decoded.legal
SCL Accredited IT Lawyer
Hello!
I’m Neil. I am a solicitor, with years of experience advising on communications regulation, data protection and privacy, security, and Internet / technology law.
Clients love my pragmatism, straight-talking approach, and technical knowledge.
I am as comfortable with the technology as I am with the law, and love learning how things work and tinkering with software, servers and IP networks and services.
I pride myself in delivering sensible, commercially-minded advice, and I work closely with my clients. I’ll listen to your suggestions and ideas as well as your needs, and come up with solutions which make sense for you as a business.
My pronouns are he/him/his.
You can follow me in the fediverse.
My personal blog has my writings about Internet and computer stuff (mostly Linux / Free software).
Experience and successes
Since I started decoded.legal in 2016, I have:
- advised a range of telcoms operators on what they need to do to comply with the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 and to respond to demands from law enforcement agencies, and routinely engage with government and agencies to get the best possible position for my clients
- advised on risk assessments and compliance measures under the Online Safety Act 2023
- prepared terms and conditions for numerous organisations, including telecoms operators, hosting companies, software developers, Wi-Fi providers
- provided data protection advice on initiatives to help improve diversity in the film industry
- supported on dealing with, and responding to, ransomware attacks, including assessing statutory notification obligations
- helped a major energy company with its GDPR compliance activity, and providing ongoing support as part of its in-house privacy team, advising on well over 500 projects
- advised on, and lead, responses to audits carried out by the Information Commissioner’s Office
- dealt with hundreds of subject access requests, other data protection related issues and complaints, and helped solve myriad customer complaints
- saved an ISP a small fortune by reading its contracts with key suppliers and writing letters asking for money to be returned / undue charges to be written off
- written responses to numerous regulatory consultations, to help guide legislative and policy development
- successfully closed a formal ICO investigation into a company’s communications, persuading the ICO that the approach was consistent with the law — the ICO closed the investigation without taking any action
- helped multiple ISPs, telcos, and companies offering online services launch new products and services, and put in place clearer, simpler, and more suitable contracts with their customers, helping them to protect their position and meet their legal obligations
- acted as “virtual general counsel” to a fintech start-up, helping it grow from tiny to getting millions of users, negotiating deals for them across the world with numerous banks and major commercial customers
- found a way through numerous data protection, privacy, and telco regulatory issues to help a telco pilot an SMS spam / fraud detection and prevention system
- supported a healthcare company getting into an exciting new partnership, and then helped it get out again when it turned out to be less exciting than anticipated
- turned a regulator’s own privacy programme around in the space of a couple of weeks, from “close to nothing”, to something they can implement and build on
- helped with a range of compliance issues, including ASA complaints about advertising, ADR / ombudsman complaints under Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement, and queries from the ICO and other regulators
- advised multiple organisations looking at cross-industry data sharing activities for anti-fraud/spam projects
Before starting decoded.legal, I was employed by Vodafone for over 10 years, working in both its UK operating company and its central group legal team.
Alongside years of experience advising on both traditional and IP-based communications networks and services, I was head of privacy for Vodafone’s UK operating company, and its primary advisor on legal aspects of cybersecurity, as well as the legal frameworks underpinning obligations to assist law enforcement.
I loved my time working for Vodafone, and started decoded.legal because I wanted to offer my pragmatic, business-savvy and tech-minded advice to more businesses.
Appointments
I am:
- a fellow and former trustee of the Society for Computers and Law.
- a member of the Home Office’s Technical Advisory Board.
- on the professional board of leading IT law journal, Computer Law & Security Review, which published my work on the regulation of over the top communications services.
- a school governor.
- a member of the board of F-Droid.
I have been:
- a member of the Information Commissioner’s Office’s Technology Advisory Panel.
- a member and deputy chair of the Independent Digital Ethics Panel for Policing, the only practising lawyer to be appointed. I provided ethical advice on a range of scenarios, including to the National Crime Agency on undercover activity in child sexual exploitation investigations. I retired in 2019.
- a member of the Law Society’s Technology and Law Reference Group, through which I provided guidance and advice on a wide range of issues relating to — wait for it — technology and the law.
Education
I have undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law, and was awarded a vice-chancellor’s scholarship for doctoral research in communications regulation.
I started doing a part-time PhD on the regulation of over the top communications services, and some of what I recommended in a published article appeared in the revised European Electronic Communications Code.
After three years of trying to do the PhD alongside running decoded.legal, I realised I had to pick one or the other, and decoded.legal was the winner.