Who? Nick McAleenan, 36, a senior associate specialising in media, reputation management and data privacy law at Manchester firm JMW Solicitors.

Why is he in the news? He is acting for over 2,000 staff at Morrisons who are suing the supermarket chain for breach of data security after some of their personal and financial details were posted online.

The breach happened after a former internal auditor posted the bank, salary and National Insurance details of 100,000 employees at the supermarket on various data-sharing websites. Andrew Skelton, the auditor in question, was jailed for eight years in July.

Morrisons is contesting the case and has said no employees suffered financial loss.

Thoughts on the case: ‘Staff at Morrisons are entitled to expect that their payroll information be far better protected. They are entitled to rights over privacy and data protection in the same way everyone else is.

‘Given the significant breach of data on such a huge scale the case has implications for every employee and employer in the country.’

Dealing with the media: ‘Data security is pretty high on the media’s agenda at the moment so they have shown quite a lot of interest in the story.’

Why become a lawyer? ‘My dad suggested I study law at university so I though I would give it a try. It turned out to be quite a stimulating career. I meet a lot of interesting characters from all sorts of backgrounds.’

Career high: ‘For the interest factor, working in some of the original phone-hacking cases right at the start of the process and working on privacy super injunction cases.’

Career low: ‘I left my training firm as I wanted to specialise in media law and I spent three or four months out of work while I was looking for the ideal job.’

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