Speakers:

Governments around the globe have turned their attention to the power of accumulated data, and to the use of competition law powers to enact legislative initiatives. From the EU’s Digital Markets Act and proposed Data Act, to the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, laws addressing competition, privacy and wider data access issues are becoming increasingly intertwined. Privacy and competition regulators, alongside consumer protection agencies and associations, are working more closely together than ever before. The EU Court of Justice has been asked for clarity on how such regulators should interact going forward. In some countries, we are also seeing a testing of the use of competition mechanisms for bringing group actions on privacy issues. In this session, we will discuss the interactions between privacy, consumer protection and competition, and how these are likely to shape compliance tactics, litigation strategies and regulatory interactions going forward.

What you will learn:

  • Privacy compliance efforts necessitate a multifaceted strategy.
  • Data sharing” between authorities can put companies at risk of multi-front enforcement actions.
  • Best line of defense remains documentation and communication.

Dans le cadre de notre nouveau cycle de conférences autour du numérique et des problématiques « cyber », nous avons le plaisir de vous convier à un petit déjeuner organisé dans nos locaux parisiens, à l’occasion duquel Claude-Etienne Armingaud, CIPP/E (Associé, Protection des données & Technologies) se penchera sur la préparation des entreprises dans le cadre de leur mise en conformité au regard du Règlement sur les Données (EU Data Act). Une belle occasion d’échanger, de s’inspirer et d’entrer en relation avec des professionnels du domaine !

Les places étant limitées, nous vous invitons à vous inscrire dès à présent via le lien suivant : https://ow.ly/183L50TAWbP.

We kindly invite you to the K&L Gates Legal & Compliance Breakfast on 8 October 2024 in Frankfurt.

Please join us for coffee, tea and croissants and take away impulses and new momentum for the work on your data strategy.

We will discuss how the Data Act and the AI Act impact a company’s data strategy. How does one reconcile them with each other and with other elements of the legal framework, like GDPR and antitrust laws?

Our key note speaker will be Claude-Étienne Armingaud, a partner at K&L Gates‘ Paris office. He coordinates our European technology and privacy practices and has been building pragmatic legal solutions on both sides of the Atlantic for many years.

We look forward to welcoming you at our Frankfurt office on level 28 of the „Opernturm“ tower.

Please register by clicking here.

Don’t miss the plenary session “AI, the future of law?” on Thursday, October 17 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Palais du Grand Large in Saint-Malo. This event, organized by the ACE – Young Lawyers commission, will be introduced by its president Ludovic Blanc (Lawyer at the Paris Bar, President of ACE-JA national).

Our partner Claude-Etienne Armingaud, CIPP/E (Partner, Data Protection & Technologies), François GIRAULT (Lawyer at the Montpellier Bar, President of the CNB Prospective and Innovation Commission, Vice-President ACE Ouest Méditerranée, Vice-President Liberal Professions CPME 34), Philippe BARON (Lawyer at 2BMP Avocats, President of the CNB Digital Commission) and Christiane Féral-Schuhl (Lawyer at the Paris Bar in digital law, former President of the National Council of Bars, former President of the Paris Bar Association) will participate in this essential discussion on the impact of AI on the legal profession.

This meeting will be hosted by Anne-Cécile Sarfati, journalist and columnist, with a Live Show presented by Tiphaine MARY (Maître et Talons), Lawyer at the Paris Bar.

Do not hesitate to reserve your place by registering via the following link: https://lnkd.in/gJQ7qqfV.

After being individually shortlisted as “Leader of the Year: Legal” in 2023, the full European Data Protection, Privacy and Security team of K&L Gates is once again recognized for its expertise by being shortlisted as “Leading Law Firm” for the Piccaso Awards Europe 2024.

Congrats to the team and see you in London!

Four political groups have sent letters to the European Parliament President asking for further details, action, and “responsibilities” related to a recent data breach that affected a significant amount of employees’ personal data, including passports.

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Once again, global law firm K&L Gates LLP has been ranked among the world’s 100 leading data law firms by Global Data Review’s GDR 100. The annual list examines law firms’ privacy and data protection capabilities, use of IP and confidentiality laws to protect proprietary data, and the firm’s work on all other personal and non-personal data laws at a global level. 

Nearly two dozen K&L Gates lawyers were recognized in the 2024 GDR 100, including Paris partner Claude-Étienne Armingaud. Other partners leading the practice and identified in the profile include Melbourne partner Cameron Abbott, Seattle partners Shannan FrisbieWhitney McCollumDavid Bateman, and Carley Andrews, Washington, D.C., partner Bruce Heiman, Chicago partner Limo Cherian, London partner Sarah Turpin, and Research Triangle Park partners Gina Bertolini and Leah Richardson.

Clients provided positive feedback of their experience working with K&L Gates’ lawyers stating the team has “deep knowledge of privacy laws and regulations, but they also understand the business impact of their advice. This sets them apart from other firms in the market.”

K&L Gates’ Data Protection, Privacy, and Security practice boasts more than 60 lawyers and professionals with experience in various technologies and methodologies. From assessing risk to incident response, breach, and crisis counseling globally, the team is qualified to handle most data privacy and security compliance issues. The practice also assists with cross-border mergers and acquisitions and specialized services focused on emerging areas such as biometric data compliance and defense.

The full K&L Gates profile can be read at Global Data Review (subscription required).

We are thrilled to share our newest guide – and honor the 500 global cyber lawyers recognized here.

There is little in life or law that isn’t encoiled in the digital world these days. And these are the lawyers who connect it all – data and security, innovation and inspiration, litigation and exploration.

Defining what exactly a leading cyber lawyer is was part of the mission. The core of this guide are the privacy and data security specialists who began forming this practice well over a decade ago as companies experienced data breaches and attorneys scurried to become designated as privacy specialists.

But a deep dive on what lawyers and firms globally consider to be cybersecurity these days uncovered a world robust with former intelligence officers, hackers, government officials learning to parse competition claims regarding data sets, tech dealmakers turned to for their way around cyber protocols as deal points, litigators who defend Big Tech from claims of biometric privacy invasion. Robustly represented are former prosecutors and other government leaders whose portfolios detail vast experience in cyber crime security and prosecution.

Take TikTok as an example of the vast layers of legal regulation, national security, technology and consumer protection embedded in its affairs. We’re fascinated to watch the legal teams assemble to parse demands it be sold.

Specialists in regulation of drones and autonomous vehicles are represented here, alongside the legal world’s leading minds in national security, who guide on often old battles fought with new weapons.

To create this list – our inaugural edition – we weighed nominations, independent research and views of peers. This guide is 39 percent female and 19 percent inclusive. Those noted by an asterisk are esteemed members of our Hall of Fame

Source: LawDragons

K&L Gates’s expertise in data and tech work has recently seen it advise on matters as diverse as AI and machine learning projects’ impact on personal data retention and transparency and the implications of augmented reality make-up applications and smart fragrances. While the firm has some significant tech companies on board, the client base skews more heavily towards advising more traditional industries through digital transformation.
The data protection, privacy and security practice has multiple leaders, reflecting its wide geographic spread.
Claude-Étienne Armingaud in Paris, who is a dual-qualified French and New York lawyer, is a stand-out name: besides GDPR and privacy compliance, he also has extensive experience advising on tech transactions, for example relating to software, blockchain, connected cars and more. Other partners leading the practice are Cameron Abbott in Melbourne; Shannan Frisbie, Whitney McCollum, David Bateman and Carley Andrews in the firm’s Seattle headquarters; Bruce Heiman in Washington, DC; Limo Cherian in Chicago; Gina Bertolini and Leah Richardson in the Research Triangle Park office in North Carolina; and Sarah Turpin in London.

The K&L Gates practice’s senior ranks grew with the addition of San Francisco partner Michael Stortz, who was formerly at Akin Gump. Thomas Nietsch was promoted to the partnership in Berlin. The firm also hired counsel Veronica Muratori in Milan from Withersworldwide; Avril Love in Los Angeles from Tucker Ellis; and Ulrike Elteste in Frankfurt from Covington & Burling.

Client references


“K&L Gates has deep expertise and knowledge in this area and is always responsive. Advice is always timely and well-considered.”


“Collaboration with K&L Gates is always seamless. The team have deep knowledge of privacy laws and regulations, but they also understand the business impact of their advice. This sets them apart from other firms in the market.”

First publication: Lexology GDR100