Edward Machin is an associate in the data, privacy and cybersecurity group, based in London. He provides clear and business-focused advice on a wide range of legal and regulatory issues in the rapidly evolving areas of privacy, data protection and security, e-commerce and marketing, and information law. Secondments at data-rich businesses in the life sciences and market research sectors have given Edward a deep understanding of what clients want – and these experiences inform his approach to providing practical legal and commercial solutions to organisations across Europe, the U.S. and Asia.
Edward’s practice encompasses regulatory compliance, advisory and transactional work for founders, start-ups, corporates, venture capitalists and asset managers across the technology, life sciences and healthcare, financial and professional services, food and beverage, consumer goods, entertainment and media sectors. He regularly advises on the development and operationalisation of global compliance programmes, new products and services, complex international data transfer issues, and emerging technologies and regulatory trends (such as the use of alternative data and COVID-19-related compliance).
In addition, Edward has particular expertise in crisis and incident management. He helps clients respond to requests from law enforcement agencies and data protection authorities, and frequently advises on personal data breaches, security events and contentious subject rights requests. He also works closely with colleagues across the firm on the data protection aspects of internal investigations and litigation matters.
Edward writes widely on privacy, data protection and security issues, and has been quoted in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Telegraph, the Irish Times and various industry publications. Before his legal career, Edward worked for six years as an award-winning financial journalist.
Disclaimer
Experience
Counselling and Compliance
- Providing day-to-day counsel to high-profile clients in the food and beverage, financial services, lead generation and data analytics sectors on a wide range of complex data protection, security, e-marketing and information law issues.
- Advising businesses on their return to office plans, including the use of contact tracing technologies and collecting vaccination data from staff and visitors.
- Counselling medical centres, universities and life sciences companies on the application of the GDPR to their research and health care operations, including on the design of their consent forms and associated data protection disclosures.
- Assisting clients create and operationalise global compliance programmes to address the requirements of national and extra-territorial data protection laws.
- Advising on complex international data transfer questions, including to address Schrems II and national localisation and notification requirements.
- Counselling on a wide range of discrete data protection issues, such as automated decision-making, communications and device monitoring, high-risk processing, the use of cookies and tracking technologies, and data scraping.
- Providing training to clients’ legal and compliance, HR, marketing and product design teams on the GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive, Brexit and related issues.
Crisis Management and Incident Response
- Counselling multinational technology companies in their responses to personal data breaches and cybersecurity incidents, including making notifications to regulators and affected individuals across the EU and UK.
- Advising multiple financial institutions and private capital providers on responding to U.S. and UK law enforcement requests for information, including under the Investigatory Powers Act, the Data Protection Act and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s books and records rule.
- Representing ultra-high-net-worth individuals in challenging their World-Check designations as politically exposed persons.
- Counselling clients in the UK and EU on dozens of contentious data subject rights requests, including before supervisory authorities and in pre-litigation correspondence.
- Representing a former senior executive at a global energy provider in an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, with a focus on the naming of the client in public court proceedings.
- Regularly advising on the data protection aspects of internal and external investigations, including on issues relating to whistleblowing, device collection and review, U.S. disclosure requirements and international data transfers.
Transactions and Fund Management
- Advising private equity companies in Europe, the U.S. and Asia on the data, privacy and cybersecurity issues arising in pre-acquisition diligence and post-acquisition remediation.
- Drafting and negotiating the data protection aspects of asset management and fund formation documentation (including PPMs, subscription documents, administration agreements and related contracting advice).