The World Is Watching – Us Lawyers?

  • Panel
  • Maritime
  • Friday 23.05 — 08:45 - 10:00

Organising Institution

PinG (Privacy in Germany) & DAV (Deutscher Anwaltverein)

Germany

  • Academic 3
  • Business 1
  • Policy 2
Surveillance by security authorities, especially intelligence services, is on the rise. Simultaneously, lawyers are increasingly seen as "enablers“ in areas such as money laundering and tax evasion and therefore targeted in legislative initiatives. In 2021, the ECtHR ruled in two cases against the UK and Sweden: mass surveillance of communications without cause is incompatible with the ECHR unless human rights safeguards are in place – meaning: Big Brother can watch, the safeguards are decisive.Still, mass communications surveillance, skimming of data from private service providers and the information exchange between intelligence services do not stop at communication protected by legal privilege. As Lawyers are treated as "enablers“ of criminal or unlawful acts, we would like to discuss their vital role in granting access to justice, necessary limits of surveillance and imposed duties in the interest of preserving the rule of law.

Questions to be answered

  1. Are we getting closer to a European standard for surveillance of internet-based communication?
  2. How does lawyer-client confidentiality need to be better protected in practice?
  3. Are lawyers a risk to society as "enablers“ of unlawful acts?
  4. What limits do we need when it comes to laws that put lawyers under duties to police their clients?

Moderator

Niko Härting

PinG (Privacy in Germany) - Germany

Prof. Niko Härting is founding partner of HÄRTING Rechtsanwälte, a leading boutique law firm in Berlin, specialized on media and technology issues, IT and IP law as well as data protection and privacy. He is also a law professor at the Hochschule für Wirtschaft and Recht (HWR) and chief editor of the magazine “Privacy in Germany (PinG)”. Moreover, he is one of the editors of “Computer und Recht (CR)”. Amongst his numerous publications, he has written a book on internet law. The 7th edition of “Internetrecht” was published in 2023. Since 2023, Prof. Härting is a board member of Deutscher Anwaltverein (Association of German Lawyers).

Speaker

Chloé Berthélémy

EDRi European Digital Rights - Belgium

Chloé Berthélémy is Senior Policy Advisor at European Digital Rights (EDRi), the voice of 50+ NGOs and experts across Europe defending human rights in the digital environment. She leads EDRi's policy work on law enforcement, surveillance and fundamental rights issues. She holds a Double Master on European Affairs from Sciences Po Lille and Aston University.

Speaker

Anna Drozd

CCBE - Belgium

Anna Drozd is Senior Legal Advisor with the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) which represents the Bars and Law Societies of 46 countries. She works with the CCBE experts on issues related to digitalisation of justice, new technologies (including AI) and their use in the legal practice and justice system, professional ethics and obligations, including professional secrecy/legal professional privilege and future of the legal profession. Prior to joining the CCBE, she worked as a Policy Advisor with the UK Law Societies in Brussels, focusing on data protection, technology, professional regulation, ethics and trade policy.

Speaker

Leonardo Cervera Navas

European Data Protection Supervisor - Europe

Leonardo Cervera Navas is the Secretary General of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), the Data Protection Authority of the European Union. Law graduate of the University of Málaga and master’s degree in European Law from the University of Granada (Spain). He was a fellow at Duke University in North Carolina (US) as part of the EU Fellowship Programme of the European Commission. He also holds a post-graduate diploma in HR management by Kingston University (UK). He is Member of the Malaga Academy of Sciences (correspondent in Brussels). Leonardo joined the European Commission in 1999 and since then he has been working in the Data Protection field in the EU institutions. In 2010, he joined the EDPS as a manager and he was appointed Director in 2018. In July 2023, he has been appointed Secretary General. As Head of the Secretariat, he sits at the Management Board of the EDPS, advises the European Data Protection Supervisor and he is in charge of the coordination and implementation of the strategies and policies of the institution.

Speaker

Thorsten Wetzling

interface – Tech analysis and policy ideas for Europe e.V. - Germany

Dr. Thorsten Wetzling heads the research unit "Digital Rights, Surveillance and Democracy" of the European think tank interface. His work focuses on the review of legal frameworks and independent oversight mechanisms for different modes of access and processing of data by national security agencies in Europe.