Relay for law firms and policy teams

The problem

Keeping up with a regulator means opening the same pages every day and reading the trade press for what is coming. It is necessary, it is dull, and it falls to whoever has time.

How firms set Relay up

• One agent per practice area. Data protection, employment and telecoms each have their own idea of what counts as a development.
• Official publications as sources. Add a gazette, a regulator's decisions page or a court bulletin, and it is read in full every time the agent gathers.
• The acts and defined terms as terms. A story that names one is never left out.
• A desk for the practice group. Everyone reads the same briefing, and a comment on a story reaches the rest.

An example brief

"We advise UK companies on data protection. Watch ICO enforcement notices, monetary penalties, guidance and consultations under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and court and tribunal rulings on them. A development is a published decision, new or amended guidance, a ruling or a bill. Skip vendor marketing, conference reports and general privacy commentary."

What arrives

A short briefing on the days you choose. Each story has a headline, what happened, why it matters to a practice like yours, and links to the sources, the primary one included. A slow-moving area can gather once a week and cover the whole week.

What it is not

A briefing points you to a change. It is not a consolidated statute database and it is not legal research. Read the linked primary source before advising on it.