Isabel Bairrão is the principal associate in the Corporate Department of Garrigues Portugal responsible for the area of Personal Data Protection.

She has extensive experience (11 years) in advising numerous multinational groups (among others, in the following sectors: software, banking and finance, pharmaceutical, automobile manufacturers, grocery manufacturers, telecommunications and clothing) in the design of the strategy to obtain relevant authorizations or approvals from the Portuguese Data Protection Authority, advising on the implementation of whistleblowing hotlines,  transfer of personal data to countries outside the EU, as well as on the drafting of privacy policies to ensure compliance of the Portuguese Law. Wide-ranging experience in privacy compliance audits, namely in GDPR compliance, alone or together with technical experts.

Conducting full GDPR compliance audits in several companies (in areas such as health care, retail, manufacturing, finance, banking, insurance, software, public bodies, etc.), which included training of key staff, conducting audit questionnaires and interviews, analyzing documents, drafting the record of processing in the quality of data controller and data processor, drafting of gap analysis and action plan report, and further implementation including drafting information and consent clauses, privacy impact assessment training, draft and procedure for notification of data breaches, retention policy, data processor agreements, all according to the best practices of Article 29 WP, ICO, AEPD and CNIL guidelines.

She also has deep knowledge in IP matters, including anti-counterfeiting, unfair competition, and IP rights litigation before administrative bodies and courts of Portugal, and also at the General Court of the UE.  

Important experience in redefining and outlining complex operations related with IP rights (namely acquisition of patent rights, coexistence and license agreements, consortium agreements, software license agreements, etc.).

Isabel is a member of the Portuguese Bar Association, is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (“CIPP/E”) of the IAPP, a member of the CIPP/E Exam Development Board of the IAPP until 2020 https://iapp.org/about/board/cipp_e-exam-development-board/, an Industrial Property Official Agent, an European Trademark and Design Attorney before the EUIPO, and an European Patent Representative before the EPO. She has been an invited lecturer at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in the area of data protection and privacy.

She is frequently invited to speak in public workshops on GDPR obligations and compliance, such as by the Portuguese Bar Association, by the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communications Law (Sao Paulo, Brazil) or by Microsoft, in the event BREAKING GDPR: BECOME A MASTER, Lisbon Portugal.  She was responsible for the launching of the Garrigues Privacy Training Series, a cluster of high profile in-house privacy professionals.