Non-Disclosure Agreements in the UK & Ireland

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) have in the last few years been hotly debated in the English-speaking world. NDAs — also referred to as ‘confidentiality clauses’ or, in a more pejorative context, ‘gagging clauses’ — are legal contracts that stipulate how information may be shared in confidence (or in most cases, not shared at all!). They thus preclude the further transmission of specific confidential information and can do so, in the most stringent cases, indefinitely. Serious criticism began to be levelled against NDAs during the emergence of the MeToo movement. The MeToo movement recognised and railed against the fact these legally binding agreements were, they argued, used to silence women who had been victims of