can my data be disclosed without my permission?

Question

my solicitor disclosed information to local authority about sale of my property with regards to a financial claims caseand to the oposition in small claims case without my permission

Answer 1

in this case the soliciter had little choice but to give the information to the local authority, if they asked for it. However, in the majority of cases your personal data cannot be given to another person/company without your permission (the Data Protection Act says any information held about you has to be accurate, and destroyed when it is no longer in use, and cannot be passed on without your permission, though on many forms etc. you have to opt out of sharing your data, not opt in). However, they almost have to give it to your local authority, if they ask, but not to anyone else without your permission.

Answer 2

What your solicitor did was a criminal offence. Your details may not be passed to a third party without your prior consent. He/she must have known this but took a chance.

Seems likely your solicitor was acting on behalf of your opposition and not for you. Must have been getting a back-hander from someone or somewhere!

Edit: Kit Fang above is right. But in giving your details to the local authority, your solicitor inadvertently and through ignorance gave credit to your opposition in the smal claims court. He should not have done this and should instead have told the Council the reason[s] why he will not hand them your details; because he believed they had a vested interest in the case.

Information Commissioner's Office - ICOThe Information Commissioner's Office is the UK's independent authority set up to promote access to ... Have your say about the future of data protection ...
http://www.ico.gov.uk

Department for Constitutional Affairs - Data Protection - Data ...The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to access information held about you by ... and represent the UK in European data protection negotiations. ...
http://www.foi.gov.uk/datprot.htm

Data Protection Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe Data Protection Act (DPA) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament. It defines a legal basis for the handling in the UK of information relating to living ...
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act

Answer 3

In the US and as far as I know the UK there are no laws preventing people from disclosing personal information of their clients unless they have a contract that says otherwise.

You solicitor is required to disclose the profit you got from the sale to the government for income tax purposes.

Answer 4

It would seem a solicitor (attorney?) would know the ethics of his or her own profession pretty well...
I can imagine that if it will be evidence in a court case it may be required to be disclosed prior to the court hearing...