Expert Due Diligence For data protection, Adtech and AI

At Privacy Partnership, our experienced lawyers deliver specialist due diligence services designed to ensure that your vendors, partners, and potential acquisition targets comply with data protection laws. Our approach combines a thorough analysis of regulatory requirements with practical insights into operational risks, enabling you to make informed decisions and build robust compliance frameworks.

When onboarding a vendor or partner, our due diligence process focuses on helping you perform a series of essential checks on your vendors including:

• Assessing how your prospective vendor collects, stores, processes, and transfers personal data. This involves scrutinizing their data inventory, retention policies, and adherence to data minimization principles to ensure that only necessary data is collected and processed.

• Evaluating the Technical and Organisational security controls in place. We verify that vendors have implemented appropriate technical measures—such as encryption, access controls, and regular security audits—as well as organisational policies that support data protection, including incident response plans and employee training programs.

• Legal and Contractual Compliance. Our team examines contractual arrangements to ensure they include robust data processing agreements that align with GDPR, UK GDPR, and other applicable data protection laws. We also verify that vendors have clear, enforceable policies addressing data breaches, data subject rights, and cross-border data transfers.

• Risk Management and Governance. We review the vendor’s governance structure to determine if they have dedicated roles or committees for data protection. This includes evaluating their risk assessment procedures, internal audits, and how they respond to emerging compliance challenges.

In the context of mergers and acquisitions, data protection due diligence is a business critical issue and poor data protection governance can undermine the value of a target company.  Detailed review of data protection practices will be needed to identify potential liabilities and ensure that the target organization complies with data protection obligations. 

We can help you both assess a target company for compliance or help you prepare your business for sale. 

We conduct a comprehensive review of a target organization’s data processing activities, including the scope and scale of personal data held. This helps identify any legacy issues, regulatory breaches, or gaps in compliance that could pose risks post-acquisition.

Our due diligence teams assesses existing data protection policies, privacy notices, and internal compliance protocols. We check for consistency with regulatory requirements and industry best practices, ensuring that there is a clear framework for managing data throughout the organisation.

 For successful post-acquisition integration, we offer strategic advice on aligning data protection practices between merging entities. This involves recommending changes to policies, updating data processing agreements, and ensuring that all stakeholders are informed and aligned on compliance objectives.
In cases where previous breaches or compliance issues are identified, our lawyers advise on steps to engage with regulators proactively. This may include preparing remedial action plans or negotiating settlements where necessary.