Barbara Schmitz

Barbara Schmitz is a lawyer specialising in IT and data protection law at BAY GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft in Munich. She has more than 25 years of experience in data protection, IT law and compliance, having worked as in-house legal counsel in the telecommunications, lighting and media industries before moving into private practice in 2023. In her advisory work, she combines extensive in-house experience with a strong focus on current developments in digital regulation. Her key areas of expertise include data protection and the data economy, international data transfers, and legal issues arising from the use of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence. Barbara Schmitz regularly publishes on current data protection topics, is a co-author of several legal commentaries and a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Zeitschrift für Datenschutz (ZD), one of Germany’s leading specialist journals on data protection law. She is also an experienced speaker and lecturer at conferences, seminars and professional training events. She studied law at the Universities of Münster and Bonn.