Rehana Harasgama

Attorney at Law, Partner About Rehana Harasgama is a leading expert in data, technology and information law. She advises clients on complex data protection and cybersecurity questions including the design of data governance and compliance frameworks, major cross-border disclosures, privacy-by-design in emerging technologies and new business models, data-driven M&A transactions and data breach response planning. Her work spans the full information lifecycle – collection, storage and strategic use of data – and covers digital economy regulation including platform law, adtech, and artificial intelligence. She has held in-house roles, notably as Data Protection Officer at Ernst & Young Switzerland, and gained further international experience during a secondment at Bird & Bird LLP in London. Recognised as a Legal 500 Rising Star / Leading Lawyer and by Leaders League for data privacy (2023-2025), she combines legal precision with practical insight. Rehana lectures at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and its Executive School and is a contributing author to the Basler Kommentar zum Datenschutzgesetz and the Online Kommentar on the revised Swiss Data Protection Act. She is co-founder of the Swiss Association for AI Law and serves on the advisory board of the Swiss IT Women Lawyers Association. During her Ph.D. at HSG, she was a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. · Kellerhals Carrard

SwitzerlandData Protection, Technology & IT

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About

Leading expert in data, technology and information law who advises on complex data protection and cybersecurity matters including data governance, cross-border disclosures, privacy-by-design, data-driven M&A and breach response. She lectures at the University of St. Gallen, is co-founder of the Swiss Association for AI Law and has been recognised by Legal 500 and Leaders League for data privacy.

Practice areas

Data ProtectionTechnology & ITCybersecurityArtificial IntelligenceCorporate / M&AIntellectual PropertyStartup & Venture CapitalRegulatory & Compliance

Office

Switzerland

Kellerhals Carrard · Attorney at Law, Partner About Rehana Harasgama is a leading expert in data, technology and information law. She advises clients on complex data protection and cybersecurity questions including the design of data governance and compliance frameworks, major cross-border disclosures, privacy-by-design in emerging technologies and new business models, data-driven M&A transactions and data breach response planning. Her work spans the full information lifecycle – collection, storage and strategic use of data – and covers digital economy regulation including platform law, adtech, and artificial intelligence. She has held in-house roles, notably as Data Protection Officer at Ernst & Young Switzerland, and gained further international experience during a secondment at Bird & Bird LLP in London. Recognised as a Legal 500 Rising Star / Leading Lawyer and by Leaders League for data privacy (2023-2025), she combines legal precision with practical insight. Rehana lectures at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and its Executive School and is a contributing author to the Basler Kommentar zum Datenschutzgesetz and the Online Kommentar on the revised Swiss Data Protection Act. She is co-founder of the Swiss Association for AI Law and serves on the advisory board of the Swiss IT Women Lawyers Association. During her Ph.D. at HSG, she was a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

Switzerland

Expertise

Data GovernanceCross-Border Data TransfersPrivacy-by-DesignData Breach ResponsePlatform RegulationAdTechAI LawDPO / In‑house Privacy

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Law, University of St. Gallen (2013–2016)
Master of Arts in Law, University of St. Gallen (2010–2013)
Bachelor of Arts in Law, University of St. Gallen (2007–2010)
Visiting Doctoral Candidate, Berkman Klein Center for Information & Society, Harvard Law School (2014)
Exchange semester, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (2012)

Admissions

Admission to the bar of the Canton of Zurich (2019)