"Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of C&F Talks. It's a great pleasure to have with me today three Partners from A&O Sherman, all three of whom are AI specialists. So, I have with me Jane Finlayson-Brown, Alex Shandro and Catharina Glugla. Welcome to the three of you."

Oliver Patel, Head of Enterprise AI Governance, AstraZeneca

Oliver Patel is the Head of Enterprise AI Governance at AstraZeneca, a global pharma company with 90k employees. He is responsible for implementing AZ's global AI governance and regulatory compliance framework. Oliver is also leading AI governance educator and trainer. He is an AI Faculty Member at the IAPP and training instructor for the AI Governance Professional (AIGP) course and the creator of the Enterprise AI Governance Newsletter. Oliver's book, Fundamentals of AI Governance, will be published in early 2026. He also advises international policymakers, as a Member of the OECD's Expert Group on AI Risk. In previous roles, Oliver worked for the UK government as Head of Inbound Data Flows, and as an academic and policy researcher on data and AI at University College London. His background is in philosophy, ethics, and public policy.

Tim Hickman, Partner, White & Case LLP

Tim Hickman is Head of the Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity practice at White & Case, and advises on all aspects of data protection law and artificial intelligence (AI) regulation. Tim is closely familiar with the EU AI Act and similar laws around the world, and led the publication of White & Case's EU AI Act Handbook and global AI regulatory tracker, AI Watch. He also has a detailed knowledge of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK GDPR, and co-authored White & Case's GDPR Handbook and GDPR National Implementation Guide.

Caroline Wayman, Global Head of Financial Services, PA Consulting

Caroline Wayman is the Global Head of Financial Services at PA Consulting, where she leads a team of over 500 experts across the UK, Europe, and the US. Since joining PA in 2021, Caroline has been instrumental in advising organisations in the banking, insurance, pensions, and asset management sectors on complex industry challenges.

Before PA, Caroline served as Chief Executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service for nearly seven years, overseeing significant transformation and modernisation efforts. She played a pivotal role in addressing high-profile issues such as PPI and mortgage endowment mis-selling, leveraging her extensive experience in managing millions of disputes across the financial services spectrum.

Rachael Annear, Partner, Freshfields

Rachael is part of our International Data Protection and Cyber Practice with a particular interest in financial services, retail and tech sectors, and the growing impact of AI on the field of data protection. She has extensive experience advising a wide range of organisations on data protection matters and complex global data strategies, against the demands of the shifting global legal and regulatory landscape.

Rachael advises leading global companies on cutting edge issues in data. Her work includes advising on international data driven M&A, strategic advice, data crises, regulatory investigations and litigation. She is valued for her versatility in being able to apply her knowledge of data protection law to a wide range of issues from drafting legislation, identifying key business risks during product development or strategic acquisitions through to navigating novel data protection questions in an investigation.

Drawing on her background in IP/IT and information law, combined with her public sector experience she delivers pragmatic and commercial advice that helps clients to manage their regulatory obligations within their organisational goals.

Giles Pratt, Partner, Freshfields

Giles heads our intellectual property and technology group. He also co-heads our international data practice and the firm's tech transformation and AI initiatives, including our Freshfields TQ platform.

He is particularly active in the tech, media, consumer, automotive and financial institutions sectors, and specialises in cross-border IP, data privacy and cyber security, tech regulatory and commercial law.

He regularly advises on transactions involving valuable technology, content, brands and data, particularly in the context of international M&A, IP/tech-heavy carve-outs and JVs, restructuring, financing, licensing and other complex commercial and IP agreements. He also advises on IP risk management, including multi-jurisdictional brand protection and copyright infringement, and IP and antitrust issues.

Giles leads our London data practice, advising on the full range of legal issues relating to data, including IP protection and data privacy matters, particularly in the context of deals, crises, investigations, and new data uses and analytics including AI. He sits on the editorial board of Global Data Review, and is the editor and co-author of Global Data Review's Insight Handbook. He is also a member of the City of London Law Society Data Committee.

Stephan Geering, Global Privacy Officer and Trustworthy AI Lead, Anthology UCL

Stephan Geering is Anthology's Compliance, Trustworthy AI and Privacy Officer. Stephan is responsible for data privacy compliance globally and leads Anthology's Data Privacy and Trustworthy AI Programs. He previously worked as Citigroup's EMEA & APAC Chief Privacy Officer and as Deputy Data Protection Commissioner of one of the Swiss regional data protection authorities.