The European Parliament will be introducing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) later this year, to ensure better protection of data across Europe. Although Britain has decided to leave the EU, this is a piece of legislation that the British government will likely be adopting after Brexit. It’s important for those operating in the legal sector to have a clear understanding of what GDPR is, how it could impact them and what they can do to prepare for it.

Personal injury experts, TRUE Solicitors LLP, discover just how GDPR will impact similar firms:

Understanding what GDPR is, is essential — and it should be known that it has been in preparation for over four years. Only getting the go-ahead in 2016, it sets to create a framework that will determine how data is currently used, as the amount of data we handle continues to grow with the advancements in technology. When this piece of legislation was announced, it was said that it would only impact huge organisations like Google, Facebook and Twitter — but this isn’t the case.

Those working in the legal sector will be more than familiar with the Data Protection Act of 1998, but this will soon be replaced by GDPR in May. Law firms are controllers and processors of their clients’ data, meaning it is crucial for them to abide by the rules. If businesses do not comply with this new legislation, they can face significant penalties — an example of this would be a monetary penalty of 4% of turnover, something that all firms will wish to avoid.

The legal sector will see changes once the legislation is put in place, so it’s important to make the appropriate changes. This is one of the main reasons why law firms need to prepare themselves for the changes now rather than later — for their own protection and the protection of their clients.

On behalf of clients, law firms handle a lot of data during active cases — but with GDPR on its way, if any data was to leak, this legislation makes it an easier process for clients to claim compensation regarding the misuse. This means that law firms should reassess their security policies and update any security systems they have in place to ensure the risk of any data breach is minimised.

It’s beginning to become clear that law firms in the UK must prepare for the legislation being implemented on the 25^th May. This all starts with acknowledging the legislation — even though the UK plans to leave the European Union, this doesn’t mean that you should ignore the fact that we will still be in the EU when this legislation is introduced and that GDPR will likely be adopted by the British government after Brexit.

Businesses should be conducting regular assessments to see whether the methods in place regarding data protection are viable — and should come up with a new outline for when GDPR is introduced, as reducing the risk of any data breaches is vital.

Complete an audit to look over the current company policies and any contracts within the business to ensure that they are complying with the framework that has been set out. If you have a third party that helps monitor your data, you need to make sure you outline what they can and can’t do with it. Also inform them that they must notify you immediately of any suspicion of data breaches. Update your staff data protection policies to meet new requirements, too. There are certain organisations that must have a designated Data Protection Officer under the legislation, however even if you do not require one under the regulations you should consider whether your firm should have one in any event in order to protect the company and its clients.

Take the time to train your staff and inform them about GDPR, this will allow them to be more cautious when it comes to handling data. Make sure that staff are aware of the risks, the consequences of breaches and how they can prevent any mishandling of data. It might be useful to do this in one-to-one sessions where you can directly specify how data protection relates to their role within the business.