Three Sidley attorneys received practice area awards at the Women in Business Law EMEA Awards 2024. Francesca Blythe was awarded “Privacy & Data Protection Lawyer of the Year,” Anne Robert received the “Antitrust & Competition Lawyer of the Year” award, while Rachpal Thind was named “Financial Regulation Lawyer of the Year.” The biennial Women in Business Law EMEA Awards honour female lawyers who have built successful and creative firms.
Francesca assists multinational customers on a variety of data protection, privacy, cybersecurity, and emerging technology challenges. She has extensive experience in various areas, including asset management and private equity, payments, technology, retail, e-commerce, and manufacturing. Francesca specializes in life sciences, where she provides advice on a wide range of topics such as clinical studies/investigations, secondary research, digital health, and the application of emerging technologies (including artificial intelligence). Francesca co-chairs Sidley’s benchmarking group for in-house data privacy professionals (dplegal) in the life sciences industry.
Anne has considerable expertise advising global clients on EU antitrust/competition, regulatory, and policy issues, with a focus on the health sciences industry. She offers strategic advice to businesses in the midst of complicated cartel and abuse of dominance investigations by the European Commission and national competition authorities. She routinely represents clients in high-stakes legal actions before the European Courts.
Rachpal’s customers seek her counsel on complicated UK and EU regulatory and compliance challenges, particularly cross-border issues. She has extensive expertise advising global financial institutions on the regulatory implications of structured finance and capital market transactions, as well as anti-money laundering and financial sanctions compliance issues. When clients contact with regulatory agencies, Rachpal offers technical and strategic assistance with regulatory investigations and breaches.
