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UK

Vanessa Barnett

Partner

England & Wales

020 3319 3700

vanessa.barnett@keystonelaw.co.uk

“I have engaged Vanessa on a number of E-Commerce/Tech projects at all stages of my career at Tesco.com and Wiggle. Vanessa is an unusual character as lawyers, go being both pragmatic and highly commercial. The quality of her output is always excellent, on time, and on budget. She is also great fun to work with and I will engage her services again and again. ”

- Maddy Turley E-Commerce Consultant specialising in Cross Border Trading, Localisation and International Strategy

Vanessa is a technology and data lawyer who has been at the forefront of advising clients using internet-enabled business models for over 20 years. She specialises in advising VC-backed, high-growth businesses during their scale-up journey on a general counsel-like basis, particularly those who are data-rich and use SaaS, platform, or marketplace models. Her practice has a focus on two of the biggest growth areas in the digital economy: data platforms and gig/talent platforms.

Vanessa has extensive expertise in applying traditional regulations to new online business models (e.g. data protection, employment, tax, sector-specific regulations), advising on structure, contracts, intellectual property, and data protection. She works with client product teams to ensure compliance by design and advises on legal strategy, and user experience.

Having registered the company that became Ocado as a trainee, her career began with advising early UK internet giants including Tesco, Amazon, Google and Apple. She’s worked across e-commerce, mobile, apps, digital media, big data, and the gig economy.

Vanessa chairs the Open Knowledge Foundation, which is a pioneer in openness and data literacy, including developing the Open Data Commons licences. She holds CIPP/E and CIPM certifications.

Expertise

Vanessa advises leading retailers on technology, data contracts, and regulatory compliance, supporting digital product launches, privacy programs, and legal strategy to scale e-commerce, marketplaces, and data-driven services efficiently and compliantly.

Experience

  • Advised Barclays on its original £5m per year sponsorship of London’s public bike rental scheme.
  • Advised Tesco on hundreds of technology/data contracts, ranging from routine technology services agreements to business-critical technology development and outsourcing projects, as well as training/supervising junior Tesco lawyers on joint projects.
  • Advised Tesco.com on its original online supermarket offering, as well as commercial, IP and regulatory advice on several of its technology-based products added over time, including: Tesco Marketplace (its third party seller marketplace); Tesco Digital (its branded digital media store) and Tesco Property Market (its peer-to-peer house sales marketplace).
  • Advised Westfield on numerous technology, data and digital marketing contracts for its two flagship London properties, including streamlining legal templates.
  • Various in-house secondments, including to FT.com and Burberry.

Vanessa provides telecom clients with comprehensive advice on technology outsourcing, data privacy, regulatory compliance, and contract negotiation to support innovation, data security, and scalable service delivery.

Experience

  • Advised Tesco Mobile, a joint venture between Tesco and Telefonica, on technology/data contracts, ranging from routine technology services agreements to business-critical technology development and outsourcing projects, and advised on regulatory aspects of new product offerings and data processing agreements.
  • Advised iPSL, a joint venture between Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Unisys, on its digital cheque processing platform and associated services, including long-term services agreements back to each of the banks.

Vanessa specialises in SaaS, gig economy platforms, and innovation-driven businesses advising on IP, regulatory compliance (including IR35), data licensing, gig contracts, and commercial agreements to enable growth and market entry.

Experience

  • Advised Canonical, an open-source-based, high-growth software business, on its early-stage legal needs which involved placing secondees into the business, developing its first round of template contracts, working with other specialists on developing its IP strategy, which differed because it develops and distributes open-source software, and helping it recruit in-house lawyers.
  • Advised Harbr, an enterprise data exchange business, on its early-stage legal needs which involved developing template contracts for its Secure SaaS data exchange product, working with product and sales to develop a sales execution model and providing advice on contracts, IP and data.
  • Advised MOO, the print platform, on its data protection compliance programme, including developing notices, policies and training.
  • Advised Stint, the ground-breaking student working platform on a mission to revolutionise staffing on the high street and transform the way students earn money, on its early-stage legal needs which involved pre-launch structure, regulatory and product advice, as well as developing customer and student-facing app terms/privacy notices.
  • Advised Synalogik on its Scout product, an innovative platform that combines automated data gathering, cleansing and analysis in the law enforcement, gaming, defence, insurance and banking sectors, including developing a sales execution model and providing advice on contracts, IP and data protection.
  • Advised YunoJuno, the UK’s largest platform for freelancers in the creative and technology industry, on all legal and regulatory aspects of its business, including how a talent economy platform is regulated, client and freelancer contracts, implementation of regulatory requirements into the product (e.g. IR35) and general commercial, IP and data protection advice.

Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.

Recognition

Recognised in Chambers UK for Information Technology & Outsourcing 2024 – 2026

Recognised by the Legal 500 for Fintech: Corporate and Commercial 2025-2026

Recognised by the Legal 500 for Insurance and Reinsurance Litigation 2025

Recognised by The Legal 500 for Media & Entertainment 2021 – 2022

Recognised by The Legal 500 for Commercial Contracts, Brand Management and Media and Entertainment 2018

“Vanessa is great. She provides commercially astute, pragmatic and legally sound advice on challenging topics. That is all underpinned by a deep understanding of her sector.”

Chambers UK 2026

Vanessa qualified as a solicitor in 2001. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2016, she worked at the following firms:

  • Charles Russell Speechlys
  • Berwin Leighton Paisner