DENISE KARA advises international clients on a wide range of data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity matters, including in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation, e-Privacy laws, the NIS Directive, and international data transfers (including compliance with Schrems II and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework). Denise has in-depth knowledge across various industries, including private equity, asset management, financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, technology, and e-commerce.
Denise has assisted clients in preparing for, and responding to, sophisticated cybersecurity incidents. Her practice has a particular focus on transactional matters and deal counselling for mergers and acquisitions related to privacy, cybersecurity and data protection compliance, as well as risk mitigation and integration planning strategies. She is also involved in negotiating and advising clients on data privacy and security terms as part of technology transactions, including drafting and negotiating data protection and processing addendums, purchase agreements, and transitional services agreements.
Prior to Sidley, Denise was a senior solicitor for one of Australia’s largest law firms where she specialised in real estate finance. She also undertook a six-month secondment at a leading Australian commercial bank as corporate counsel to a start-up team involved in establishing an online credit-score website for consumers. Whilst there she regularly gave advice on compliance and strategies in relation to data protection and privacy-related issues, as well as direct marketing campaigns.
Denise’s recent experience in assisting clients in matters involving privacy, cybersecurity, regulatory, and enforcement issues includes:
- Advising a multinational retail and manufacturing organization in its global response and investigation following a major cybersecurity incident.
- Advising International Game Technology PLC in the spinoff of its Global Gaming and PlayDigital businesses in a deal valued at approximately US$6.2 billion.
- Advising Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. in its US$4.4 billion definitive agreement, in partnership with Insight Partners, to acquire Alteryx, Inc. (NYSE: AYX), an analytics cloud platform company.
- Advising KKR on its participation in a US$530 million funding round in Wolt, a leading European food delivery business based in Finland.
- Advising RenaissanceRe in its US$2.985 billion acquisition of Validus Re.
- Advising Clearlake Capital Group and Motive Partners in their acquisition of BETA+ assets from LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group).
- Advising EQT Private Equity and PRO Unlimited in connection with PRO Unlimited’s acquisition of Workforce Logiq.
- Developing external- and internal-facing policies, procedures, and notices to facilitate compliant data collection and handling, including privacy notices, data privacy policies, cybersecurity and privacy risk assessments.
- Assisting a healthcare organization with data breach readiness planning and the prevention of cyber intrusions, to incident response and the handling of disputes arising from such events.
*Only admitted to practice in Australia. Not admitted to practice in England and Wales.