Information Commissioner
(previously the Data Protection Commissioner) continues to enforce the Data Protection Act 1998,
and is now also responsible for Freedom of Information.
The site provides information on Principles of Data Protection, Guidance Notes,
and other publications. You can search the "register of data controllers".
The Privacy and Electronic Communications
(EC directive) Regulations 2003 governs telphone marketing, email, SMS,
MMS and any future types of electronic communication. This broadly requires consent from the recipient
before unsolicited emails can be sent ("opt in" consent rather than "opt out" consent).
DPA Law (Data Protection Act Law) is the website of the Privacy and Information
Law Group at European Law firm
Field Fisher Waterhouse.
This site contains a great deal of free information about data protection, privacy and confidentiality law, including:
* The A-Z of data protection and privacy, a glossary of key words and phrases in data protection law with links to relevant resources.
* Links to core European data protection and privacy laws, including legislation and court cases.
* Links to worldwide regulatory bodies and public authorities that have responsibilities for data protection and privacy.
* Articles, briefing notes and legal analysis written by lawyers at the firm.
Privacy Laws & Business is a private body
providing consultancy, newsletters, courses and conferences on this topic. There is
a particularly good set of international data protection links on the site.
Privacy and Data Protection is
the name of a journal for data protection professionals. Although the journal is only available
on subscription, there are a series of articles free on the site called "The Ultimate Guide
to the Data Protection Act" which are drawn from the journal and are designed to introduce
the Act and then to deal with particular aspects of how it is implemented. The series of
articles can be downloaded in Word format or viewed on screen.
DataGuidance is a new web resource designed to assist lawyers and companies
to understand data protection principles, as they apply in real life, in UK, Europe and (over a period of time)
the world as a whole. The resource has been created by Cecile Park Publishing Ltd, led by Lindsey Greig.
It brings together
all the legislation, official guidance and codes of practice as well as
Data Guidance Notes, written by data protection experts on key issues such as data transfer, e-mail marketing,
employee monitoring and data breaches. This is a subscription resource but it can be purchased in short access periods
e.g. £14 for an hour's access to the UK section or £20 to Europe overall, or, for professionals, by the year.
The company is very willing to provide a telephone-assisted free trial, on request.
5RB (5 Raymond Buildings) is a leading set of barristers specialising
in all areas of media and entertainment law, defamation and freedom of expression.
There are over 300 case reports on the site covering areas including
Privacy, Data Protection and Freedom of Information. The case reports include very recent ones and in many cases,
copies of the judgments are appended. You can also register on the site for email briefings with monthly round-ups
of key issues and new cases covered on the site.
Act Now describes itself as
"The complete Data Protection resource for the Public Sector". It also covers Freedom of
Information topics, particularly as related to public bodies and the Publication Scheme required by public bodies.
There are links and articles and a free newsletter. Run by Ibrahim Hasan, Solicitor and Trainer, and expert in Freedom of Information, Data Protection,
Surveillance Law, Information Sharing, Privacy and Human Rights, there is also a monthly series of podcasts
here on the latest developments in Freedom of Information law.
The podcast discusses recent decisions from the Information Commissioner's Office
and the Information Tribunal and their impact on FOI practice. This is the first FOI podcast of it's kind!
David Price Solicitors & Advocates - London,
are experts in media law and they provide a Guide to Media Law covering Defamation,
Breach of confidence and privacy, Malicious falsehood, Contempt of court and Copyright.
They provide a newsletter on the site (or you an sign up to receive it by email)
containing reports and comment on media law. They aim to cover all cases in the High Court
and Court of Appeal as well as decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on freedom
of expression and relevant adjudications of the Press Complaints Commission and the
Broadcasting Standards Commission.
One Brick Court
are recognised as leaders in the fields of defamation, privacy and the law as it affects
freedom of expression and the publication of false, damaging and intrusive information.
There is an extensive Media Law Update on the site, with reports of the latest cases and also
articles written by members of chambers.
5RB (5 Raymond Buildings) is a leading set of barristers specialising
in all areas of media and entertainment law, defamation and freedom of expression.
Most of the leading cases in recent times have
involved members of Chambers. There are over 300 case reports on the site including cases in this area.
The case reports include very recent ones and in many cases,
copies of the judgments are appended.
You can also register on the site for email briefings with monthly round-ups
of key issues and new cases covered on the site.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission
is the statutory body set up to protect, enforce and promote equality across the seven "protected"
grounds - age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
Disability is a section
on the Government's Direct Gov site, providing information on the legal situation, policy, programmes and links to other bodies.
rehabwindow lists providers of disability
and rehabilitation related services and products. There is a good set of links to
bodies working in this area.
Deaf Lawyers UK covers issues relating to
Deaf lawyers, as well as Deaf issues within the legal system. The website was set up by a group of Deaf
solicitors, barristers, law students and people trying to qualify as lawyers. It aims to respond to access
issues, publicise specialised information and raise awareness of issues Deaf people face within the legal system.
The site includes a
Deaf Blawg. This is updated frequently
and includes contributions from a number of people. Prime topics appearing so far are immigration, citizenship and asylum,
and special problems for deaf people in these contexts, covered generally, but not entirely, from a legal point of view.
Employment Tribunal Claims: tactics and precedents is a blog
from barrister Naomi Cunningham to update and supplement her recently published book of the same name.
The site also contains links to all the statutory discrimination questionnaires in particular, Disability, Equal Pay,
Orientation, Race, Religion or Belief and Sex, which can otherwise be quite hard to track down.
The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting provide
"Industrial Cases Reports Express". This gives previews of the Industrial Cases
Reports before they are available in printed form. The Express service takes the form of summaries
giving the ratio of the decision and these will be updated as soon as headnotes become available. The reports
cover employment law, discrimination, competition and associated topics.
Disability Discrimination is a new website related to
a book written by Richard Oulton and Spencer Keen on disability discrimination. It covers legislation and recent
case law related to this topic.
Education Law Unit of Govan Law Centre has an extensive site
covering educational issues. The unit, partly funded by Glasgow city Council, describes itself as "the national expert
legal resource for anyone who advises either children with special educational needs or their parents.
Working in partnership with the voluntary, statutory and independent sectors, we seek to increase the
quality and availability of training, information and advice available to such advisers and to support
and assist them in making the rights of children with special educational needs a reality."
As well as the material on special educational needs, the site covers Scottish Educational news generally and
developments in legal issues with frequent updates.
Coventry Law Centre holds a legal aid franchise for education law in the
Coventry area. The site provides a series of leaflets on education law for parents on Bullying,
Can I choose which school my child attends?, School rights to discipline children,
Special educational needs, What do I have to pay for at school?, What will my child be taught at school?, and
Will I be told about my child's progress?
11 Kings Bench Walk maintains an extensive series of articles on the site;
choose those relating to local government and then browse these to find some which are
on educational topics.
Jordans Educational Law Reports Online are a subscription service
providing access to every education law report published. It says "ELR covers cases in all relevant areas of law and
all levels of court including the European Court of Human Rights as well as spanning all levels of education
from schools to university. It also provides regular digests of Special Educational Needs Tribunal decisions."
You can obtain a free trial and there is also a free case alert service.
Special Educational Needs & Disability Tribunal.
Parents whose children have special educational needs can appeal to this Tribunal against decisions made by
local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales about their children's education.
The Tribunal is independent of both central and local Government.
The Education Law Association (ELAS) was founded in
1991 to support the advancement of education for the public benefit from pre-school through primary, secondary,
further, higher and adult education. There is a paper on the site called "A review of recent disability
discrimination and SEN cases heard in the courts, at SENDIST and by the Local Government Ombudsman".
The Employment Appeal Tribunal
provides Judgments in full text, indexed by type of case (Sex Discrimination, Transfer
of Undertakings, Unfair Dismissal etc), Appellant, Respondent or Judge. These are
available in html format. Other parts of the site are available in pdf format,
including Cause Lists and forms. There is also a good section written for non-lawyers,
on whether there is cause for appeal and what the procedures are.
Employment Tribunal Press (warned)
and Daily cause lists from the 25 Employment Tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland,
are now available on the Courtserve Legal Information website. This is the page to
sign up for the full subscription version, but there is also a free version available on the page (although you
do have to register with the Courtserve web site for this).
emplaw.co.uk (from DiscLaw Publishing) is a specialist
employment law portal. The site provides extensive employment
law commentary (under the supervision of Henry Scrope who is co-author of the Law
Society's "Employment Law Handbook") and aims to be a "one stop shop" providing access from a single
place to everything which an employment lawyer is likely to want on the internet.
The free area provides 4,500 cross-referenced fact cards spelling out the basics of employment law.
The professional (subscription) area provides more extensive commentary plus thousands of categorised hyperlinks to a
vast mass of source and other freely available employment law related background material.
The service also offers a comprehensive selection of precedents by Michael Duggan
of Littleton Chambers and an archive of Daniel Barnett's bulletins. It also provides summaries
and/or headnotes of all cases reported in IRLR and ICR since January 2000, hyperlinked to full judgments,
and a twice weekly hyperlinked "web-updater" provided to subscribers by e-mail, RSS and on the website itself.
Free trials are available.
R2b Media Ltd is a company providing employment law news and
information to over 11,000 professionals in the UK. The information is provided by lawyers from Hansells,
Morton Fraser, Samuel Phillips and Heptonstalls.
It is provided in the form of professionally written business information updates and podcasts which are
published on a monthly basis and sent out to subscribers free of charge.
Equal Opportunities Review (EOR Online)
is a print and online subscription service from Michael Rubenstein Publishing. It provides equality,
diversity and discrimination law and practice information for HR and legal professionals including news,
analysis, case studies, surveys, case law reports, analysis of legislation, codes of practice and a monthly
diary section discussing recent developments. Expert commentary is provided by leading people in the world of
discrimination law and diversity. Subscribers also receive email alerts for important breaking news.
A free trial of the journal can be requested on the site and it is also possible to browse and search the site
without charge.
XpertHR is a subscription service for HR professionals,
bringing together expertise from Personnel Today, IRS, LexisNexis Butterworths Tolley and specially
commissioned reports. The service offers: reference manual, employment law reports, a free
legal advice line, up-to-the-minute news, surveys and statistics, questions and answers,
benchmarking help, legislation (including upcoming law), statutory rates, recruitment help
(including a CV checking facility), model policies and contracts and a how to section.
There are flexible subscription options available, from single users to multiple user licences.
PLC Employment is an online subscription
service run by Practical Law Company for employment lawyers. It provides a comprehensive bank of practice
notes, standard documents, drafting notes and checklists which are continually maintained by its team of
specialist lawyers. It also provides updates on developments that would be of interest to employment
lawyers. A free trial is available and non-subscribers are able to access some parts of the service,
including a short summary of all developments in the last month, a table of current rates and limits
and the PLC Glossary, which contains definitions of those meaningless terms that are used by lawyers
in practice, such as AESOP, Golden formula and PILON.
Daniel Barnett, a leading employment
barrister who has used the web very effectively over the last few years to provide information on
employment topics.
Roydens is the employment law site of David Royden,
Employment Law Solicitor, Laytons Solicitors. The site contains over 50
pages of employment law information and offers free e-mail advice on
employment law issues. David Royden is head of Employment Law at the
Manchester Office of Laytons Solicitors which also has offices in London
and Guildford.
There are a number of Low Pay Units around the country
campaigning to end low pay and poverty and to make sure that these issues are not neglected or
forgotten by the government of the day and other key decision makers. Their websites, variously,
provide information and advice on employment rights, pay rates, benefit entitlement, tax
and national insurance, to individuals and advisers:
There are several useful email updates for employment lawyers -
Daniel Barnett, a barrister specialising in employment
matters, provides a free email bulletin,
usually one or two a week, detailing new legislation and important employment law cases.
Around 6,000 people subscribe to this mailing. There is
also an archive of the bulletins on his site.
Emplaw produces a free twice weekly British employment
law "web-updater" e-mail in two versions, one for emplaw subscribers and the other for anyone.
A searchable archive goes back to 2005. These
web-updaters are the most comprehensive source of British employment law update information available
but are kept manageable by highlighting important items and categorising all items.
Employment Litigator Online is a blog from
Gary David Armstrong, a UK Employment Lawyer working in Manchester. The blog is designed for
"all those interested in Employment Law and its development domestically and internationally".
There are regular and quite detailed case reports from significant recent judgments
particularly from the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Hegarty & Co. provide a site they
call e-ssentials which provides
bulletins as and when there is a significant development.
Lawrite HR provides
employment law and HR solutions for employers in the UK.
The Lawrite Employment Law software was first launched in 1999. The current
version works through the web browser and seamlessly combines locally-stored
document templates, PDF guides and manuals, with web-based news and update
files. There are more than 120 templates including employment contracts,
policies and procedures and sample letters to employees. The software is
available as part of a range of services including 24/7 telephone legal
support, an insurance-backed Employment Tribunal indemnity scheme and
different levels of HR support including bespoke drafting of contracts,
staff handbooks and other HR documents.
The Federation of European Employers
(formerly the EU Employers' Network)
is an association for progressive employers operating
across Europe. The Federation was founded in 1989, with financial
assistance from DGV of the European Commission. Today it has members in
all EEA states - plus Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Russia, USA, Canada,
Japan and Israel. The site is a major
source of pan-European national pay, employment law and collective
bargaining data on the web. It includes legislation from the many countries
it represents.
The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting provide
"Industrial Cases Reports Express". This gives previews of the Industrial Cases
Reports before they are available in printed form. The Express service takes the form of summaries
giving the ratio of the decision and these will be updated as soon as headnotes become available. The reports
cover employment law, discrimination, competition and associated topics.
John Antell, from Godolphin
Chambers in Truro, provides reports on
employment law cases, particularly those relating to the employment status of agency
workers and contractors. There is also a FAQ section on IR35 topics.
(Take the embedded links towards the bottom of the page).
Charles Price, of No5 Chambers, Birmingham, Bristol and London,
provides a site covering the latest developments in employment law and offering practical advice for employment lawyers.
You can sign up for a regular email "E-Missive" on these topics.
UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line
where Tim Field covers workplace bullying, harassment, discrimination andd related topics.
There are links to legislation and case reports.
OneClickHR plc is a major provider
of HR services. There is a good news section with summaries of
current employment-related news stories and a section covering legal employment topics in the
Employer's Guide to HR; this is free upon registration. There is also a range of charged
employment law related services including drafting tailored employment contracts,
employee handbooks and compromise agreements, downloadable employment policies,
and a legal advice line.
HRBullets.co.uk is an e-mail-based information service
on employment law and HR issues, aimed at anyone with responsibilities for managing staff.
It is based on the principle of "less is more" in that the publisher
sorts through a mass of material, extracts what is relevant/important for those with staff responsibilities,
and reports in plain English. The service comprises Newsletters, Alerts, Checklists, a LawTracker and a
Helpline. Annual subscription cost is £199 a year.
humanresources-centre.net is a
site from Croner.CCH aimed at employers. It offers free guidance on employment
and other HR issues, a discussion forum and free newsletters (you have to register for some of this material).
ENDS Environmental Data Services
provides daily news and many reports. This is a subscription service but there
are free samples on line and free trials available.
The UK Environmental Law Association is the national
association for those involved in the practice, study or
formulation of Environmental Law. It has amongst its aims:
* To collate and disseminate information relating to environmental law and
* To identify, review, advise and comment on issues of environmental law and its application.
There are events listed on the site and also copies of consultation papers and responses
to government and international initiatives.
The Landmark Chambers Centre for Environmental Law
offers podcasts, articles and training courses on the latest developments from the UK's leading barristers'
chambers in environmental and planning law. Details of the regular seminars and other events held by the
Centre are posted on the site regularly."
United Nations Environment Programme
covers International treaties and programmes dealing with the environment
and sustainable development and is also a source of further links.
"Best Environmental Directories"
A massive set of references in several languages to web environmental resources,
including legal ones, supported by the Belgian Government.
Greenpeace
has become a major web resource for matters of environmental concern.
Earth's Environmental Experts (3E) Database,
with experts in many environmental and ecological specialisms.
The 3E Database is a searchable database. The search is free, online,
although you can ask the organisation to do the search for you, in which case a charge is made.
