Privacy & Media
Anya is widely recognised as a leading privacy and media practitioner. Anya was named Defamation/Privacy Silk of the Year in the 2021 Chambers & Partners UK Bar Awards The Lawyer listed Anya in its “Hot 100 Lawyers 2019”, recognizing her role ‘at the vanguard’ of cutting-edge privacy litigation. Anya is recognised as a “Star Individual” for her work in the data privacy field in Chambers & Partners, which describes her as taking a leading role in many of the practice area’s most prominent cases, tackling critical disputes in relation to subjects including data breaches, subject access disclosure and the right to be forgotten’. The Legal 500 equally identifies Anya as a Tier 1 ‘Leading Silk’ for her work in the data privacy field. Anya co-founded 11KBW’s highly regarded information law blog: panopticonblog.com.
Large scale data cases/class actions – Anya has extensive experience of advising and acting for controllers (on both the regulatory and civil litigation sides) in cases involving large-scale personal data incidents/issues, often with an international element. She routinely leads cases for controllers in very large scale data privacy class actions, helping them to manage their global strategy, as well as assisting them with their dealings with regulators, including the ICO. Anya has a particular interest in online data processing, and she regularly advises and acts for large-scale online service providers, including social media platforms.
She is one of the founders of modern data protection litigation, be that anything from mass claims to regulatory investigations, there is nothing she has not seen, done or established the law on.
Chambers & PartnersThere is absolutely no one else who is better than Anya. She is the oracle for protection law. When it comes to the intersection between law and business, she is unparalleled.
Chambers & PartnersAnya is an all-round star performer. Her advocacy skills are excellent as is the strategic approach and thinking which she brought to the matter.
Chambers & Partners
Weaver v British Airways
(2021, ongoing)
Leading group action in the High Court; also acted for BA in connection with ICO threat to impose a monetary penalty of £183m
Experian v ICO
(2021, ongoing)
Appeal against wide-ranging enforcement notice issued against Experian in connection with its data services
Ticketmaster v ICO
[2021] UKFTT 0083 (GRC)
Appeal against monetary penalty notice
Marriott
data incident – Acted for Marriott in connection with ICO threat to impose a monetary penalty of £100m
Various Claimants v Morrison Supermarket Plc
[2020] UKSC 1
Supreme Court – Acted for Morrisons in first data privacy group action
Atkinson v Equifax
2020
Representative action in the High Court
Facebook v ICO
(EA/2018/0256)
challenge to monetary penalty issued in respect of the Cambridge Analytica affair
Vidal-Hall & Ors v Google
[2015] EWCA Civ 311
Court of Appeal – compensation for mere distress under the DPA; tracking of internet browsing habits
Newman v Southampton City Council
2008 EWHC 1583 (QB)
Zac acted for Ms Newman, a journalist seeking access to court documents in relation to care proceedings. Her application for access to the Court file was rejected at first instance, and her appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed. The claim has contributed to the ongoing debate within the Family Courts as to the proper scope of journalistic (and public) access to public law hearings, and has attracted judicial and extra-judicial comment (Led by Anya Proops KC with Kate Temple-Mabe, instructed by Howard Kennedy).
Emily Oldknow v Labour Party
[2021] EWHC 1028 (QB)
Acted for the Labour Party in respect of a Norwich Pharmacal application brought in connection with the leak of an internal report on the Party’s handling of antisemitism
Dillian Whyte v CBS Interactive Inc & Boxing Scene
(2021, ongoing)
Acting for the publisher/defendant in the context of a privacy claim brought by a leading British boxer in respect of the publication of information concerning a drugs test; judgment on open justice/handling of confidential schedules awaited
Neil Gerrard v ENRC & Diligence
[2020] EWHC 3241 (QB)
Acting for investigations firm defendant in connection with privacy/harassment claims brought by City lawyer in connection with surveillance activities
NT1/NT2 v Google
[2018] EWHC 799
First ‘right to be forgotten case’ to come before the High Court
B v General Medical Council
[2018] EWCA 1497
Court of Appeal – operation of the subject access regime in a mixed data case
Magyar Jeti v Hungary
ECtHR – whether media organisations strictly liable for hyperlinking to unlawful third party content
Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy v Finland
(2018) 66 EHRR 8
ECtHR – Article 8/Article 10 case on the disclosure of tax data
Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing
[2017] EWCA Civ 74
Court of Appeal – application of the subject access regime/operation of legal privilege exemption
Holyoake v Christian Candy
[2017] EWHC 52
High Court – application of legal privilege exemption in subject access/surveillance case
Zaw Lin v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis
[2015] EWHC 2484
High Court – whether two men facing the death penalty in connection with the murder of two British tourists in Thailand could use subject access rights to gain access to report held by the Met Police
Steinmetz v Global Witness
2014
High Court – application of journalistic exemption in the Data Protection Act 1998
