One of the things you could never get away from in that small community was that everyone knew who you were…everything was pretty well visible to all.

It would be a great job except for the clients!

That’s one of the old saws among lawyers; I’m sure it’s common to many professions and trades.

The rights of individuals are not absolute, my rights do not trump yours. (Other than, perhaps, to me!)

I’ve mentioned before how I came to privacy and data protection as a business owner rather than as a lawyer.

I run; or at least I try to, badly…

And as with most middle-aged men, my running efforts seem to be punctuated by various, how shall I put this diplomatically, “complications”. Lately injury has been bothering me, or a general issue with my ankles/feet/legs/lower body (it’s kind of non-specific) that leaves me hobbling about like an old wreck.

I was fortunate to grow up in the same small community in which I now live and from which I work (though as it happens the community which I serve is now a vast global one). It is on the South coast of Ireland in west cork, a beautiful and friendly place in which I am privileged to live and now raise my own family.

I started studying law in University College Cork in the first week of October 1990; I was 18. Law had never really been a passion of mine, more something that I drifted into, and I had very little (read “no real”) idea of what to expect.

I have been thinking a lot about privacy lately; fairly constantly to be honest, an unhealthy amount perhaps – but then, it is an occupational hazard. The word “privacy” has many layers, and levels of significance, extending from the relatively trivial to the most fundamental essence of our being.