Leigh Day has built a reputation by handling highly contentious data protection proceedings that arise from privacy breaches, disclosures, and other violations of personal data rights. Information law specialist Sean Humber co-leads the offering, leveraging extensive experience in data breach group claims and ICO complaints, while Gene Matthews integrates human rights law expertise. Noteworthy contributors also include civil liberties expert Tessa Gregory and co-founder Martyn Day, who stands out for his skills in bet-the-company litigation.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Accolades

Client satisfaction: Lawyer & team quality
Client satisfaction: Billing & efficiency
Client satisfaction: Sector knowledge

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • I would flag Martyn Day as a legendary partner, Sapna Malik as a very expert partner, and Ida Aduwa as a very committed and skilled associate.
  • Leigh Day has a unique reputation as a firm able to take on large-scale novel claims - it has a high level of expertise in innovative data protection claims.
  • I dealt with Sean Humber and Gene Matthews, who were very prompt with any feedback and very courteous, helpful, and always at hand.
  • Sean Humber is a brilliant partner at Leigh Day. His experience, skills, knowledge, hard work, honesty, determination, and the ability to go the extra mile, I believe, make him the best in his field. He also communicates exceptionally well and shows great customer care to his clients. If you're looking for the best, you have found him in Sean Humber, and I highly recommend him to anyone.
  • Sean Humber is a tremendous technical lawyer but has the rare quality of combining this with great strategic acumen. Joshua Garrod has a large and growing practice. He is a genuine star.
  • Excellent team with great resources and attention to detail.
  • Richard Meeran is a fantastic and very well-respected lawyer in all disciplines.

Work highlights

Settled a group claim on behalf of 385 customers of TalkTalk in relation to alleged data breaches suffered in 2014 and 2015.
Acting in a group claim on behalf of over 6,000 easyJet customers whose personal details were accessed by hackers as a result of a successful cyberattack suffered by easyJet in 2019/2020.
Instructed in a successful complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about the repeated refusal of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to release information about a 2022 E. coli outbreak.
Practice head

Sean Humber; Gene Matthews

Other key lawyers

Tessa Gregory; Martyn Day