Dr Rehana Harasgama > Bär & Karrer Ltd. > Zurich, Switzerland > Lawyer Profile

Dr Rehana Harasgama

+41 58 261 54 51 rehana.harasgama@baerkarrer.ch View profile

Work Department

Data Protection, TMT

Position

With over ten years of experience, Rehana Harasgama is an expert in domestic and international data, data protection and cybersecurity law. She also has a deep understanding of and advises clients on information, media and technology law as well as other regulatory topics such the use of artificial intelligence, platform regulation, advertising, FinTech and life sciences.

Rehana Harasgama advises clients on complex data, data protection and cybersecurity questions, such as major cross-border disclosure requests, the adoption and implementation of privacy-by-design in new technologies and business models, data protection due diligences, the monetization of data, the implementation of data breach response plans, the outsourcing of data (processing activities) and the handling of employee personal data. She regularly holds internal and external training sessions and seminars in data protection law as well as other current developments in her field of expertise.

In the past, Rehana Harasgama worked at one of the big four focusing on compliance with the EU GDPR and the implementation of new processes under the EU GDPR for EU and Swiss companies, where she also acted as the interim internal data protection officer.

Rehana Harasgama is a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) where she teaches data protection law. She also regularly publishes academic articles, newsletters and briefings and is an author in the “Basler Kommentar zum Datenschutzgesetz” a leading commentary on the revised Swiss data protection act as well as the “Online Kommentar” of the revised law. Rehana is on the advisory board of the newly founded Swiss IT Women Lawyers Association (Schweizer IT-Juristinnen Verein) where she is also the head of the data protection sector.

During her doctorate (Ph.D. in Law) at the University of St. Gallen she contributed to an international and interdisciplinary research project “Remembering and Forgetting in the Digital Age” in collaboration with – among others – the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law school where she also spent one summer as a visiting researcher to focus on US privacy law. The research project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Career

• Lecturer, Datenschutz im digitalen Markt, University of St. Gallen
• Lecturer, CAS Datenschutz und Datensicherheit, Hochschule für Wirtschaft (HWZ) (2020)
• Associate at Bär & Karrer (since 2019)
• Admission to the Zurich Bar (2019)
• Tutor, Independent Studies Private Law (English), University of St. Gallen (2017-2019)
• Trainee at a business law firm in Zurich (2016-2017)
• Consultant, General Counsel Office, Data Protection Officer at a leading auditing company in Zurich (2015-2016)
• Research stay at Harvard Law School, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, USA (2014)
• Research Assistant at the Research Center for Information Law, University of St. Gallen (2013-2015)

Languages

German, English

Memberships

• Swiss Bar Association (SAV/FSA)
• Zurich Bar Association (ZAV)
• Swiss Lawyers’ Society (SJV)
• International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)
• Swiss Association of Women in IT Law (SAWIL)
• International Technology Law Association (ITechLaw)

Education

• Bär & Karrer College, University of St. Gallen: CAS in Law & Management (2021)
• University of St. Gallen: PhD in Law (2017)
• University of St. Gallen: M.A. HSG in Law (2013)
• York University, Osgoode Hall Law School, Canada: Exchange semester (2012)
• University of St. Gallen: B.A. HSG in Law (2010)