Graham Smith

Insightful advice from one of the UK's leading internet and IT lawyers.

Internet and online: I have helped many kinds of internet actor on topics such as copyright, intermediary liability and cross-border exposure to foreign law and jurisdiction. I edit and co-author the textbook Internet Law and Regulation (Sweet & Maxwell), which was first published in 1996 and the 5th edition of which appeared in December 2019. I contributed a chapter on Cyberborders and the Right to Travel in Cyberspace to the book The Net and the Nation State (CUP, 2017).

Software: I provide development advice, including clean room projects.

Surveillance: including lawful access to communications, data retention and related privacy issues. I have advised industry clients on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), its successor the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, and on other law enforcement powers. Following the Snowden revelations I have written and commented extensively on the UK's surveillance legislation. My submissions and evidence were quoted in A Question of Trust, in the Joint Parliamentary Committee Report on the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, in the Commons Science and Technology Report on the draft Bill, in the Bulk Powers Review and in House of Lords debates on the Bill.

IT Disputes: I have handled a variety of disputes in the IT sector, ranging from IT project litigation to software copyright disputes.

Electronic transactions: use of electronic signatures and compliance with formalities in the electronic environment. I sat on a Law Commission external Advisory Panel for its September 2019 Report on Electronic Execution of Documents.

• Internet Law and Regulation, 5th Edition, Published by Sweet & Maxwell (31 December 2019)