Citywealth Leaders List, 60 seconds interview – Michael Yates, Harbottle & Lewis
This week’s 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview features Michael Yates, partner and head of cyber practice, Harbottle & Lewis. Michael Yates is an information litigator who specialises in advising individuals and companies on reputation management, cyber crisis management and information, data privacy and media law disputes. He covers the full spectrum of contentious matters, including in-print and online defamation, malicious falsehood, misuse of privacy information, breach of confidence, data protection, cyber attacks, data breaches, information theft, harassment, blackmail, right to be forgotten and subject access requests.
Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.
I’m a partner at Harbottle & Lewis, having joined from what used to be Taylor Wessing a year and a half ago, in the media and information team, and I head our multi-disciplinary cyber practice.
I’m an information litigator. I help clients in crisis. This typically involves a reputation management, data or cyber crisis triggered by some kind of media, human, online, cyber or emerging threat.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Being a crisis lawyer involves making a lifestyle choice, which ultimately means you have little choice over your lifestyle – so you have to love what you do because crisis lawyers spend their days and nights reacting to and supporting clients on an urgent basis. Client issues can kick off at any time of day, and on any day, so life tends to work around that, but I have an incredibly supportive family!
Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.
To give a flavour, on the reputation side, I’m currently advising a client subject to a Panorama investigation. I’m also advising a company on bringing a legal claim post publication against a household publisher and another on bringing a regulatory complaint. I’ve just successfully advised an international trust company on mitigating a media story. On the data and cyber side, I’m advising a HNWI client – who has had their entire KYC profile compromised following a ransomware attack – on bringing data protection claims against the data controller. Whilst, on the flip side, I’m advising a company – who is the victim of an AI-powered hacking attack causing a serious compromise of customer security data – on compliance and protection from civil liability. I also advise client on how to protect their information pre-emptively from exposure ahead of key life events and, by way of example, I’m currently advising a client on obtaining reporting restrictions ahead of a trial in the family courts.
What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?
Reacting and advising at speed is essential to what we do for clients when protecting their privacy and confidentiality, so it helps that we provide 24/7 legal coverage. In the reputation space, cancel culture means that sometimes people overlook the facts and not everyone gets a fair hearing, so working on matters pre-emptively, well before a crisis occurs, is key. On the cyber and data side, AI enabled cyber, deepfake and misinformation attacks have created a new raft of challenges for clients and a new frontier for information lawyers. Lawyers in this space need to continue to push and develop the law to meet these new threats and help educate and prepare clients, as well as themselves. I’m also seeing reputation issues playing a key role in cyber response cases, so my team is very well placed to combine these diverse expertise and provide holistic advice.
Are there any top of mind themes for you or your clients?
Particularly since the rise of AI, we find that our HNWI clients are as concerned with their data and physical security as they are with their financial security, but this concern is not always understood by service providers. HNWIs’ families have to share masses of very sensitive data with service providers but, having acted for many service providers who suffer ransomware attacks, it’s clear to me that it’s not always being protected properly. Worse, it’s been shared or retained without many safeguards. Simply speaking, once this data is stolen by threat actors, it can be used to attack clients creating information and physical security risks. To help clients with these concerns, I have been working with HNWIs and their advisors on mapping data in order to understand, mitigate and minimise exposures as a pre-emptive step, rather than reacting only when it’s too late.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
So far, it’s being listed this year as a “Leading Partner” in Legal 500 for the first time.
What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?
I lead by example and I’m in the trenches with my amazing team.
Who do you most admire and why?
My PA for managing my ADHD!
Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?
I was invited to speak at STEP LA in the US where myself and a colleague from our Contentious Trusts team performed – through the power of role play – a “week from hell” for a fictious HNWI client. Based on real case studies, we explored the typical crisis scenarios such clients encounter, explaining all the “do’s” and “don’ts” in order to empower those working with such clients to horizon scan for them and help before a crisis occurs. Given Harbottle & Lewis’ history in the media and entertainment industry and its strong sector focus, the firm has deep connections with firms and intermediaries in LA and the rest of the week was spent meeting and greeting all of our incredible contacts and partners.
If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?
Probably still trying to make it as a musician.
How do you relax after a long day?
System of a Down or Smashing Pumpkins or Deftones or Queens of the Stone Age on top volume, preferably whilst driving.
Key Takeaways
- Michael Yates is a partner at Harbottle & Lewis, specialising in cyber practice and reputation management.
- He manages crises for clients, addressing issues like data breaches, defamation, and cyber attacks.
- Yates provides 24/7 legal coverage, helping clients respond swiftly to privacy and security threats.
- His proudest achievement includes being listed as a ‘Leading Partner’ in Legal 500 this year.
- Yates combines expertise in reputation and cyber law to deliver holistic advice to clients.
Harbottle & Lewis‘ Citywealth Leaders List profile
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