Just published – Data Profiling and Insurance Law by Brendan McGurk

The book looks at how big data and predictive analytics are being used by insurers to profile risk and monitor insured behaviours in real time. Big data is causing fundamental changes in the way insurance is provided and those changes in turn give rise to a range of important legal questions, in the realms of insurance law and beyond. Insurance law – and its reciprocal duty of good faith disclosure – historically arose in response to the information asymmetry between insured and insurers: the Insured ordinarily held most knowledge of the risk to be insured. Big data not only removes that asymmetry but may in fact put insurers in a stronger position given the variety of data sources being parsed by new technology to enable them to build complex profiles of individual insureds. This potentially breathes new life into the insurers’ duty of good faith and does so by examining how other areas of the law – most obviously data law and the GDPR – might inform the evolution of insurers’ common law duty of disclosure. A central theme of the book is access to insurance, insofar as the use of these technologies raises equality and human rights issues (for insureds refused cover) as we all as competition law issues (where new entrants may not be able to access necessary data). The book considers the adequacy of remedies in equality, consumer, financial services, competition and data law and how they might address some of the problems arising out of the use of these technologies. The book is therefore of relevance to practitioners in a variety of areas and is the first of its kind to tackle the legal issues arising from the use of big data in the insurance market.

The book by Brendan McGurk can be purchased from Hart publishing here.

 

Alison Berridge, Alexandra Littlewood and Ciar McAndrew: Freedom of Information Journal Vol. 15 Issue 3 – Recent decisions of the Commissioner and Tribunal

Alison Berridge, Alexandra Littlewood and Ciar McAndrew highlight the points of interest from decisions of the tribunals and Information Commissioner published from November to December 2018.

Please click here to read the article published in the Freedom of Information Journal.

Book launch: Judicial Independence – Memoirs of a European Judge by Carl Baudenbacher

On 5th March the City Law School is hosting the book launch for Professor Baudenbacher’s latest book, entitled Judicial Independence – Memoirs of a European Judge (Springer, 2019). This book is about law, but it is not a law book. It is aimed at all interested contemporaries, lawyers and non-lawyers alike. Richly seasoned with personal memories and anecdotes, it offers unique insights into how European courts actually work.

Chair: Professor Panos Koutrakos (Professor of EU Law and Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law)

Keynote Speaker: Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws

Speakers: Tim Ward QC (Monckton Chambers)

Authors remarks: Carl Baudenbacher (former President of EFTA Court; Monckton Chambers)

About the author: Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Carl Baudenbacher, a Swiss citizen, was the Liechtenstein Judge of the EFTA Court between 1995 – 2018 and its President between 2003 and 2018. He is a renowned expert in the fields of commercial, economic and competition law and is also the Director of the Competence Center for European and International Law at the University of St Gallen HSG. From 1993 to 2004, he was a Permanent Visiting Professor of the University of Texas School of Law.

This event is free to attend.

The book can be purchased here.

Research Handbook on the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy – co-edited by Panos Koutrakos

This Research Handbook examines the law, policy and practice of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including the Common Security and Defence. It is edited by Professor Panos Koutrakos and Professor Steven Blockmans.

The subject-matter of the book is of increasing relevance to practice. It gauges the interactions between CFSP and the other external policies of the Union (including trade, development, energy), as well as the evolving political and economic challenges that face the European Union. Click here for further information.

Critical acclaim

‘Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) occupies a distinct place in EU external relations. This Research Handbook will provide an indispensable tool for understanding the specific features of the CFSP as well as the way it interacts with the non-CFSP part of EU external relations law. We are faced with a comprehensive, well-structured and highly informative collection of chapters by a group of top experts on EU law and external relations law in particular.’– Allan Rosas, Judge at the European Court of Justice, Luxembourg

‘A must-read for everyone who is interested in understanding how the basic texts in the EU Treaties, as modified by the Lisbon Treaty, and their implementation in the recent years, may (or not) help the EU to become a stronger actor on the international scene.’– Jean-Claude Piris, Former DG of the Legal Service of the Council of the EU, France

Published by Elgar Publishing, the book can be purchased, from the publisher’s website.

In the area of foreign and security policy, Professor Koutrakos has also written recently an article entitled “Judicial Review in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy”, published in International and Comparative Law Quarterly ((2018) Vol 67, 1-35).

Bellamy & Child’s European Union Law of Competition, eighth edition, published

Bellamy & Child’s European Union Law of Competition, eighth edition, published Oxford University Press (OUP) has published the eighth edition of Bellamy & Child European Union Law of Competition; it is co-edited by Laura Elizabeth John of Monckton Chambers and David Bailey of Brick Court Chambers.

Bellamy & Child is the leading authority on EU competition law. It offers a clear and comprehensive exposition of law and procedure, with exhaustive citation of judicial and legislative authorities. Fully up-to-date with major developments in substantive law and case law, this is an essential purchase for EU competition law practitioners.

Other Monckton Chambers’ member contributors are:

Michael Armitage

Alan Bates

James Bourke

David Gregory

Nik Grubeck

Josh Holmes

Anneli Howard

Ronit Kreisberger

Ben Lask

Daisy Mackersie

Julianne Kerr Morrison

Ligia Osepciu

George Peretz QC

Ben Rayment

Jon Turner QC

Tim Ward QC

Rob Williams

Philip Woolfe

For further details, please see the OUP website here. The book can be purchased from leading booksellers including Waterstones here and Hammicks Legal here.