gambling
• R (3Million Ltd & Open Rights Group) v Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (No2) – judicial review challenging the compatibility with EU law of the immigration exemption in Schedule 2 to the Data Protection Act 2018
• FKJ v RVT – significant WhatsApp hacking allegations and counterclaims for malicious prosecution
• Google LLC v Lloyd – leading Supreme Court decision on representative actions for data protection breaches, and the ability to claim damages for mere contravention under the Data Protection Act 1998
• R (Elgizouli) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (No.2) – challenge to the transfer of personal data relating to the ISIS Beatles in response to a US MLA request
• Case C-623/17 Privacy International – review of the compatibility of bulk data gathering regimes by national security bodies with the Charter and the e-Privacy Directive
• Case C-311/18 Schrems II – intervening for the UK in an important reference about compliance of standard contractual clauses with the EU Charter in the context of international data transfers
• Case C-687/18 Stunt v Associated Newspapers – intervening for the UK in a reference challenging the compatibility with Charter rights of the automatic stay mechanism in journalistic processing cases before it was withdrawn
• BBC v Independent Office for Police Conduct – first appeal against an Information Notice served by the IOPC, against the BBC, raising Article 10 issues
• Case C-136/17 GC v CNIL – intervening for the UK in an important reference about the right to be forgotten
• R (AK) v Information Commissioner – judicial review of the Commissioner rejecting a ‘right to be forgotten’ complaint
• Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens RTM Co / Deer v University of Oxford – leading Court of Appeal judgment on a number of different elements of data protection law, including personal data, search obligations and the grant of relief
• Holyoake v Candy & CPC – a significant data protection case on the application of the legal professional privilege exemption in relation to private investigators, and the scope of the iniquity exception to privilege
• Bangura v Loughborough University Authority – provision of personal data by a University to the police in the course of a police investigation
• Lin v Metropolitan Police Commissioner – high-profile subject access request case concerning individuals accused of murdering British tourists in Thailand and facing the death penalty
• Kololo v Metropolitan Police Commissioner – consideration of whether a subject access request was contrary to the purposes of the legislation when made to obtain material used in foreign criminal proceedings

Christopher is a leading specialist in all aspects of information law. He regularly appears in the Information Rights Tribunal in appeals under the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations. He has extensive litigation and advisory experience of the Data Protection Act as well as other information governance regimes. In information law alone, Christopher has appeared at every level of the judicial system. He is a regular contributor on the area on 11KBW’s leading Panopticon blog.

Christopher’s data protection experience is set out under Media and Privacy.

Christopher has considerable litigation and advisory experience in relation to the broad scope of local government law, ranging from community care and pensions to setting up academy schools and special educational needs.

Christopher regularly acts for a wide array of regulators, including the Information Commissioner, the Gambling Commission, HM Inspectors of Constabulary and Ofqual. He has also appeared in a number of different professional disciplinary contexts, including the General Medical Council, the Solicitors Regulatory Authority and the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.

Christopher has worked on some of the most sensitive and high-profile investigations, and has considerable experience in advising private sector, Government and public authority clients in relation to the work of statutory and non-statutory public inquiries.

Christopher is an experienced practitioner of European Union law in relation both to domestic incorporation of EU law regimes and the impact of EU law on English public law. He has extensive experience of advising on matters related to and arising from Brexit, including the scope of powers under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. He has acted as sole counsel before the Court of Justice of the EU.