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The Assurance Desk

Bird & Bird LLP review

Advisory firm

A UK-headquartered international law firm that says it has over 130 privacy lawyers for UK and EU data-protection and AI law. It also sells outsourced DPO services.

Relevant if you face a breach, a regulator investigation or EU AI Act exposure and need lawyers

Price Published
Indemnity cover Published
How it uses AI Published
Facts last checked

Not published means we did not find it on the firm's own pages.

Bird & Bird scores

Six scores, each 1 to 5. The evidence for each is further down.

Help when things go wrong 4/5
Qualifications of the people who do the work 5/5
What it publishes about fees 2/5
Knowledge of your sector 5/5
Independence from what it sells 3/5
Who carries the risk if the advice is wrong 3/5

What Bird & Bird offers, and what it publishes

The firm says its privacy practice has over 130 lawyers, some of them former staff of the Irish and French data-protection regulators. Ruth Boardman in the UK and Ariane Mole in France co-lead it. It says it advises on breaches, investigations and enforcement. Chambers and Legal 500 ranked it for UK data protection in 2025.

Bird & Bird does not publish a price for data-protection or AI work. Its hourly rates of £275 to £815 cover Employment Tribunal claims only. It does publish its regulator number and names its indemnity insurers: Travelers, QBE and Berkshire Hathaway International. We found no ISO 27001 or ISO 42001 certificate held by the firm.

Bird & Bird's Privacy Solutions arm sells outsourced-DPO services to clients the firm also advises as lawyers. Its insurance does not cover firms it only co-operates with. Its privacy policy says AI suppliers may not train models on client personal data, and people review all AI-assisted work. Trustpilot shows 4.1 out of 5 from 9 reviews, all 5-star or 1-star.

Strengths

  • One of the larger dedicated data-protection/AI practices among UK-facing law firms: 130+ specialist lawyers with 25+ years' collective experience in the practice area.
  • Named, findable practice leadership (Ruth Boardman, Ariane Mole, Jeremy Tan) plus lawyers who are former data-protection-authority staff (Irish DPC, CNIL) or EU law co-drafters.
  • Publishes its own AI-use safeguards in its public privacy policy (no client data used for AI model training; human review of AI-assisted outputs).
  • Publishes SRA registration number, Companies House number and named professional-indemnity insurers on its own site.

Things to check

  • The firm's professional indemnity insurance does not cover firms it merely has a co-operation agreement with, even where they trade under a related name.
  • Published fee/rate transparency covers only Employment Tribunal claims, not data-protection or AI-governance advisory work.
  • The firm's Privacy Solutions arm sells outsourced-DPO and consultancy services to the same client base it also advises on as external legal counsel.

Common questions

Does Bird & Bird publish its fees for data-protection work?

No. Its price page lists hourly rates of £275 to £815, excluding VAT, but only for Employment Tribunal claims. Data-protection and AI work is priced case by case.

Is Bird & Bird regulated?

Yes. The Solicitors Regulation Authority authorises and regulates it under number 497264, for all legal services.

Does Bird & Bird say how it uses AI itself?

Yes. Its privacy policy says AI suppliers may not use client personal data beyond providing the service or to train AI models, and that people review all AI-assisted work. It says this is in line with the EU AI Act.

Does Bird & Bird hold ISO 27001 or ISO 42001?

None found. Its website shows no ISO 27001 or ISO 42001 certificate held by the firm itself. A client portal it uses, HighQ, is ISO 27001 certified, but that is not the firm's own certificate.

Evidence for each Bird & Bird score

Show our working

Notes behind each thing to check

  • The firm's professional indemnity insurance does not cover firms it merely has a co-operation agreement with, even where they trade under a related name. (Own Legal Notices page states: 'Practices identified elsewhere on this website as firms with whom Bird & Bird has a co-operation agreement or other working arrangements are not part of Bird & Bird and our professional indemnity insurances do not cover their defaults.')
  • Published fee/rate transparency covers only Employment Tribunal claims, not data-protection or AI-governance advisory work. (The Price Transparency page publishes hourly rates and cost ranges solely under an 'Employment Tribunals' heading; no equivalent published rate card exists for DP/AI advisory engagements.)
  • The firm's Privacy Solutions arm sells outsourced-DPO and consultancy services to the same client base it also advises on as external legal counsel. (Firm's own Privacy Solutions page states the offering 'is at the junction of legal and consultancy services' and includes 'outsourced DPO as a service.')
Six criteria, each scored 1 to 5, with the evidence for each.
CriterionScoreEvidence
Help when things go wrong 4/5 Practice explicitly covers data breaches, investigations and 'enforcement actions by authorities'; ran a 'From Breach to Resolution' cyber-incident-lifecycle webinar (Feb 2026); Chambers 2025 notes the team is 'relied on...to advise on difficult issues.'
Qualifications of the people who do the work 5/5 SRA-authorised recognised body (no. 497264) for all legal services; Companies House OC340318; top-tier Chambers and Legal 500 2025 rankings for UK data protection and privacy.
What it publishes about fees 2/5 Publishes an hourly-rate range (£275-£815) on its Price Transparency page, but this is scoped only to Employment Tribunal claims; DP/AI advisory fees are bespoke and unpublished.
Knowledge of your sector 5/5 130+ dedicated privacy lawyers; named practice leaders (Boardman, Mole, Tan); published GDPR Guide, EU AI Act Guide and Age Assurance Guide; several lawyers are former DPA regulators (Irish DPC, CNIL).
Independence from what it sells 3/5 No proprietary compliance software is sold, but Privacy Solutions offers outsourced-DPO services 'at the junction of legal and consultancy services' to the same clients it advises legally.
Who carries the risk if the advice is wrong 3/5 Operates as an LLP (Companies House OC340318) under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000, which by statute limits individual partners' personal liability; PII excludes affiliated cooperation-agreement firms' defaults.

Sources for Bird & Bird

  • Companies House registration (Company number OC340318; incorporated 24 September 2008; status Active; type Limited liability partnership; registered office 12 New Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1JP) (Companies House, checked 19 September 2026)
  • SRA authorisation (Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 497264; recognised body since 01/11/2011, authorised for all legal services) (twobirds.com, checked 19 September 2026)
  • Professional indemnity insurance (PII in excess of the SRA minimum, extending to acts/omissions worldwide; primary insurers named as Travelers Insurance DAC, QBE UK Ltd/QBE Syndicate at Lloyd's, and Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Limited) (twobirds.com, checked 19 September 2026)
  • Size and leadership of the Privacy & Data Protection practice (Over 130 lawyers, 25+ years' experience; co-led by Ruth Boardman (Partner, UK) and Ariane Mole (Of Counsel, France), with Jeremy Tan (Partner, Singapore) also named) (twobirds.com, checked 19 September 2026)
  • Published hourly-rate range (£275/hour (trainee/junior associate) to £815/hour (partner), excluding VAT, published on the firm's Price Transparency page (scoped to Employment Tribunal claims)) (twobirds.com, checked 19 September 2026)
  • Firm's own AI-use safeguards (Privacy policy states AI-enabled technology providers are not permitted to use client personal data beyond providing the service or for AI model training, and all AI-assisted outputs are subject to human review, in line with EU AI Act obligations) (twobirds.com, checked 19 September 2026)
  • The SRA prosecuted a former registered European lawyer who headed a team at Bird & Bird (Belgium) LLP's Brussels office before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal; an Agreed Outcome approved on 19 August 2024 bars him for five years from being employed or remunerated by any SRA-regulated firm, or from holding a manager role or interest in one, without Law Society permission. (5-year SRA employment restriction, effective 19 August 2024 (Solicitors Regulation Authority record no. 573596)) (sra.org.uk, checked 20 September 2026)
  • Trustpilot: Bird & Bird's Trustpilot profile (claimed since June 2021) carries only 9 reviews and a 4.1/5 "Great" score, but the ratings are polarised, just over half are 5-star and the rest 1-star, with no reviews in between. The positive reviews name individuals on the data-protection team and praise a commercial, practical approach; the negative ones allege poor responsiveness and unprofessionalism, including some claims (e.g. of corruption) that are unsubstantiated and should not be treated as verified fact given the very small sample. (Trustpilot, checked 20 September 2026)

SRA-authorised recognised body, reference 497264, for all legal services (stated on twobirds.com) Registered as a limited liability partnership, company number OC340318, Companies House, incorporated 24 September 2008 (stated on find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk)

Exposed to the EU AI ActAfter a breach or ICO contactFirst DPO or AI policy

Where this firm appears

If you represent this firm and something here is wrong or out of date, email hello@theassurancedesk.com with the evidence.

This is an independent editorial guide, not legal advice.