Solicitors often act as a first point of contact for a variety of different legal issues, from drafting legal documents, to conveyancing, representing us in negotiations or legal cases, and handling compensation claims. We expect them to provide their services in a competent and professional manner, adhere to all relevant data protection laws, guidelines, and standards. Where they fail to do so, your personal information could be put at risk. You could claim compensation for a data breach by a solicitor.
A data breach by a solicitor could involve a wide range of personal, sensitive, and special category information. This data could include your name and contact information, medical history, or financial records, amongst other types of data. Data breaches involving these (and other) forms of information could seriously impact you emotionally, financially, or both.
Whether you’ve been affected emotionally or financially, Data Breach Claims is here to help you. Our panel of solicitors are experts in data protection law. If you speak to one of our advisors about how to seek data breach compensation, they will assess whether you have good grounds to start a claim. If you do, they can connect you to a solicitor from our panel. Get in touch today to find out more without any further obligation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a Data Breach By A Solicitor?
- Can I Claim If My Solicitor Breached My Personal Data?
- Data Breach Examples
- What Should I Do After A Data Breach By A Solicitor?
- What Evidence Do I Need To Provide?
- What Compensation Could I Receive from a Personal Data Breach?
- No Win No Fee Solicitors – What Are The Benefits?
- More Information About Claiming For A Data Breach By A Solicitor?
What is a Data Breach By A Solicitor?
A data breach by a solicitor is an incident in which a client’s personal data is accidentally or unlawfully destroyed, lost, stolen, disclosed, or accessed. Solicitors, lawyers, and law firms routinely handle, process, and store clients’ personal information. Personal data is that which can identify a person as the subject. This can include,
- Names, addresses and contact details.
- Financial records.
- Medical records.
- Legal documents.
- Identity numbers.
Data breach compensation claims could be made if clients’ data is sent to the wrong address, devices are lost, or cyber attacks take place. The impact of a breach can be severe, with claimants facing financial losses, suffering emotional distress, and even fearing for their safety.
If you have been impacted by a data breach by a solicitor, you can report the incident to the regulator (the Information Commissioner’s Office) and contact our advisors for support.
Can I Claim If My Solicitor Breached My Personal Data?
You can claim compensation for costs, emotional distress and financial losses if your solicitor breached your personal data by failing to adhere to data protection law. Any individual or organisation in the UK storing or processing your personal data (such as solicitors) must do so in compliance with 2 key pieces of legislation. These are the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
You may have the right to claim compensation of you can show that,
- The solicitor, acting as a data controller or processor, failed to adhere to the legislation above. Examples of human error could include sending critical legal documents to the wrong address, or failing to update critical cybersecurity protections, allowing data to be stolen.
- The breach involved your personal data. For example, a law firm loses a hard drive containing conveyancing documentation relating to the sale of a house. This information includes your name and address as well as that of the buyer.
- In addition to anxiety from your personal data being lost, the buyer pulls out of the sale. You suffer further emotional distress in having to put the house on the market again and financial costs relating to the cancelled sale.
If your data has been breached, an advisor could help you understand your right to claim compensation. Please get in touch today.
Data Breach Examples
Examples of a data breach by a solicitor could include mishandling sensitive client records, emailing confidential records to the wrong party, and failing to secure records. We look at a few examples of how a solicitor’s failure to adhere to data protection laws can compromise client data below.
My Solicitor Sent Documents To Someone Else
If your solicitor sent documents to another party and these contained your personal data, a breach could have occurred.
For example, if an assistant at a law firm handling your divorce did not correctly enter your details onto their system, time-sensitive paperwork connected to it could go to an address on the otherside of the city in which you live. This could delay your divorce from going through.
Can I Make A Data Breach Claim If My Medical Records Were Lost By A Solicitor
Personal injury solicitors may have a copy of your medical records. If they lose this sensitive data, it may affect the outcome of your personal injury claim as well as causing you distress.
What If A Solicitor Sent My Personal Information To The Wrong Address
If your solicitor sends your personal information to the wrong address, you may also claim compensation. For example, you may have moved during the process of an ongoing case. You updated your solicitor with your new address, but they failed to update their address book. When sending out a flyer, they sent it to your former address, causing you emotional upset.
Can I Claim If A Solicitor Misused My Personal Data
Your solicitor can misuse your personal data in various ways, such as disclosing it to those without authorisation. For example, they could verbally confirm that you suffer from a particular medical condition to someone who asked without first checking to see if that person was authorised to know.
Stolen Or Lost Devices Containing Client Information
Solicitors may use various devices, such as laptops or phones to store client information. If one of these devices were to be stolen and it was not password-protected, criminals may now have access to that data. For example, if a solicitor’s phone containing the name, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of clients was stolen, a criminal could then contact those clients and cause them distress.
These are some examples of when you could claim compensation with a specialist data protection solicitor. Contact us for further help and advice.
What Should I Do After A Data Breach By A Solicitor?
After a data breach by a solicitor, you should take concrete steps such as asking the solicitor what happened and what data may be affected, change passwords, and collect evidence of the breach. Steps you could take to protect your data and strengthen any future claim may include,
- Get confirmation of the breach and what data has been impacted. Confirmation could include a data breach notification letter. You can request this directly from the solicitor or law firm.
- Secure any financial or personal accounts which may be impacted. This could include bank accounts if the breach affected your financial data. You may need to change passwords or use credit monitoring services.
- Collect evidence of the breach, such as the notification letter, a diary detailing any distress you suffered, and records of any financial losses.
- Record a complaint with the solicitor and ask what steps they are taking to prevent future incidents.
- Report the breach to the ICO if the solicitor/ law firm does not respond within a reasonable timeframe.
- Seek legal advice from an expert data breach solicitor who could explain the data breach claims process and assess your eligibility to make a claim.
Discuss your case with one of the specialist data breach solicitors on our panel today.
What Evidence Do I Need To Provide?
To claim for a data protection breach you need to provide evidence such as proof of the breach, details of financial losses, and evidence of psychological harm. Evidence which could be essential to your claim for a data breach by a solicitor may include proof,
- That the breach happened – such as a data breach notification letter from the law firm and your personal data was included in it.
- That you suffered psychological harm, such as your medical records.
- Of any financial losses you sustained, including bank statements and wage slips (if you needed time off work due to emotional distress or to secure your data).
- Of any correspondence with the solicitor or law firm regarding the data breach.
Find out what to do if your data has been breached and how to prove your claim by talking to us.
What Compensation Could I Receive from a Personal Data Breach?
The compensation you could receive following a data breach by a solicitor can vary based on the emotional and/or financial impact on you. Legal professionals may use guidelines published by the Judicial College (JCG) when placing a value on emotional distress (non-material damage). The JCG is a document used to assign value to injuries, including psychological damage in compensation claims. It contains a list of guideline compensation brackets for different types of suffering and injuries.
We have taken figures from this resource to populate the following table.
| Harm | Notes | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple forms of harm + material damage, such as lost income, relocation costs, and medical care. | Severe forms of harm and financial losses. | Up to £250,000+ with material damage. |
| Psychiatric damage - severe. | Marked problems with respect to future vulnerability, ability to cope with life, and relationships. | £66,920 to £141,240. |
| Psychiatric damage - moderately severe. | Significant problems with the areas listd above, but a more optimistic prognosis. | £23,270 to £66,920. |
| Psychiatric damage - moderate. | Marked improvement in the factors listed above by trial. | £7,150 to £23,270. |
| Psychiatric damage - less severe. | The extent to which daily activities were affected impacts compensation. | £1,880 to £7,150. |
| Post traumatic stress disorder - severe. | Permanent effects which prevent this person working at all or to the same degree as before. | £73,050 to £122,850. |
| Post traumatic stress disorder - moderately severe. | Distinct from above by a better prognosis. | £28,250 to £73,050. |
| Post traumatic stress disorder - moderate. | The injured person would largely have recovered. | £9,980 to £28,250. |
| Post traumatic stress disorder - less severe. | Fully recovered in 12 - 24 months. | £4,820 to £9,980. |
Please note,
- The headline figure is not from the JCG.
- These figures do not guarantee what you could be awarded. Please only use the table as a guide.
What Else Could I Claim For After A Data Breach by a Solicitor?
You could also claim for your material damage, such as lost income, medical bills, and home security costs following a data breach by a solicitor. Data protection breaches can have a deleterious effect on you emotionally and financially and you may claim for,
- Medical bills, such as the cost of therapy if you suffered distress.
- Income lost, such as earnings from employment if you required time off due to the breach.
- Home security if the data breach caused you to fear for your safety.
- Relocation costs, related to the same fears as above.
To learn more about what costs you could recover as part of your data breach claim, or for a free estimate of how much compensation you could claim, speak to one of our advisors now.
We Can Help With Your Claim
Our team of specialist advisors are ready to assist you with your data breach claim
No Win No Fee Solicitors – What Are The Benefits?
The benefits of No Win No Fee data breach solicitors include expert legal support and representation without having to pay upfront or ongoing fees for your solicitor’s services. There also won’t be any solicitor’s fees if your claim for a data breach is unsuccessful.
Our panel provide their No Win No Fee services through a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). The success fee is set under this agreement. This fee is taken from your compensation by your solicitor if your claim has a positive outcome. The success fee is charged as a legally limited percentage of the compensation. When a solicitor from our panel agrees to provide their services, the success fee will be discussed with you. Due to the legal cap, you will keep the majority of your compensation.
Further benefits of working with one of the solicitors from our panel can include:
- A clear and concise explanation of and guidance through the claims process.
- Fully compliant with data protection legislation and puts your privacy first.
- Help securing evidence, such as copies of your medical records and proof that your personal data was involved in the breach.
- Help accessing therapeutic services for emotional distress.
- Building your case and negotiating your settlement.
- Access to a high-level of customer service.
Please contact an advisor to learn more about making data breach compensation claims.
You Can Contact Us For Free To See If You Can Claim
You can contact an advisor to see if you could claim for a data breach by a solicitor. This consultation is without any obligation, but if you are eligible and wish to proceed with our services, you can be connected to one of the solicitors from our panel.
- Phone 020 8050 6279.
- Contact us online.
- Talk to us live.
More Information About Claiming For A Data Breach By A Solicitor?
Find more information about claiming for a data breach by a solicitor in these resources.
- Learn more about Conditional Fee Agreements in our legal glossary guide.
- See what financial losses you could be compensated for.
- Learn how to report a UK GDPR breach.
Reference.
- Guidance from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on confidentiality.
- NHS information on post-traumatic stress disorder.
- View the government cyber security breaches survey 2025.
Get help and advice from our team if you have experienced a data breach by a solicitor.