Patrick Birkinshaw is Professor of Public Law, University of Hull. As well as Government and Information: the Law Relating to Access, Disclosure and their Regulation (4th ed co-authored with Mike Varney, Bloomsbury Professional 2011) he has published many books and articles including Freedom of Information: the Law, the Practice and the Ideal (4th edn Cambridge University Press 2010) and The European Union Legal Order after Lisbon (Kluwer Law International 2010 with M Varney) and European Public Law (Cambridge University Press, 2003). He has acted as a specialist adviser to the House of Commons Public Administration Committee on three separate inquiries and reports and has been a member of… the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Irish Research Council and a research council of the Finnish Academy. He has undertaken numerous consultancies for UK and overseas governments on freedom of information and transparency. He is editor of the quarterly journal European Public Law.