The rapid shift to digital across many industries has placed in-house legal teams in a uniquely complex position.
Cybersecurity is no longer the exclusive domain of IT departments. Legal professionals are now critical stakeholders in securing sensitive data, managing risk, and navigating a constantly evolving regulatory landscape. In-house teams must understand the technical and legal dimensions to ensure the business is secure, compliant, and audit ready.
Cyber Risk is Legal Risk
Legal teams must approach cybersecurity through the lens of risk mitigation. Data breaches and cyber incidents can lead to contract breaches, regulatory investigations, litigation, reputational harm, and board-level scrutiny. From GDPR fines to group actions, the consequences are tangible.
Regulators now expect proactive cyber governance. For example, the ICO’s enforcement actions often cite inadequate technical and organisational measures. For legal teams, this means going beyond incident response and strategically embedding security by design across data handling practices, third-party relationships and internal controls.
Mapping the Data Landscape
You cannot protect what you do not know you have. One of the first steps is mapping data assets and understanding where personal and sensitive information resides. For in-house counsel, this goes hand in hand with advising on retention policies, data minimisation and contractual obligations.
Understanding the flow of data across borders is equally important. Cloud-based systems and remote work environments mean personal data is often processed outside the UK. Legal teams must ensure that appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or UK International Data Transfer Agreements, are regularly reviewed.
Embedding Legal into Incident Response
Most organisations have an incident response plan, but not all include the legal team at the right stage. Legal should be involved from the outset of any suspected breach to assess regulatory notification duties, preserve privilege, manage reputational impact, and liaise with external counsel or insurers if needed.
Drafting and refining incident response playbooks is a practical way in-house lawyers can contribute. Scenario planning, tabletop exercises, and after-action reviews help ensure that legal advice during a cyber event is timely and effective. In some cases, involving legal early may avoid the need for regulatory notification, where a risk-based assessment supports that position.
Contracts as a First Line of Defence
Commercial contracts often represent an overlooked line of cyber defence. Legal teams should scrutinise key agreements to ensure data security provisions are clear, enforceable, and aligned with internal policies.
This includes defining what constitutes a data breach, requiring prompt notification, setting minimum security standards and incorporating audit rights. Detailed clauses around encryption, access controls, and subcontractor obligations are essential in regulated sectors or where personal data is heavily involved.
Suppliers are increasingly a weak point in the cyber chain. Legal’s role in vendor due diligence and ongoing monitoring is crucial. A robust approach to third-party risk management should be formalised and revisited regularly.
Navigating the Compliance Landscape
The regulatory environment for cybersecurity is expanding quickly. Beyond GDPR, legal teams must track developments such as the UK’s NIS Regulations, changes under the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and sector-specific guidance from the FCA, PRA or ICO.
Organisations operating across jurisdictions face a patchwork of overlapping requirements on a global scale. Harmonising policies to meet the highest common denominator rather than the lowest can be a pragmatic way forward.
Legal should also keep pace with AI governance and data ethics developments, as these increasingly intersect with cyber risk. For example, poor data security in AI models can lead to biased outputs, unauthorised access or breaches of confidentiality.
Collaboration Is Key
Cybersecurity cannot be solved in isolation. In-house teams must partner with IT, compliance, procurement and senior leadership to drive a coherent strategy. Legal’s ability to interpret regulation, draft policy, and navigate enforcement risk makes it a natural integrator across these functions.
Training also plays a part. Legal teams should help shape staff education on phishing, data handling and access control, not just as a compliance requirement but as a cultural imperative.
Where resourcing is stretched, leveraging external counsel or specialist consultants for targeted support such as forensic investigation or regulatory reporting can be cost effective. Legal operations teams can also assist in tracking obligations, managing workflows and embedding security into contract lifecycle management.
From Reactive to Strategic
Too often, cybersecurity is treated as a reactive discipline, something to address after an incident occurs. In-house legal teams are well placed to shift the narrative, treating cybersecurity as a core component of risk governance and operational resilience.
This includes participating in internal audits, influencing board discussions and embedding security considerations into transformation projects. When legal is proactive, it helps the business stay compliant and move faster and with greater confidence.
Conclusion
In a digital-first environment, the line between data protection, cyber risk and regulatory exposure is increasingly blurred. In-house legal teams that understand this interplay and position themselves as enablers rather than blockers will deliver real strategic value to their organisation.
This article was originally published on our sister site lawcadia.co.uk.
