The Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection ("PC.dp") is comprised of the following data protection and privacy experts
Peter Carey
Solicitor
Head of the Examination Board
Peter Carey is a data protection lawyer and Head of the Examination Board of the Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection.
Peter is the author of the best-selling book on data protection, Data Protection – a Practical Guide to UK law (7th Ed. Oxford University Press) and he is described by the British Computer Society as ‘one of the Europe’s leading data protection experts.
Peter was a Consultant and Head of Data Protection with London law firm Charles Russell Speechlys for 12 years (2000 to 2012), and Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (2011-13).
Robert Bond
Data Protection, Compliance & Ethics Consultant
Independent Trainer
Robert Bond has over 40 years’ experience in the fields of IT, e-commerce, computer games, media and publishing, data protection, information security and cyber risks.
Robert is Industry Commissioner at the Data & Marketing Commission, Past President of the Board of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, Chairman of the Data Protection Network, a Director of South West Grid for Learning, Deputy Vice-President of the Notaries’ Society, a founder member of the Advisory Group on the Governance of Data and AI to the United Nations, and a Fellow of the Society of Advanced Legal Studies.
Kate Brimsted
Partner
Shoosmiths
Kate Brimsted is a Partner at Shoosmiths. Kate has over 20 years experience as an adviser to companies and organisations on data privacy regulation, information law and cyber security. With clients drawn from many sectors – in particular, financial services, fintech, technology, real estate and infrastructure – this helps Kate provide lateral solutions and recommendations which are pragmatic, proportionate and grounded.
Kate’s practice includes personal data-critical projects, data sharing agreements, DPIAs, as well as global compliance strategy implementation (including international transfers, data retention, operationalising responses to SARs, and contentious SARs). Kate also advises on Cybersecurity including data breach prevention, breach response and post-breach advisory.
Grant Campbell
Partner
Brodies LLP
Grant Campbell is a Partner at Brodies LLP, where he leads the firm’s non-contentious information law practice, recognised by the Legal 500 for its “competitive edge”. Grant is an expert in data protection law and advises a wide range of public and private sector clients on all aspects of data protection compliance at both micro and macro organisational level.
Grant contributes to Privacy & Data Protection Journal and Freedom of Information Journal and has had articles and commentaries on information law published elsewhere, in particular in the technology industry press.
Peter Given
Partner
DAC Beachcroft
Peter Given is a Partner in DAC Beachcroft’s Data, Privacy and Cyber team, specialising in data protection and privacy law. He advises clients on a wide range of data protection matters in a variety of contexts, including in relation to general data protection compliance, data processing and outsourcing arrangements, direct marketing, data subject access requests, data breaches, and cross-border transfers of data.
Peter has previously undertaken secondments to a global US-based bank, a global US-based insurer, and a major European pharmaceutical organisation. In these secondments Peter supported the internal legal teams on data protection and privacy matters and in one secondment acted as the organisation’s interim EMEA head of privacy.
Peter has co-authored the Electronic Communications chapter for Data Protection – a practical guide to UK law (7th Edition, Oxford University Press).
Peter leads PDP’s popular training course, Breach Management, and also regularly contributes articles to Privacy and Data Protection Journal.
Emily Gibson
Barrister
Emily Gibson is a practising barrister. She specialises in the areas of EU Law, particularly data protection law, intellectual property law and competition, and in commercial law and arbitration. She has advised and acted on a range of data protection issues for individuals and data controllers.
A former lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, Emily has published widely and is a regular presenter at conferences and seminars. Emily is a graduate of UCC, King’s Inns and King’s College London.
She was called to the Irish Bar in 2001 and the New York Bar in 2003.
Paul Lavery
Partner
McCann Fitzgerald
Paul Lavery is a Partner and the Head of the Technology and Innovation Group in McCann FitzGerald. Paul is a specialist adviser on a data protection, information technology, intellectual property, e-commerce, confidentiality and freedom of information issues.
Paul is heavily involved in advising a number of private sector and public sector clients on their obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including carrying out data protection assessments and audits and completing data inventories in order to advise clients on what changes to processing activities, data protection notices and agreements to ensure compliance with GDPR.
Emma Martins
Chief Commissioner
Data & Marketing Commission
Emma Martins has worked in data protection for over 25 years. Starting her career as a data protection officer in the public sector, she moved to work in the regulatory office for Jersey, Channel Islands, in 2002.
Since then, she has been Commissioner for Jersey and, since 2018, for the Bailiwick of Guernsey where she worked with a team responsible for implementation, oversight, and adequacy assessment for the new GDPR standard. Her fixed term in that role finished in December 2023. In January 2024, Emma was appointed as Chief Commissioner for the Data and Marketing Commission.
Negin Minakaran
Senior In-House Lawyer
LCP
Negin Minakaran is LCP’s General Counsel. She joined LCP in 2013 and have over 15 years’ experience as a solicitor. As well as advising LCP on legal matters, She is the firm’s Data Protection Officer and Partnership Secretary. She helps put in place contracts with clients and policies and procedures to safeguard their data.
Before joining the Examination Board, Negin herself completed the Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection.
Ashley Roughton
Barrister
Ashley Roughton is a Barrister specialising in data protection. He was counsel in many of the leading data protection cases of the past decade including Smith v Lloyds TSB and Johnson v Medical Defence Union, and he regularly advises both individuals and data controllers in relation to proceedings before the Court and the Tribunal.
Ashley’s client base includes institutions as well as individuals and he also advises in relation to compliance, data sharing and cross border transfers. He is a regular contributor of practical articles to the journal Privacy & Data Protection.
Oisín Tobin
Partner
Mason Hayes & Curran
Oisín Tobin is a Partner in Mason Hayes & Curran’s Technology and Privacy and Data Security teams and Head of the San Francisco office.
Oisín focuses on advising and defending leading technology companies. He has particular experience in formulating and implementing global privacy and data transfer strategies, advising on the development and rollout of innovative technologies and acting for businesses under investigation by European data protection authorities or engaged in privacy-related litigation.
Working between Dublin and San Francisco, Oisín also counsels technology companies on their international expansion plans. He has a reputation as the go-to lawyer for commercially driven privacy and technology law advice in difficult cases and represents many of the internet’s best-known companies.
He is a contributor of articles to Data Protection Ireland.
Damien Welfare
Former Public Law Barrister
Damien Welfare is a former public law barrister. He came to the Bar in 2001 after a career in local government, and also worked in central government. In his practice, he specialised in Information Law (data protection, freedom of information, and environmental information). He is the author of Cornerstone on Information Law (Bloomsbury, 2019), a one-volume guide to the GDPR, Environmental Information Regulations, and FOI Act. He is a contributor to Data Protection – A Practical Guide to UK Law (ed. Peter Carey) (OUP, 7th ed., 2026). Damien is a Member of the Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection, and of the Editorial Board of Freedom of Information Journal.
Published Articles by Damien Welfare
- ‘Why narrowing the scope of personal data would affect the FOIA/EIRs’ – published in Freedom of Information, Volume 19, Issue 4
- ‘ICO’s new Subject Access Code – a toolkit for compliance’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 13, Issue 8
- ‘BCRs under the Regulation – reasons to be cheerful?’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 13, Issue 1
- ‘Clarifying the scope of personal data’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 12, Issue 7
- ‘Are the EIRs too broad, and is it time to revisit the concept of ‘remoteness’?’ – Published in Freedom of Information, Volume 8, Issue 4
- ‘Recent decisions of the First-Tier Tribunal’ – Published in Freedom of Information, Volume 7, Issue 4
- ‘Recent decisions of the First-Tier Tribunal and Information Commissioner’ – Published in Freedom of Information, Volume 7, Issue 3
Olivia Whitcroft
Solicitor
OBEP
Olivia Whitcroft is a solicitor and has worked in the field of data protection for over 25 years. Since 2011 she has run her own legal practice, OBEP, specialising in data protection and technology laws. Olivia read Mathematics at university before moving to a legal career, and previously led the data protection practice at PwC Legal. Olivia enjoys assisting her clients to find practical data protection solutions. She finds the intricacies of the law exciting, and seeks to inspire others to feel the same! Olivia is a Member of the Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection.
Published Articles by Olivia Whitcroft
- ‘Privacy notices – clarity and effectiveness’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 14, Issue 5
- ‘Apps and privacy Part 3: appropriate security and retention’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 14, Issue 5
- ‘Apps and privacy Part 2: playing a part’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 14, Issue 4
- ‘Apps and privacy: App-lying the rules and App-easing the users’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 14, Issue 3
- ‘Augmented reality – a leap into a new world’ – published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 14, Issue 1
- ‘Social media – challenges in the control of information’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 13, Issue 7
- ‘Bring Your Own Device – protecting data on the move’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 13, Issue 4
- ‘Combating COVID-19 – what are the new data processing practices?’, published in PDP Data Protection Ireland Journal Volume 13, Issue 2
- ‘A guide to data processing during a pandemic’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 20 Issue 5
- ‘Legal responsibilities of processors – a guide’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 20 Issue 6 and PDP Data Protection Ireland Journal, Volume 13 Issue 3
- ‘Clarifying the right of access’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 21 Issue 2
- ‘DPIAs – in light of everything’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 21 Issue 5
- ‘Handling Subject Access Requests – Then and Now’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 22 Issue 2
- ‘Subtle but helpful – changes to the right of access under DPDI 2’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 24 Issue 1
- ‘The devil’s in the detail: the LPP exemption to the Right of Access’, published in Privacy & Data Protection, Volume 25 Issue 3