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Portrait ofDan Tench

Dan Tench

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English, Spanish

Dan Tench is a litigator with particular expertise in judicial review, competition law, media law (including data protection, privacy and defamation) and sports law, undertaking many leading cases in all these areas (see under the “Experience” tab).

Dan has advised bringing and defending major judicial reviews and other administrative law challenges and on competition litigation cases. Many of his public law matters have involved issues of significant political controversy and he has exceptional experience in aligning an approach to litigation with broader political and media concerns. He has prepared senior individuals for appearances before (and attended with them at) Parliamentary Select Committees.

Dan has also substantial experience in advising claimants and defendants in defamation, privacy and other media litigation matters including general reputation management matters, securing injunctions and judgments in leading edge internet cases as well as bringing and defending claims for and against all types of traditional media. He has been involved in responding to many significant data security breach situations with a targeted strategy to minimise the damage, potential liability and disruption caused to the client. He acted for the claimants in the leading data protection case of Vidal-Hall & Ors v Google.

Dan has regularly written for and appeared on the national media including The Guardian, The Times, BBC and Channel 4 News. He also co-founded the Supreme Court Blog launched as a joint venture between Matrix Chambers and legacy firm Olswang.

Aside from his legal practice, Dan tutors a local student in further maths as part of one of the firm’s outreach projects. He was in The Lawyer's Hot 100 for 2012 and was The Times’ “Lawyer of the Week” in spring 2015.

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"Dan Tench heads the firm's public law offering and "combines his experience in media with cutting-edge public law challenges." He is further praised for his "very sound judgement" and "his 360-degree view towards problems."

Chambers, 2017

"Dan Tench maintains a diverse practice with a central focus on handling complex litigation proceedings in the areas of media, competition and sports law, in addition to data protection. Sources say he is "a very analytical and careful" lawyer with the "best mindset to pick his way through the thicket" of data protection law."

Chambers, 2017

"Dan Tench is considered a "guru" in the field of defamation and reputation management. Clients say: "He is ludicrously bright, with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving, which is a winning combination."

Chambers, 2017

"Dan Tench "is super smart and very good at applying the theoretical side of things to get a practical result," according to sources. He has acted in a large number of high-profile defamation and reputation management cases, including an action brought against Google regarding its use of tracking cookies to obtain information about Safari users."

Chambers, 2016

"Dan Tench maintains a wide-ranging litigation practice taking in media, administrative and human rights law proceedings, as well as privacy and data protection. Clients are forthcoming with their praise, saying: "Dan really takes the time to get into the detail and to look at things from a very company-focused perspective."

Chambers, 2016

"Dan Tench handles complex administrative law and judicial review cases. Sources say: "He is a bright lawyer who has very good judgement and is good strategically."

Chambers, 2016

Relevant experience

  • The Claimants in the judicial review of the UK Government’s proposals to apply betting and gaming duty to offshore gambling operators. The case resulted in a reference to the European Court of the European Union on issues which will determine the validity of the taxation legislation.
  • The UK Music industry successfully challenging the lawfulness of legislation to allow for the private copying of content without compensation to rightholders.
  • Tottenham Hotspur Football Club on its successful judicial review brought in respect of the Olympic Stadium
  • British Horseracing Authority on a judicial review of the Horseracing Betting Levy Board regarding the liability of betting exchanges to pay horseracing betting levy.
  • Three telecoms operators in their successful defence (as regards substance) and challenge (as regards interest) of a decision of Ofcom in relation to ethernet charges.
  • The Post Office in respect of its programme for selecting and closing sub post offices at part of its Network Change Programme, providing public law advice in respect of the Programme and defending on behalf of the Post Office six separate challenges by way of judicial review, all of which were defeated.
  • Wimbledon Football Club on its successful review of the refusal of the Football League to grant permission to relocate to Milton Keynes, one of the most significant sports law administrative challenges.
  • Ingenious Media on judicial review of HMRC in relation the decision of its Permanent Secretary to make disparaging disclosures regarding the Chief Executive of Ingenious Media to journalists (a case which is now going to the Supreme Court).
  • The Claimants in the leading data protection case of Vidal-Hall & Ors v Google.
  • News International in respect of a variety of matters concerning allegations of voicemail interception including accompanying Rupert and James Murdoch at their attendance before the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee in July 2011 and acting for News Group Newspapers on numerous claims for voicemail interception brought against the News of the World.
  • English PEN, Article 19 and Index on Censorship as interested parties in the Supreme Court resisting an injunction imposed to prevent the publication of an autobiographical book.
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Education

  • 1991 - Common Professional Examination, Law Society Finals (distinction); College of Law, London
  • 1988 - Natural Sciences, Social and Political Studies; Cambridge University, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
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Feed

14/11/2023
WFZ v BBC: The right to privacy in the context of police investigations
In the recent decision of WFZ v The British Broadcasting Corporation [2023] EWHC 1618, the judiciary showed willingness to step in to protect Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and Article 8 (right to...
07/11/2023
Stoute v News Group Newspapers [2023] EWCA Civ 523: No reasonable expectation...
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) (which the United Kingdom is a party to) provides that“[e]very­one has the right to respect for his private and family life”. As the...
19/10/2023
Gambling Commission White Paper Consultations: Regulatory Panels
Background On 26 July 2023, the Gambling Commission (the “Com­mis­sion”) published its first set of a consultations in response to the White Paper published by the government in April 2023 which set...
18/09/2023
Gambling White Paper Consultations: Financial Risk Checks
On 26 July 2023, the Gambling Commission (GC) published their first set of consultations in respect of reforms proposed in the Gambling White Paper, covering four key areas:Improving consumer choice on...
05/09/2023
Disputes 101: Autumn webinar series and recordings 2023
medium Available On-Demand – Disputes 101: CMS Autumn Webinar Series for 2023 Now in its fourth year, our webinar series took place over 13 weeks, from 5 September – 28 November 2023, Tuesdays at...
29/06/2023
Keeping it secret
Our Media Litigation Toolkit Series is back to provide a practical refresher of the key topics in this area, including discussion of the developments over the past year. In the digital age, information...
26/06/2023
The Gambling Review White Paper: Land-based gambling “lev­el­ling-up”?
The Government takes a noticeably different approach in respect of land-based gambling, to that of online gambling, in the proposals for gambling regulatory reform put forward in its White Paper. Whilst...
08/06/2023
In Dispute: Risk in Litigation
There are many ways of seeing a major piece of litigation, but one way in which it is commonly understood by clients is simply as a game of chance.  In the commercial sphere in particular, key stakeholders...
06/06/2023
In Dispute: Risk in litigation 2023
There are many ways of seeing a major piece of litigation, but one way in which it is commonly understood by clients is simply as a game of chance.  In the commercial sphere in particular, key stakeholders want to know simply what are the chances of winning.  But lawyers have traditionally struggled to engage effectively with clients in relation to the risks of litigation, often giving broad brush estimates (if they give even that) of prospects of success without any apparent explanation or rigour. So, what are your odds, what are the factors which cause uncertainty in litigation and how can these be best analysed and addressed?
01/06/2023
The Gambling Review White Paper: Financial Risk Checks (AKA affordability...
One of the issues which prompted the most debate in the lead up to the White Paper has been the notion of ‘affordability checks’ for online operators i.e. whether – and the extent to which – gambling...
30/05/2023
Gambling White Paper: Online Protections – stake limits, design standards,...
Accompanying its proposals in respect of affordability checks in the White Paper (on which we will shortly be publishing a dedicated article), the Government has set out a raft of additional “online...
12/05/2023
The Gambling Review White Paper – the devil will be in the consultations
On 27 April 2023, approaching 2½ years following the Government’s launch of its review of the Gambling Act 2005, the Government has published its White Paper outlining its proposed reforms.  The...