Patrick Van Eecke

Patrick co-chairs Cooley’s global cyber/data/privacy practice. Patrick has more than 25 years of experience guiding clients on complex issues spanning data protection, cyber, consumer protection, advertising and electronic signatures. He advises startups, scaleups and multinationals in diverse industry sectors, from technology and life sciences, to communications, entertainment, retail and consumer products. He also has significant experience representing telecommunications companies, internet service providers, software developers, governments and companies using IT-related services. Patrick is also involved in diverse consulting projects for the European Commission, national governments and multinational global corporations.

Prior to joining Cooley, Patrick was the co-chair of a Global Top 10 firm’s data privacy and cybersecurity practice. For several years he has been consistently recognized as a Tier 1/Band 1 data protection and cyber expert by Chambers Europe and Legal 500. Patrick is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and often asked to comment on internet and cyber law related issues in the press.

Notable experience includes:

• eCommerce – Successfully represented a social networking platform at the European Court of Justice in a dispute on the liability exception rules for information society service providers established by the EU Electronic Commerce Directive
• AI – Advised a European financial service provider on the introduction of a personal digital assistant based on artificial intelligence in the customer journey lifecycle
• Cyber – Assisting multiple organisations on data related incidents, including the assessment of the severity of the data breach, notifications to the relevant authorities and representing the client towards relevant parties
• GDPR Litigation – Represented multiple companies in their proceedings before a data protection authority for allegedly having infringed GDPR-related obligations
• BCRs – Guided a multinational organization through the procedure of applying for Binding Corporate Rules, including internal assessment of BCR compliance
• eCommerce – Assisted a US clothes manufacturer on setting up an online sales platform throughout the European Union in line with applicable laws and rules
• Gaming & Betting – Assisted online sports betting and online casino gaming operators when entering the European gaming market
• Code of Conduct – Drafting a GDPR code of conduct for an international association of academic institutions allowing them to exchange user credentials throughout the EU, including data transfers to third countries
• GDPR Compliance – Assisted +200 organizations on preparing them for GDPR compliance, including gap analysis, remediation by drafting policies, contractual documents and other relevant materials
• Cloud Computing – Advised the European Commission on the legal implications of cloud computing in the 28 European Union Member States. Patrick leads a cross-border team of 30 lawyers analyzing the impact of cloud computing on the current European legal system and analyzing the need for regulatory change
• Sanctions – Advising one of the world's largest financial services providers on setting up a data protection compliant structure for verifying customer details and payments against numerous sanctions lists (for example, known terrorists, drugs traffickers, etc.)
• eSignatures – Advising the United Nations (UNCITRAL) on legal aspects of electronic signatures to draft a new model law on the cross-border use of electronic signatures
• Technology Transfer – Advising the European Commission on changing the regulatory landscape of technology transfer. He is leading a team of 35 lawyers (EU, US, Japan) analyzing how to improve the regulatory environment for R&D in Europe
• GDPR – Advising a US software company with local branches in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom on setting up a legally compliant data processing system for HR and CRM data
• ePayments – Advised a European mobile phone operator on the implementation of a mobile payment system. Typical problems encountered included whether the electronic payment system would fall under the scope of the European e-Money legislation and thus oblige the operator to set up a new legal entity

Patrick is also a professor at the University of Antwerp, teaching European information and communications law, and a frequent guest lecturer on internet law at various other universities.

Patrick is fluent in Dutch, English and French.