What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?

I am a member of the Meta EMEA Disputes team, focusing on data protection litigation. A significant aspect of my role involves defending Meta against collective actions, where I utilise my expertise to navigate the company through intricate and high-stakes situations. As a trusted advisor and advocate, I am dedicated to protecting Meta’s interests and reputation while promoting a culture of data protection excellence throughout the organisation.

Although I take pride in resolving legally and technically complex matters to a successful conclusion – whether through settlement or in court – I am most proud that I can contribute to building a wider litigation strategy for Meta and forecast potential litigation and effectively mitigate risks.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

While working in private practice, I was elected as a member of the District Council of Amsterdam Center for a democratic political party. As a litigator trained to debate and present arguments in court, I found that explaining complex matters to a diverse audience of citizens – some of whom wore banners and yelled ‘booooo’ when I made my points – was a vastly different challenge. However, this experience proved invaluable in teaching me how to tailor my narrative to the audience, a crucial skill for an in-house counsel.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

Next to the more obvious attributes like the understanding of the business operations, strategic thinking, communication skills and team building skills, the modern in-house counsel needs to possess a ‘crystal ball’. In today’s fast-paced and rapidly changing business environment, the ability to anticipate and prepare for future developments is critical. An in-house counsel needs to be able to stay ahead of legal and technical developments and look at the horizon to see upcoming trends in laws and regulations, as well as in litigation, and stay ahead of the curve.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on, of which you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful?

As a data protection lawyer, I’ve seen my field expanding. Where the GDPR has matured and is in the phases of regulatory proceedings and civil litigation, the DMA and DSA are beyond the implementation phase and landing into the regulatory proceedings phase. The AI Act will be following the same path. There will be more overlapping regulation and a bigger focus on tech and AI. We need to be very mindful that these newer obligations will eventually come into the civil litigation phase too.