17 Apr 2019 | 10:37 am | 3 min. read
Following appointment by the Open Data Institute, international Law firm Pinsent Masons has advised on the legal and governance aspects of establishing 'data trusts' following the pioneering pilot schemes backed by the UK Government.
The findings from The Open Data Institute’s (ODI) and Government Office for AI’s (OAI) ground-breaking data-trust pilots were released at an event attended by Head of the UK Government Office for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Sana Khareghani and Theo Blackwell, London’s Chief Digital Officer.
As the leading law firm on two of the three pilots, Pinsent Masons has assessed the legal and governance considerations for data-trusts and released the findings in a joint report with BPE Solicitors LLP and Queen Mary University of London. Pinsent Masons also wrote the legal and governance findings on the two pilots on which it advised.
The research programme was launched in January 2019 with the long-term aim that the findings would enable organisations to harness the power of data sharing in order to tackle major global challenges. The programme consisted of three pilots:
Key findings from the research found that:
Chris Martin, partner and data technology law expert at Pinsent Masons commented: "It has been fantastic to work on such an important programme. The work that has been carried out is a significant step in helping business, government and society look at how they utilise and share data to tackle major challenges. Creating appropriate legal frameworks is a critical element in progressing this.
"Our involvement has enabled us to draw on work that we did in 2018 through our Data Trust Working Group and apply the expertise of our lawyers to look at how a legal framework can be created around data trusts.
"There are a plethora of legal considerations including considering appropriate corporate structures, data protection issues, intellectual property rights and competition law. As the lead law firm across two of the pilots, we were able to explore the diverse legal and governance challenges arising.
"The legal report found that each data trust needs bespoke structures and rules to meet the differing aims that each trust has. We clearly saw this across the food waste and illegal trade of wildlife pilots, with each having different aims, scale and stakeholders. It is key that there are robust governance processes around data-trusts that strike a balance between accountability to users with effective, timely decision-making."
Jeni Tennison, CEO at ODI said: "We only unlock the full value of data when it gets used, so we really need to find good ways to share data more widely without putting people at risk. We have learnt a huge amount from our research about how data trusts can help, and are very grateful to everyone who worked on the pilots with us, but there is more to do. We need to understand more about how data trusts should be monitored, audited and regulated so we can trust them. We need more pilots, such as the wildlife pilot, to be funded to move into the next phase. We also need more research into other data access models such as data cooperatives, data commons and people-led data trusts which may sometimes be more appropriate."
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Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons through its Dublin office Pinsent Masons Ireland LLP has advised the founders of Skillko, Dermot O’Connor and Brendan Moloney, on its sale to US buyer HSI.
Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has advised KGI Bank Co., Ltd, Taishin International Bank Co., Ltd and O-Bank Limited on the above A$100 million funding of the construction of a warehouse and distribution facility in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Pinsent Masons has advised Techem Group on its acquisition from investors TPG and GIC for a total consideration of €6.7bn.
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