Stephenson Harwood LLP

Stephenson Harwood is a law firm with over 1100 people worldwide, including more than 180 partners. Our people are committed to achieving the goals of our clients - listed and private companies, institutions and individuals. We assemble teams of bright thinkers to match our clients' needs and give the right advice from the right person at the right time. Dedicating the highest calibre of legal talent to overcome the most complex issues, we deliver pragmatic, expert advice that is set squarely in the real world. Our headquarters are in London, with eight offices across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In addition we have forged close ties with other high quality law firms and an integrated local law capability in Singapore and the PRC. This diverse mix of expertise and culture results in a combination of deep local insight and the capability to provide a seamless international service. Katie Hewson is a data protection specialist and heads Stephenson Harwood’s data protection practice. She has significant experience advising clients across a variety of sectors and holds a Certified Information Privacy Professional Europe (CIPP/E) accreditation from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Katie is recognised as a Next Generation Partner for data protection, privacy and cyber security by The Legal 500 UK 2022, in which she is described as “outstanding” and it is noted that her "legal advice is always incredibly commercially minded and her understanding of the technical aspects of privacy is unparalleled".Katie has extensive experience leading international GDPR compliance projects and also advises on data protection contracts, transparency issues, international personal data transfers, data sharing, cyber security and personal data breaches. She is also a trusted advisor on direct marketing, ad tech, social media and cookies issues under the e-privacy regime. Katie has also acted for clients facing ICO enforcement action on potential data protection and freedom of information law breaches, winning successful outcomes for her clients in relation to subject access requests, breach reporting and FOIA requests. She has helped clients with the data protection impacts of Brexit and coronavirus and has also advised on the complex legal issues in facial recognition, AI and profiling.

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Katie Hewson

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Publications

• UK Data Reform: Striking the Balance Between Adequacy and InnovationThe UK Government has brought forward a new Bill that proposes several changes to UK data protection law, alongside other provisions intended to broaden use and commercialisation of data for economic and societal benefit. The Bill, introduced into the House of Lords on 23 October 2024, bears similarities to the previous Government's proposed reforms, but includes safeguards that are in part aimed at ensuring the UK will retain its adequacy arrangements with the EU.19 December 2024
• Another new direction: UK reintroduces the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, but what's changed?On 8 March 2023, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ("DSIT") introduced the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill (the "Bill"), extinguishing the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the "Previous Bill"). The Bill is set to be "…a simple, clear and business-friendly framework…" that will minimize the bureaucracy associated with "…the barrier-based European GDPR…".13 July 2023
• UK ICO's new approach to publishing details of complaints, breach reports and reprimandsThe UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has started routinely publishing information about complaints made against organisations by members of the public, self-reported data breaches and reprimands issued by the ICO. Those subject to UK GDPR should be aware of the detailed information that this new approach will make available to counterparties, competitors and the public.24 January 2023
• A New Direction for UK Data Protection Law: the Data Protection and Digital Information BillThe UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport ("DCMS") has published proposed legislation that will make extensive amendments to the UK’s data protection laws if enacted. The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the "Bill") was introduced to Parliament on 18 July 2022 and largely follows the plans announced on 23 June 2022 in the government's response to the consultation Data: a New Direction.29 August 2022