This is the homepage of the SCL Cloud Group
As the Cloud market continues to expand and spending continues to grow at a rapid pace, we are happy to announce a new Group focusing on all things relevant to Cloud. We will focus on hot-button issues in Cloud specifically, such as understanding emerging technologies including containerization, virtualization and edge computing, navigating thorny regulatory issues and dealing with data transfers and law enforcement requests. We aim to encourage discussion of such topics, develop thought leadership and train those who are new (and not so new) to the Cloud industry!
The SCL Cloud Group Committee
Chair:
Shayhan Patelmaster, Associate Legal Counsel, Google
Shayhan is Associate Legal Counsel for Google in the UK. Shayhan has a particular interest in high-value and complex cloud computing deals, and specialises in negotiating with regulated enterprise customers, including in the Healthcare, Financial Services, Public Sector and Telecoms sectors. Shayhan has been involved in the SCL for the majority of his career, and was previously the Chair of the Junior Lawyers Group
Committee
Christopher Millard, Professor of Privacy and Information Law, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London
Christopher Millard is Professor of Privacy and Information Law and Head of the Cloud Legal Project in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University of London. He is also co-director of the Microsoft Cloud Computing Research Centre and is Senior Counsel to the law firm Bristows. He has 40 years of experience in the technology law field, and is a past-Chair of SCL and past-President of IFCLA. He is Editor and Co-Author of Cloud Computing Law (Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition 2021) and is a founding editor of the International Journal of Law and IT. A selection of his papers is available for free download from SSRN.
Linzi Penman, Senior Associate, DLA Piper
Linzi Penman is a Senior Associate in DLA Piper’s Edinburgh office, who provides strategic and commercial advice on technology, e-commerce and data protection issues to both private and public companies on an international basis. Such clients cover a range of sectors but Linzi has a particular focus on Technology, Financial Services and the Retail, Media and Entertainment sectors.
She has assisted in several significant outsourcing and complex technology transactions; this work has involved business critical projects some of which have been valued in the hundreds of millions of pounds (particularly cloud transformation deals). Further, supporting the implementation phase across several global data protection compliance projects for some of the firm’s key clients, Linzi also has experience producing pragmatic documents to ensure mature compliance with data protection requirements and in negotiating contractual provisions with some of the largest technology/cloud vendors globally.
On a final note, Linzi is part of the firm’s Women in Technology committee in the UK and helps to organise events to foster debate on topical technology issues and frequently contributes articles to DLA Piper Privacy Matters and other publications, including DLA Piper’s Technology’s Legal Edge.
Paul Benedek, Director of Excis Networks Ltd 
Paul specialises in cloud privacy and cybersecurity and translates legal requirements into technical privacy and cybersecurity solutions. All of Paul’s clients are international Software as a Service Providers in specialist areas such as medical devises, biometric identity and omnichannel retail.
Pail is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E), a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), a Certified International DPO (University of Maastricht), a Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE), a Cloud Security Alliance Certified (CSA) GDPR Cloud Auditor and is also certified in Cloud Security by the CSA. Paul is currently finishing his first year of a Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Governance LLM at Maastricht University.
Oran MacLaverty, Senior Legal Advisor, Bank of Ireland
Silvia Sanna, Senior Counsel/Associate Director - Privacy, Cybersecurity and InfoGov, Gilead Sciences
Silvia is a dual qualified lawyer, being an Italian avvocato and English solicitor. Silvia holds the CIPP/E and CIPM certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and a diploma in IP/IT law issued by the Law Society of Ireland. She has over 10 years’ specialist experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including advising on clinical trials and associated agreements, and data protection law. Silvia advises and helps internal clients at Gilead Sciences with contract negotiations, GDPR compliance projects, direct marketing and data subject requests.
John O’Connor, Partner, Technology, William Fry
Holly Pearsall, Senior Associate, DLA Piper
Yunzhe Zhang, Legal Counsel, Bloomberg
Yunzhe is an associate in the Technology and Data team at Reed Smith LLP. She advise clients on a wide variety of technology contracts, including SaaS agreements, software licensing and development agreements, outsourcing projects and data protection and cybersecurity issues. Yunzhe also has interest in legal issues arising from emerging technologies, such as the regulation of AI and online digital service platforms.
Nick Masterson-Jones, Head of Consulting, Charteris Consulting Ltd
Nick is Head of Consulting at Charteris, where he provides services in the areas of expert witness, project and programme management, interim management, IT strategy and due diligence. He has been CIO/CTO at a range of organisations, including UK challenger bank Monzo, Western Union Business Solutions, Travelex and Vive. Prior to this Nick spent 8 years at VocaLink finishing as Managing Director of their Transaction Services business after leading the successful delivery and implementation of the New BACS and Faster Payments systems. Nick contributed to the White Book of Cloud Adoption in 2011 and has worked with on-premise, hybrid and cloud deployments in the financial sector for over a decade. Nick is particularly interested in the regulatory and legal aspects of cloud provision for computing as organisations increasingly adopt a cloud-first policy.
Dr Kuan Hon, Of Counsel, Dentons
Kuan Hon is Of Counsel at Dentons, specialising in data protection/security & tech law, a member of the UK's International Data Transfer Expert Council, and a guest lecturer for Imperial College London's AI MSc. She was lead author of 8 chapters of Cloud Computing Law (OUP) 1st edition, and remains lead author of 3 chapters in the 2nd edition. Kuan is also the author of Data localization laws and policy - the EU data protection international transfers restriction through a cloud computing lens (Edward Elgar). She was awarded lifetime professional membership of the Cloud Industry Forum for her contributions to cloud law.
Katarina Watson, Senior Legal Counsel, Elekta 
Katarina’s role as an in-house lawyer for a Swedish medical device company with an international reach is experienced in navigating highly regulated landscape and innovative technologies raising challenging questions that demand creative and practical answers. She focuses on strategic development, outsourcing and research projects, including the procurement of cloud, clinical data repositories and interoperability of APIs. Her other areas of specialism are AI and the related law and principles, IP, Data and software licensing including open source. As a member of the COCIR Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health team, Katarina contributes to discussions on advancing all aspects of digital health within the European space as well as to developing feedback on the EU AI Act proposal. She completed the University of Oxford/Saïd Business School Artificial Intelligence Programme. Katarina comes from a small town in Slovakia and lives with her beautiful family and a crazy Labrador in West Sussex.
Áine Rafferty, Chief Legal Officer, SVP, KX/FD Technologies
Áine is Chief Legal Officer and SVP for KX/FD Technologies a global software and services PLC and owner of the world’s fastest database. Clients include by way of example, the world’s largest banks and financial institutions, Alpine, Microsoft and Redbull. Áine has over fifteen years’ of legal experience (including in tech leadership roles). Áine has extensive experience in global IT software and outsourcing transactions and structuring, drafting and negotiating complex cross-border transactions, including strategic partnership and alliance agreements, technology licenses, OEM and SaaS agreements. Áine graduated with a First Class Honours LLB and she has also obtained from Harvard Business School an Executive Cert in Business Analytics, Economics and Financial Accounting. Prior to focusing on Tech Law, Áine worked in private practice as a litigator before moving to a Corporate Counsel and Company Secretary role in the Pharma Industry.
Aselle Ibraimova, Associate, Reed Smith
With experience working as in-house counsel in the tech and media industries before joining Reed Smith, Aselle understands how businesses operate and the demands placed on in-house lawyers. Her focus is on providing practical, commercial advice that enables businesses to thrive. Aselle advises on data transfer solutions, representing both data controllers and processors, data breach and cybersecurity incident responses, and data commercialization and product launches. She also advises on technology transactions and complex outsourcing arrangements. Aselle is a member of On-Chain: Reed Smith’s Crypto & Digital Assets Group and has advised clients on data issues as they relate to cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Representing multinational corporations in UK and EU data protection matters and in developing data protection and e-privacy compliance programs, Aselle’s clients span the retail, e-commerce, health care, financial services, defense, online social gaming, and adtech industries.
Munoyo Ikomi, Solicitor, Schofield Sweeney
Munoyo is a Corporate and Commercial Solicitor in Schofield Sweeney’s Leeds office. She is interested in the amalgamation of emerging technologies and law with a particular interest in AI and Cloud specifically. She currently advises clients on a wide variety of IT contracts, including software development and consultancy agreements, data hosting agreements and SaaS agreements. She also advises on data protection and e-commerce issues.
