Ophélie Snoy

Senior Associate | Brussels

Ophélie is a member of the Brussels Bar since 2012[1] and a Senior Data Lawyer, specialized in Privacy & Data Protection law (GDPR) and all other data related issues (DGA, DA, ePrivacy, NIS, etc.) at Pierstone Brussels, a dedicated tech law firm.

 

Ophélie is certified “Information Privacy Professional/Europe” (CIPP/E) since December 2018 which is Europe’s premier data protection certification.

 

Ophélie is fluent in French, English with a working knowledge of Dutch.

 

Ophélie is passionate about innovation, big data, privacy, cybersecurity & AI. She differentiates herself through her enthusiasm, positive thinking, curiosity, proactive and educational communication, creativity, team spirit, and openness. Her prior focus is to understand the business needs and provide pragmatic “straight to the point”, “solution-driven” & “secure” advice. No legal jargon. Ophélie has very good connections with her clients as the human aspects in her work are crucial for her professional development.

 

Ophélie advises private and public, Belgian and international group companies (mainly US & Canada), SMEs, international nonprofit organizations and startups from all industries (mainly IT, Marketing, Leisure, Entertainment and Energy), on various subjects including full GDPR audit (GDPR compliance gap analysis, action points & implementation), GDPR enforcement (risk analysis for a specific processing activity), GDPR infringement (damages, administrative fines & personal liability of officers), assessing the appropriate legal basis (including performing legitimate interest “balancing test”), assessing (joint)data controller vs data processor GDPR legal qualification & drafting contracts (with various actors involved), Data transfer (Transfer Impact Assessment, SCC, EU-US issues), Data subjects rights management, performing DPIA, full DPO assistance, Data breach, ePrivacy (cookies, newsletters & online marketing), data reuse & data sharing (DGA & DA), Cybersecurity (NIS), ecommerce, responsible AI, IT & commercial contracts.

 

Ophélie also advises and represents clients in litigation cases in front of the Belgian Data Protection Authority.

 

 

Ophélie is a member of:

 

– International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

– AF CDP (DPO French Association)

– IAPP’s Knowledege Chapter in Belgium

– DPO Circle

– European Lawyers Association

– Womanly, female network of entrepreneurs

 

Professional Experience:

 

She joined Pierstone in October 2021 after working for more than 3 years and a half in a multidisciplinary law firm PwC Legal and 3 years in a business law firm Van Olmen & Wynant. Ophélie lived in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) for 2 years where she worked as a legal advisor for an American NGO (“Hope Unending” – successfully led the procedure to obtain the registration certificate) and launched a new ethical urban chic clothing brand for women from scratch (opened distribution sales points in 6 cities: London, Zurich, Brussels, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City & Hanoi).

 

Education:

 

Ophélie is Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) since December 2018.

 

Ophélie obtained her law degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain (2011) (cum laude). She also holds an L.L.M in Intellectual Property Law & Knowledge Management from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands (2012) (honors) and a certification in Commercial Management from ICHEC (great honors).

 

Academic and other publications:

 

  • Co-author of “The 2022 Data Governance Act”, October 2022
  • « Revue De Droit Commercial » (RDC/TBH) on “Transfert de données à caractère personnel de l’Europe vers un pays tiers : état des lieux à la suite de la décision Schrems 2” – N°5
  • Co-author of “Key responsibilities for DPO in COVID-19 crisis”, 8 May 2020
  • Co-author of “The Scherm’s 2.0 case and its potential effect on international data transfers to the US or elsewhere”, 17 July 2019
  • Co-author of “Inadequate data protection due diligence in M&A transactions can lead to high fines”, 11 July 2019
  • Co-author of “International personal data transfers: Japan is now an “adequate country””, 25 January 2019
  • Co-author of “The new Belgian Data Protection Authority: who’s who and how will it work”, 23 January 2019

 

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