Brenda L. Gill is a Partner in Dunnington’s corporate, privacy & cybersecurity, intellectual property and employment practice groups. Brenda has 30 years of business and legal experience. She has worked in corporate law departments as a trusted in-house legal and business advisor, in law firms specializing in IP and technology, and in consulting firms advising general counsels and chief compliance officers.
Technology Outsourcing and Cloud
Brenda has deep experience drafting and negotiating agreements for a wide range of technologies, including software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), healthcare technology, mobile application development, application software provider (ASP) arrangements, webhosting, Internet of Things (IoT), and other types of licensing and subscription arrangements. Her significant understanding of data privacy and security allows her to bring knowledgeable insight into the implications of these regulations in a client’s technology deals. In addition, she has created standardized contracts, contracting procedures and playbooks for use by her client’s providing consistency and efficiency in their contracting processes.
Representative Deals:
- Successfully negotiated a technology company’s multi-million dollar, multi-year contract with a conduct regulator that had significant General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implications by demonstrating knowledge of GDPR/data privacy, deal points, and business risks.
- Drafted/negotiated multi-million dollar enterprise-wide IT/market data contracts with a major financial services firm on behalf of a major market data technology company.
- Created the Enterprise Deals Analysis Project which analyzed multi-million dollar enterprise deals to increase the consistency of client agreements, reduce cycle times, and minimize risk while driving revenue.
- Successfully negotiated a significant “life & shift” technology outsourcing deal with IBM involving a company spend of $500M over a 10-year contract term.
Data Privacy & Security
Brenda has a deep knowledge of how privacy and cybersecurity laws and regulations affect an entity’s business and regulatory obligations, as well as the requirements for technology and consulting partners working with these businesses, including (i) international laws, like the GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act a/k/a UK-GDPR, (ii) domestic federal privacy laws, like Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and (iii) various U.S. state privacy and cybersecurity laws, like California’s privacy laws (the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)) or the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Cybersecurity Regulations. She uses her in-house experience to provide practical advice about the use, collection, and distribution of data. Her advice is geared toward supporting an entity’s business strategy while mitigating risk, whether it is in the context of a business transaction, product development, or the creation of privacy and security policies.
Representative Services:
- Remediation work for CCPA/CPRA compliance
- Privacy and Security exhibits for various industries
- Personal data inventory and mapping engagements
- Gap analysis for GDPR implementation programs
- Data Processing Addenda (for both data controllers and data processors)
- Privacy Impact Assessments for purposes of GDPR compliance
- Privacy Policies and Procedures (creation or assessment)
Emerging Technologies
Emerging technologies are reshaping the business landscape across industries. Brenda is a technology enthusiast who has emersed herself in in the business and legal implications of technological innovations from the very beginning. Whether it was understanding the implications of the transition from deployed software to SaaS, delving deeply into the intricacies of blockchain so she could conduct a blockchain CLE for Walmart’s in-house attorneys or grappling with the artificial intelligence (AI) as it evolved into generative AI, she continues to analyze technology trends to help her clients capitalize on its benefits and step around any risks. AI, Blockchain, Cloud Computing and Data Analytics are likely to continue evolving and converging thereby transforming businesses of the future. Brenda’s deep understanding of emerging technologies allows her to bring innovative ideas to the table in her work.
Employment Law Issues in the Technology Space
The rapid development and deployment of technology has exponentially increased the speed of doing business. Technology companies need a fast and nimble workforce to capitalize on these technological efficiencies. However, clients may often encounter a myriad number of archaic employment law issues that can be difficult to navigate. Brenda’s in-house experience gives her unique insight into the employment law and HR issues that technology companies face. She can provide timely strategic business advice that can help clients avoid potential landmines when navigating complex employment regulations at the federal, state, and local levels as they scale their world-class workforce.
Representative Services:
- Contract drafting and review: Drafting and reviewing employment contracts, IP rights assignment agreements, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements, severance packages, employee handbooks, and other employment-related documents.
- Data privacy compliance guidance: Advising clients on compliance with applicable international and U.S. data privacy laws.
- Independent Contractor Compliance: Mitigating risk in the use of independent contractors and other contingent workers by assessing compliance with all applicable laws and devising a business focused approach to compliance.
- Training Materials: Assist HR and in-house legal teams with the development of training materials for compliance with employment and data privacy regulations.
Background
Brenda holds a JD from Fordham Law School where she was a Member of the International Law Journal and a member of both the Kaufman Moot Court runner-up competition team and the Moot Court Board as Business & Alumni Editor. Brenda has served on the board of the Fordham Law School Alumni Association (FLAA) for 12 years. During that time, she founded Fordham Law’s Alumni Attorneys of Color affinity group that grew from 18 members to 800 members under her leadership. In 2024, she was elected to serve as President of the FLAA.
Brenda is a published author with her personal essays appearing in two anthologies. She regularly speaks/moderates legal career advice panels with a particular focus on providing candid insight and successful strategies drawn from her own career and life lessons learned. She generously dedicates her time to the legal community and has mentored countless law students and junior attorneys over her three-decade legal career. In recognition of her efforts, Brenda received the Ruth Whitehead Whaley award from Fordham’s Black Law Students Association in 2024.
Throughout her career, Brenda has been active in the legal and nonprofit communities serving in leadership positions. After having served as a member of the Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Lawyers of the City Bar for 6 years, she was selected to lead the committee as its Chair. As a young person, Brenda took dance and acting classes at the Door, a nonprofit that provides free youth programs, which lead to a dance scholarship at the prestigious Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre and a career as an actress, singer and dancer. She returned to the Door serving as member of its board for 10 years and was eventually elected to serve as its President.
Brenda has taught an Introduction to Law class to MBA candidates at St. Joseph’s College and legal research and writing class for paralegals at CUNY’s City Tech.
Brenda is admitted to practice in the States of New York and New Jersey. She is a Certified Part 146 Advanced Commercial Mediator.
