Overview

Joanna Thomson is a partner in Kirkland’s London office. She counsels both private equity and corporate clients on the intellectual property, technology and data protection aspects of high-value mergers and acquisitions, investments, reorganisations, securitisations and related transactions. Joanna also has extensive experience with advising on separation matters in carve-out transactions, together with drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts (including long-term supply/manufacturing agreements, transitional services agreements, and IP, technology or data driven contracts, amongst others).

Joanna’s counsel is also regularly sought by clients with regards to navigating complex UK and EU privacy law and cyber security compliance issues in a number of different industry sectors (such as ad-tech, ed-tech, pharma, retail, hospitality, infrastructure and financial services). Joanna also has a keen interest in emerging technologies such as AI (in particular, advising on compliance with the EU AI Act).

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Thought Leadership

Publications

Co-Author, “Balmain or Banal? EU General Court Considers the Distinctiveness of Luxury Fashion House’s Lion’s Head Logo”, Entertainment Law Review, 2024

Co-Author, “The Final Piece to the Schrems II Puzzle? UK Parliament Approves New International Data Transfer Mechanisms, Plus Signs of a Breakthrough on Transatlantic Data Flows from the EU”, Kirkland Alert, April 2022

Co-Author, “eXtreme action against G-Force leaves them blushing in the locker room (the capitalised X is intentional)”, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, vol. 12, no. 5, May 2017

Seminars

“EU and UK Data Protection – ‘I almost wish I hadn’t gone down the rabbit hole – and yet – and yet’”, Sun Capital Advisors Meeting, June 2023

Memberships & Affiliations

Society for Computers and Law

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • 2013, Admitted to practice as a Solicitor of Scotland

Education

  • Mountbatten Institute, New YorkPost-Graduate Diploma in International Business2011
  • Robert Gordon UniversityDiploma in Legal Practice2008
  • University of EdinburghLL.B.Honours2007
  • Katholieke Universiteit LeuvenOne-year European exchange on the Erasmus programme2006