Zelda is a Partner in the ByrneWallace LLP Corporate Department who specialises in data protection and privacy as a member of the ByrneWallace LLP cross-departmental Data Protection Team. 

Zelda advises both private sector organisations and public bodies on all data protection matters, including drafting, reviewing and negotiating data transfer/data sharing agreements, data processing agreements, online terms and conditions, privacy/cookies policies, records of processing activities and data protection policies. She advises on international data transfers, data subject access requests, data protection impact assessments, e-privacy/direct marketing requirements, data protection gap analyses, data protection by design, data protection in the context of corporate transactions and general data protection advisory and compliance work. 

Zelda advises on commercial contracts, including service provider, agency/marketing and distribution and outsourcing agreements across a wide range of sectors, including the telecoms, technology, construction, energy, transport, life sciences, healthcare, financial services and FMCG sectors. Zelda’s clients include companies at all stages of development from start-ups and entrepreneurs to SMEs and scaling companies to large domestic and multi-national organisations and public bodies. 

Zelda has extensive experience in general corporate and commercial matters, both transactional and advisory. Her experience includes private equity/venture capital, mergers and acquisitions and restructurings, joint ventures, seed and growth stage fundraisings, shareholders’ agreements, limited partnerships, corporate governance and compliance and advising on company law matters. 

Zelda’s combined experience in corporate/commercial law and her data protection and commercial contracts expertise enables her to provide practical, solution focused advices to clients, while ensuring compliance with data protection regulatory requirements. 

Key Experience

• Advising on data protection matters arising in the course of corporate transactions, including data protection due diligence reviews and reports, disclosure processes, warranties and indemnities, data rooms and data processing/sharing agreements and business transfers. Zelda recently advised on the data protection aspects of the following high value, cross-jurisdictional transactions:
  • (i)  the acquisition by Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ: LFUS) of Western Automation Research and Development (WARD), a Galway based designer and manufacturer of electrical shock protection devices used across a range of markets including e-Mobility off-board charging infrastructure, industrial safety, and renewables and with operations in the US, Spain and the UK; 
  • (ii) the sale of large national restaurant/fast food chain, Boojum to the Azzurri Group; 
  • (iii) the acquisition of biopharmaceutical company ValitaCell by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, a Danaher Corporation subsidiary. 
• Advising US headquartered global cloud based platform for automating digital and IT management workflows on data protection compliance requirements in particular in the area of data processing agreements and contractual negotiations with multi-nationals in line with its global policies and procedures.
• Advising corporate clients on the updating and re-drafting of their data protection and privacy related polices, records of processing activities, terms and conditions/contractual documentation and data processing/data sharing agreements and advising on GDPR and privacy compliance requirements, data protection by design requirements for new and evolving product lines and services and requirements for transfers of personal data outside the EEA (involving cross-border collaboration with legal counsel internationally on Irish, EU and international data protection legal compliance).
• Providing ongoing advices to a leading Irish medical devices company on all manner of data protection matters affecting their business. This includes drafting and advising on numerous commercial/data protection agreements and policies, negotiating various clinical trial agreements and terms and conditions/contracts with counterparties, advising on the data protection considerations involved in the implementation of new business lines and advising on requirements for inter-group and international data transfers. 
• Advising large public academic Irish hospital on data protection matters, co-ordinating the cross-departmental team advising on clinical trial agreements and data protection compliance, in conjunction with the firm’s life sciences and health services teams. Advising on areas such as clinical trial and clinical investigation agreements, material data sharing and data transfer and framework agreements, anonymisation and pseudonymisation requirements, non-EEA personal data transfers and dealing with related data protection and regulatory issues.
• Advising various public bodies on data protection contractual and compliance requirements including extensive gap analyses projects, reviewing and drafting various commercial agreements, data sharing agreements, data processing agreements for outsourced functions and advising on data protection impact assessments on proposed activities, advising on contractual and policy requirements in the aftermath of cyber-security breaches and advising on international data transfers and e-Privacy/direct marketing requirements. 
• Advising numerous Irish and international clients on the requirements for international data transfers in the context of Schrems II and EDPB Guidance in this area. 
• Advising multiple corporate/private sector clients in varying sectors on “data protection by design” requirements for new products and projects, ongoing data protection compliance and data protection contractual and policy requirements. 

Qualifications

• Certificate in Data Protection Practice, 2019
• Certificate in Commercial Contracts Practice, 2018
• Qualified as a Solicitor, Law Society of Ireland, 2005
• Bachelor of Civil Law (UCD), 2000

Memberships 

• Law Society of Ireland 
• Dublin Solicitors Bar Association
• International Association of Privacy Professionals
  

Recommendations

Ranked as a Next Generation Partner for Data Privacy and Data Protection in Legal 500 for the last three consecutive years.

"I primarily dealt with Zelda Deasy, whose attention to detail was second to none, while also adding comfort by ensuring my organisation is in a much better position." - Legal 500, 2024

"Zelda Deasy has a practical approach to GDPR issues impacting our business. Her team delivered a customised training plan for the business." - Legal 500, 2024

"Zelda is extremely knowledgeable and up to date on the data protection framework in Ireland and the EU. She is diligent in all her work and really takes the time to assess each individual situation before putting a solution forward." Legal 500, 2023

"I have found Zelda Deasy’s expertise in the area to be of the highest level and she always makes herself available to us, sometimes at very short notice. She brings in additional resources where required and can look at things both from a purely legal perspective and with a business understanding." Legal 500, 2022

“Zelda Deasy was in charge of the team engaged for our Data Protection requirements. Zelda demonstrated strong leadership throughout. She applied an organised approach to the work requirements and the results were delivered in a professional and practical manner and clearly reflected the needs of our business. Her knowledge in this area came across as exceptional.” Legal 500, 2021

“I would like to highlight Zelda Deasy at ByrneWallace for her outstanding work on data protection. The project that Zelda took on to manage for us was not straight-forward or indeed easy but Zelda was able to get to grips with it immediately and bring order to a lot of disorder very quickly! Zelda is thorough and will critically examine the matter at hand. Zelda is an expert on data protection matters." Legal 500, 2021

“We met a number of members within the team, managed by Zelda Deasy, and they sought a thorough understanding of our business in order to deal with our requirements effectively. There was a practical approach taken by the team and their knowledge of their individual work areas was exceptional. Their response times to our queries were quick and concise and overall the team was a pleasure to deal with.” Legal 500, 2021