IT Law Series: Contracting in the Digital Age

Francis is Deputy Director (Policy) at the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) and is also a member of the Singapore Legal Service. He is experienced in data protection laws and regulations for both public and private sectors. In 2019, he represented the Attorney-General’s Chambers to support the Public Sector Data Security Review Committee, which was convened to comprehensively review data security practices across the public sector, including measures and processes related to the collection and protection of citizens’ personal data. He has also advised the Ministry of Education on a wide range of data protection issues pertaining to both government and non-government schools. At the PDPC, Francis leads the Policy team, which develops and refines data protection policies and cross-border data flow strategies to support data sharing across the economy and across borders.

Charmian has acted in dozens of strategic, high-value technology transactions, including the development and deployment of AI solutions, commercialization of data and digital assets, transitioning to electronic platforms, cloud migration and the procurement and integration of IT systems.

Having obtained certifications in information privacy for Asia, Europe and the US (FIP, CIPP/A, CIPP/EU, CIPP/US, CIPM), Charmian has counselled hundreds of corporations on multijurisdictional data law compliance and spearheaded projects (covering up to 82 territories) on regulatory compliance, data governance and cross-border transfers.

She provides group-wide cybersecurity readiness support, including incident response planning and training and has successfully resisted sanctions for dozens of companies in semi-contentious data investigations, information disclosure requests, and time-sensitive breach reporting, covering multiple countries across APAC and beyond.

While her practice is largely sector-neutral, she has supported industry players in digital health, retail, social media, e-commerce, fintech, hospitality and aviation (to name a few) on cutting-edge projects, typically on a region-wide or

global basis, including product reviews for the launch of online payment platforms, direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns, and the roll out of e-commerce websites and applications.

Charmian’s experience extends to a broader sweep of commercial work, where she has acted as sole or lead counsel covering all of Asia Pacific for two leading global media companies, advising on their digital marketing efforts, mobile

content distribution contracts, gaming, employment, corporate governance and franchising, as well as regulatory matters where she has advised on licensing, consumer and competition issues spanning the healthcare, telecoms and media sectors, among others.

Charmian is ranked in leading legal directories including Chambers, Who’s Who Legal, Global Data Review, and Best Lawyers.

Dr Jason Grant Allen is Associate Professor of Law at SMU Yong Pung How School of Law and Director of the SMU Centre for AI & Data Governance. Jason read law in Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the latter as a Poynton Scholar at the University of Cambridge. Jason’s work on various aspects of law and digital technology has been published in leading journals, and he has written and edited several books including Smart Legal Contracts: Computable Law in Theory and Practice (with Peter Hunn) with the Oxford University Press. Jason has provided thought leadership to national and international organisations and he is a working group member of the UNIDROIT project on the private law applicable to digital assets.

Mr Paul McClelland specialises in intellectual property law and commercial dispute resolution. Before joining IPOS International Pte Ltd, Paul was sole corporate counsel for a well-known Singaporean brand, where he was responsible for a broad range of commercial matters, including worldwide trademark registrations and oppositions, management of external counsel, contract review, and training.

He has experience working in private practice for both Singapore and Scottish law firms. His practice focused on intellectual property and commercial arbitration.

He also taught commercial law, intellectual property and real estate law at a Scottish university.