Jacob van de Velde

Jacob is Head of Tech & Privacy and specialises in both information law and administrative law. Before becoming an attorney, Jacob worked as IT specialist for the Free University of Amsterdam. He combines his extensive experience in both technical and legal matters in his work at Rubicon Impact & Litigation. He does both civil and regulatory cases and has a focus on cases that serve the public interest, such as government transparency, consumer protection, internet freedom and sustainable business practices.

Some examples of his work:

• On behalf of a major video-on-demand service, successfully challenged a penalty payment for violations of the Electronic Commerce Directive;
• On behalf of the customer of a failed IT project, annulled the agreement, resulting in the customer receiving a full refund of all monies paid;
• Obtained information about a large real estate project on behalf of a regional news organisation based on the Open Government Act;
• Assisted companies in investigations by regulators such as the Dutch Data Protection Authority and the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets;
• Assisted public interest organisations in collective actions against international tech companies, including Google, TikTok, Oracle and Salesforce;
• Assisting individuals and public interest organisations in human rights cases on a pro bono basis, including representing British citizens affected by Brexit;
• Advising small and large, mostly technical, companies in the areas of privacy law, consumer law, e-commerce, media law and telecommunications law.

Jacob is also one of the founders of the Dutch Association for Young Privacy Lawyers, where he served as a board member for over four years. He is also one of the regular authors of the annual Chronicle of Privacy Law for the Dutch Attorney Magazine.