Jocelyn S Paulley Partner Co-Head of the Retail Sector (UK)
Co-lead of Data Protection and Cyber Security sector (UK)


Speaks:  English

Qualified: 2006 - Solicitor of England & Wales


Primary office:  Birmingham




Jocelyn S Paulley

Jocelyn is a technology and data lawyer, interested in anything connected to those two topics in non-contentious matters. Her areas of expertise cover IT agreements, data protection, data centres and telecommunications.

She is a core member of the firm's Tech sector team, advising technology clients on everything from their business-as-usual contracting arrangements to big data, commercialising datasets, AI, complex licensing arrangements and buying and selling technologies.

She co-leads the firm's Data Protection and Cyber Security sector alongside Patrick Arben. She supports clients in a wide range of sectors with privacy compliance, across financial services, FinTech, pensions, retail, healthcare, automotive, energy and public sector.

She also co-leads the firm's Retail and Leisure sector. Her own expertise lies in ecommerce – procurement of core ecomm systems, payment services, agreements with platforms and structuring and creating ecomm platforms.

Clients value her pragmatic, commercial approach and ability to work with everyone across a business, as well as maintaining a good relationship with the other side to see negotiations through to the end.

Expertise in IT

Jocelyn's day-to-day is a diet of agreement reviews from licensing, cloud solutions, SaaS and hosting to support, maintenance, systems integration, bespoke developments and everything in-between. Acting for both customers and suppliers means she has a good, working knowledge of technology stacks and how common technologies operate which allows her to better advise on key pinch points, risks and mitigations. She advises across the spectrum of cloud services agreements – from simple standalone SaaS tools to complex, outsourced solutions hosted in AWS and Azure clouds.

IT now pervades every business and sector. Sector-specific knowledge can be very valuable, both from the point of view of understanding particular systems and also key suppliers operating in those sectors. Jocelyn has acted for clients in retail, financial services, automotive, pharma and energy sectors, as well as universities and public sector.

Increasingly she advises clients on making best use of their data. Her background in tech and privacy means she can advise holistically on an approach to data as an asset from all angles – be that protecting it, sharing it and commercialising it. She works alongside colleagues who specialise in AI and competition to find solutions and analyse risks to help clients meet their objectives.

Recent experience:

  • Advising Virtus Data Centres for more than 10 years on customer and supplier agreements across their growing estate.
  • Material outsourcing of telephony systems (for contact centre and broker network) for a regulated insurer.
  • First generation outsourcing of core finance and back office systems for a high-street coffee vendor.
  • Advising on a variety of data licensing agreements (in-bound and out-bound) for a clearing services providers and creating a core set of terms for data products.

Expertise in Data Protection

Jocelyn's non-contentious data protection team advise on all aspects of privacy including policies, privacy notices, data protection impact assessments, lawful grounds for processing, governance structures, data processing clauses and agreements, international transfers and data subject rights. As a commercial lawyer who has been advising on data protection for more than 10 years, she is able to stand in client shoes and give practical, pragmatic, risk-based advice to clients on the best course of action, rather than simply spouting the law. Her experience ranges from remediating privacy issues in companies that have been acquired, to structuring marketing consents, to creating intra-group processing agreements, to advising on cookie compliance and controller-to-controller data sharing agreements.

Recent experience:

  • Advising a buy-now-pay-later provider on lawful grounds for processing on very specific elements of personal data.
  • Advising a developer on the processing relationship and processing clauses in property management agreements and related issues such as CCTV, registration of interest webpage.
  • Running an internal audit for a food manufacturer and remediating issues discovered.

Expertise in Data Centres

Jocelyn co-chairs the firm's Data Centre sector team. This is made up of specialists from across the firm to service our data centre operator clients. We are one of the few firms who can provide holistic advice to clients in this sector, covering everything from planning, property, construction, commercial, IT, DP, financing, banking and energy with lawyers who truly understand this niche sector.

Recent experience:

  • Advising operators in the Nordics and UK on colocation agreements with hyperscalers.
  • Creating template facility management agreements for operators in the UK, Europe and UAE.

Expertise in Telecommunications

Jocelyn has extensive experience in outsourcing arrangements for companies which manage active and passive infrastructure for network operators. She has also acted for operators outsourcing elements of their network, as part of the operator's contractual obligations to its ultimate end customer.

Career & Recognition

Filter timeline:
  • 2024

  • 2023

  • 2019

    • Career
      May 2019
      Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, partner
  • 2016

    • Career
      February 2016
      Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, director
  • 2015

    • Career
      August 2015
      Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, director
    • Career
      February 2015
      Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, principal associate
  • 2008

    • Career
       2008
      Wragge & Co LLP, solicitor and associate
  • 2006

    • Qualifications (Year of Call/Admission, etc.)
       2006
      Qualified, Solicitor of England & Wales
    • Career
       2006
      Wragge & Co LLP, trainee
  • 2005

    • Education
       2005
      Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, LPC
  • 2004

    • Education
       2004
      Oxford Brookes University, GDL
  • 2001

    • Education
       2001
      BA Hons in Modern History: Jesus College, Oxford University