Ellen Keenan-O'Malley

Senior Associate, IP 사무 변호사
London

Ellen Keenan-O'Malley

Ellen is a highly motivated and dedicated commercial IP solicitor and a certified European data protection practitioner, specialising in intellectual property, new and emerging technology, AI, cyber and data protection. Ellen has extensive experience of advising clients on a wide range of commercial matters including IP licencing arrangements, AI and software matters, disputes involving trade mark and copyright infringement and breaches of licensing. Ellen has advised on various cross-border and UK-specific data protection matters, including those involving data transfers, monitoring, cross-border data subject access requests and regulatory requests. She has also provided specialist advise for early stage and spinout companies on various IP matters, such as NDAs, consultancy agreements and licensing arrangements.

Prior to joining EIP, Ellen spent eight years acting as in-house counsel at a leading worldwide financial institution. She provided counsel on digitalisation initiatives, including advising senior stakeholders on internal governance, regulatory implications and contractual frameworks, as well as playing a leading role in the management of its trade mark portfolio and protection of its global trading platforms. Ellen also advised and led on cyber response preparations and training, including tabletop and simulation exercises, drafting incident response plans and supporting internal business functions on its preparedness of a cyber incident. Ellen also has global experience from leading on multi-jurisdictional projects and working in private practice in a film and media practice in New York for three years as a Foreign Law Clerk.

Ellen has a Law degree with Honours from the University of Aberdeen which she then converted into an English law degree and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E), a qualification granted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Ellen also completed the Oxford University Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice.

Published articles

  • December 2023
    EIP Updates, End of the line: DABUS reaches its final stop in the UK (link)
  • December 2023
    AIPPI, “AI” and “copyright infringement” increasingly feature in the headlines, but what are the legal issues being debated? (link)
  • November 2023
    EIP Updates, Clearview AI victorious on a fact specific exemption but what does this judgment mean for the extra territorial effect of the UK GDPR (link)
  • June 2023
    EIP Updates, Mobility-as-a-Service – have you protected your assets from the competition? (link)
  • June 2023
    The Patent Lawyer, Is the European Artificial Intelligence Act going to become the de-facto global regime for artificial intelligence? (link)
  • June 2023
    The Law Society Gazette, News focus: How not to regulate artificial intelligence (link)
  • March 2023
    Law360, Why UK Bitcoin Ruling Is Important To The Digital Asset World (link)
  • March 2023
    WTR, Brands are an asset: should the overseas 'patents' be penalised by the UK tax authority for legitimate cross-border intra-group transfers? The CJEU rules 'yes' (link)
  • January 2023
    EIP Updates, The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) publishes its decision on Meta’s legal basis for its use of personalised adverts (link)
  • February 2023
    EIP Updates, Tulip - a cautionary tale. Do software developers owe a fiduciary duty to users of the code they write? (Tulip Trading v Van Der Laan and Others) (link)
  • May 2023
    EIP Updates, Reining IT in – Differing Approaches to AI Regulation in the UK and the EU? (link)

Education and qualifications

  • 2020 — 2021
    Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice, University of Oxford
  • 2019
    IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional / Europe Certification
  • 2018
    IT Summer School, University of Cambridge
  • 2016 — 2018
    Legal Practice Course, BPP University
  • 2015 — 2016
    Graduate Diploma in Law (Converting the Scottish Law degree into English), BPP University
  • 2007 — 2011
    LLB Law Degree (with Honours), University of Aberdeen

Career history

  • 2023 — Present
    Senior Associate, EIP
  • 2018 — 2022
    Solicitor, Digital and IP UK Legal, BNP Paribas
  • 2016 — 2018
    Trainee Solicitor, BNP Paribas
  • 2014 — 2016
    Legal Counsel, Digital and IP UK Legal, BNP Paribas
  • 2011 — 2014
    Foreign Law Clerk, Reavis Page Jump LLP, New York (née Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP)

Additional information

Member of SCL Junior Lawyers Committee.