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, Partner, DLA Piper
Linzi Penman is a Partner 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 
Oran MacLaverty is a Senior Legal Adviser to the Bank of Ireland (“the Bank”). Since 2012 he has advised the Bank’s Group Technology and Customer Solutions division on a variety of legal issues associated with the purchase of goods and services including technology and cloud services. He has extensive experience of advising on the application of financial services regulation within the context of large-scale outsourcing transactions and the management of data protection compliance programmes.
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
John O'Connor is a partner in William Fry’s Technology, Outsourcing and Data Group where he specialises in complex and large scale technology and outsourcing transactions particularly in the financial services and fintech space. He is also a specialist in the area of data protection and cyber security and advises on general compliance, international data transfers, data hosting and best practice. Over more than 25 years of practice in the tech space, John has advised many of the world’s largest technology and cloud providers as well as several large international and domestic buyers of these technologies and services. He has been widely published in legal and business journals and has co-authored (i) Practical Law's Information Security and Cyber Incident Response Handbook; (ii) the PLC Outsourcing Handbook and (iii) An International Comparative Legal Guide to Data Protection in Ireland. John is a member of the Government Data Forum, established in 2015 to consider data protection and digital technology and to assist the Irish Government with the formulation of best practice. He is immediate past co-chair of the Ireland knowledge chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and immediate past chair of the Irish division of The Society for Computers and Law.
Holly Pearsall, Senior Associate, DLA Piper
Holly Pearsall is a Senior Associate in DLA Piper’s Technology and Sourcing Group specialising in large scale outsourcing transactions and technology contracts. Holly has particular experience in advising on cloud contracts both in the private and public cloud arena across both the public and private sector.
Specifically, Holly worked alongside the UK public and private sectors, and subsequently cloud vendors and large corporate customers to find consensus and complete larger deals, some of which have been valued in the hundreds of millions of pounds. Customers involved have included the Cabinet Office, financial institutions and other HMG clients.
Holly wrote and recited at the SCL Annual Conference a poem on cloud contracting based on her experience of the legal challenges arising in negotiating cloud deals: (SCL: Poetry Corner - Negotiating Cloud Deals Advice)
Yunzhe Zhang, Legal Counsel, Bloomberg
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.
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
Aselle is a data protection lawyer and 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, including on cloud-based solutions. 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 at Schofield Sweeney. She is passionate about technology and law, especially AI and Cloud computing, advising on IT contracts, data protection, e-commerce, and various commercial contracts including data hosting agreements, SaaS agreements, distribution agreements, privacy policies, and terms and conditions. Munoyo also provides clients with guidance on daily trading operations, including compliance with consumer, data protection, and e-commerce regulations.
Munoyo initiated the "Commercial Corner" podcast at Schofield Sweeney, which offers valuable insights for navigating the evolving tech and legal landscape.
William White, Associate, Bristows
William is a technology lawyer in the IT and data protection team at Bristows. He advises clients on a broad range of technology and commercial matters, with a particular focus on drafting and negotiating contracts for software development and licensing, outsourcing and data processing. William has a technical background in software development and enterprise IT. He previously worked as a technology consultant at IBM, where he designed solutions for complex IT projects involving cloud platforms, infrastructure, applications, automation and AI.
