Axel Arnbak

Practice Areas

Axel is a partner in our Litigation group and co-head of our Data Protection and Cybersecurity practice. Axel is best known for assisting clients facing landmark data class action lawsuits and investigations by Data Protection Authorities or related regulators across Europe. Axel also advises on high-risk and cutting-edge technology projects, cyber-attacks and personal data breaches.

Career

Axel divides his time between the Amsterdam and Brussels office, the latter of which is at the heart of our EU practice. He is dedicated to delivering fully integrated services to our clients, together with our European competition, administrative law and financial regulatory practices and international litigation partners.

He was selected as one of Global Data Review's 40 under 40 in April 2021. Clients tell Legal500 and Chambers that Axel "is very connected and a brilliant lawyer", has "excellent knowledge and strategic awareness" and that he "is one of the top experts on data privacy and data protection laws. He brings a fresh, pragmatic approach and always seems to find creative solutions."

Axel is a columnist for the Dutch Financial Times and a Fellow at the University of Amsterdam. From 2009-2011, Axel restarted the Dutch digital rights organisation, Bits of Freedom. From 2013-2015, Axel was a Fellow at Princeton's CITP, and the Berkman Center at Harvard University. In 2015, he obtained the first ever PhD thesis on the intersection of EU cybersecurity and data protection law. His academic work has been published in major academic journals, and covered in media across the world, including FT, CNN, CBS and The Wall Street Journal.

Axel’s recent work includes advising on:

several global groundbreaking class action lawsuits initiated by claim vehicles funded by litigation funders against leading tech firms, based on the new regulatory regimes for class actions under both EU privacy law and Dutch civil law

ongoing investigations by the Dutch DPA as Lead Supervisory Authority

landmark litigation against a leading tech firm on the scope of automated decision-making under the GDPR, covered by leading media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times

ongoing strategic advice to leading internet platforms with EMEA HQ in Amsterdam

over a dozen Data Protection Impact Assessments for a globally leading software provider

Professional Memberships

Axel is a faculty member at the Board Academy, the elite educational program for captains of industry.

Publications

Axel obtained his doctorate in 2015 with his book ‘Securing Private Communications’, the first ever Ph.D. thesis on European cybersecurity law, published by Kluwer Law International in 2016. His academic work has been published by globally recognized journals in law and computer science and has been covered by a.o. the Financial Times, CBS News, and the Wall Street Journal. Axel is a columnist at the Dutch Financial Times and he is regularly invited to address the European and Dutch Parliament on current matters and to give workshops on ‘how the internet works’.