Areas of Practice
John Sorabji joined Chambers in 2020. His principal specialism is data protection law, in which he is also a certified Data Protection Officer. Additionally, he is an expert in constitutional law and procedural law. He is currently instructed as the legal adviser to the Independent Human Rights Act Review.
Prior to joining Chambers, John was the senior lawyer advising the Lord Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls and other members of the senior judiciary on a wide range of legal and constitutional matters, including data protection and freedom of information. In that capacity he was instrumental in creating the data protection supervisory body for the judiciary, and for advising the courts and tribunals judiciary on compliance with their obligations under data protection law. He advised, for instance, on issues concerning: the lawful basis of processing; joint and sole controllership; data breaches; application of exemptions to data subject rights; international data transfers; and, the drafting of compliant data protection, data subject rights, data breach policies and privacy notices. He has also provided data protection advice to the judiciaries of Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Since 2012, John has taught at University College London, where he runs undergraduate and postgraduate courses on civil justice and alternative dispute resolution. He has also taught regularly at the University of Paris-II, as a visiting professor.
John is the General Editor of The White Book as well as being responsible for its commentary on a number of areas including, for instance, statements of truth, judgments, appeals. He is also the General Editor and co-author of significant parts of Foskett on Compromise, the leading practitioner work on settlement.
Following his return to private practice, John has continued to be instructed by the senior judiciary to advise on various legal issues, particularly on data protection issues as well as matters arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Publications
John has published widely. He is the author of English Civil Justice after Woolf and Jackson. He was the co-editor of an examination of the worldwide growth of commercial courts: International Business Courts - A European and Global Perspective, and a contributor to Friston on Costs.
Additional Information
John is a council member of the International Association of Procedural Law. He is a former governor of the Expert Witness Institute and former council member of the European Law Institute.
Prescribed Information
John Sorabji is a practising barrister, who is regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Details of information held by the BSB about John can be found here.
John’s clerks will happily provide no obligation quotations for all legal services that he provides. Their contact details can be found here. It is most common for John to undertake Court and Mediation services for a brief fee plus additional refresher days. For advisory work and conferences it is most commonly charged at an hourly rate, although fixed fees are available. Conditional Fee Agreements and Damages Based Agreements will be considered in cases with favourable prospects of success. John will typically return paperwork within 14 days, however professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect these approximate timescales.
Administrative Law Bar Association
Society for Computers and Law
International Association of Procedural Law
MA (Hons), (Oxford University); MPhil (Manchester University); LLM (University College London); DPhil (Oxford University); Certified Data Protection Officer (ISO 17024:2012)
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