Gwenn B. Barney Associate

Gwenn Barney melds passion and skill in the areas of cybersecurity, general corporate, transactional and securities law to advise her clients and advance the accomplishment of their goals.

Gwenn helps guide clients through the implementation of cybersecurity and data privacy programs in a constantly shifting landscape of cybersecurity and data protection laws. She has worked with clients to ensure their compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the patchwork of data protection and breach notification laws in the United States. Additionally, Gwenn serves as a project manager for the X9 workgroup, an ANSI-accredited standards development organization, in its drafting of a universal standard for data protection and data breach notification in the financial services industry. Her interests in the field of cyber law extend into the areas of contract drafting for innovation, including SaaS, creative uses for block chain technology and regulation of the Internet of Things.

Gwenn works with clients from the beginning negotiations of a merger or acquisition, through the drafting of documents, the signing and closing of the agreement, and the post-closing steps that follow with an eye toward making certain that all of a client’s objectives are achieved. In addition, she assists clients with corporate governance matters, debt and equity financings, private equity and venture capital transactions, employment agreements, distribution agreements, and other corporate and commercial matters.  

Recognition & Involvement

While in law school, Gwenn was an executive editor for the Washington University Law Review, interned with Answers Corporation and the Student Press Law Center, served as a student attorney with the Washington University Environmental Law Clinic and assisted Washington University Professor Gregory Magarian in research for his book, “Managed Speech: The Roberts Court’s First Amendment.” She also spent a semester studying cyber law in Hong Kong.

Prior to law school, Gwenn earned her undergraduate degree in writing and public policy at the University of Pittsburgh. She volunteers with Philadelphia VIP and Mighty Writers.