Josef Donát, holder of the prestigious ICT Lawyer of the Year award, is the head of the ICT Law specialization at ROWAN LEGAL, an arbitrator and a registered mediator.
In his practice, he has long been involved in large-scale projects in the field of the legal aspects of digitalization, electronic identification, cloud computing, cyber security and delivery of information systems. Recently, he has been intensively involved in the creation of the BankID electronic identification project, where his team was responsible for the complete legal support – from the preparation and negotiation of legislation through commercial terms and conditions to comprehensive advice to participating banks on connecting to eGovernment services.
Josef Donát represents major multinational ICT companies, especially in relations with programmers in software development, he also collaborates on drafting license terms for computer programs and provides support to clients in negotiating contracts worth hundreds of millions of crowns. He provides expert advice to private and public sector clients in tenders and procurement procedures for supplies and services in the field of ICT and is also significantly involved in legal support for dynamic technology start-ups, where modern technology and innovation place significant demands on the right legal qualifications.
Josef has co-authored several commentaries on data protection laws, eGovernment and cyber security and regularly lectures at universities and international conferences.
Josef Donát led a team of experts from ROWAN LEGAL who, under the CBA, participated in the creation of the unique BankID electronic identification project. As part of it, he negotiated a comprehensive amendment to several legal regulations enabling the extension of the banking license, assisted in setting up the complete contractual parameters of the entire project and supported banks in engaging in eGovernment services.
On behalf of the member banks, his team also negotiated the establishment of the National Development Fund project, in which the largest financial institutions will invest tens of billions of crowns in projects of general interest.
Josef was also a member of the team negotiating the most important project of the coming decades for the Czech Republic, namely the completion of the Dukovany nuclear power plant, with the responsibility of the ROWAN LEGAL team being the most appropriate setting of contractual relations between the state and the investor.
On behalf of the client ČEPRO, the ROWAN LEGAL team [with Josef Donát at the helm led the largest insolvency case in the Czech Republic in the insolvency of Sberbank.
Josef is a member of the team involved in the preparation of a large-scale project for the construction of a production plant for a major automotive company in the Czech Republic.
For a major multinational bank, he provided legal support in the preparation and implementation of the first large-scale implementation of Google Apps for Business cloud applications, including negotiations with the supplier, the banking market regulator and the data protection authority. Similarly, for another bank, he assisted in the implementation of Microsoft Office 365 cloud applications or in the selection of the Salesforce cloud CRM tool, including the determination of binding contractual terms, risk analysis and negotiation support.
For T-Mobile Czech Republic, he provided legal support in a large-scale multinational project of outsourcing the telecommunications infrastructure of a major entity operating in the energy sector.
For CISCO SYSTEMS (Czech Republic), he provides legal advice on the Cybersecurity Act and eIDAS regulation.
Cyber Law in the Czech Republic, third edition (Wolters Kluwer, 2020)
Radim Polčák & Michal Petr, Jiří Čermák, Josef Donát, Zbyněk Loebl, Tomáš Gřivna, Ján Matejka. ‘Czech Republic’. In International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Cyber Law, edited by Jos Dumortier, Michele Colucci, Roger Blanpain, Frank Hendrickx. Alphen aan den Rijn, NL: Kluwer Law International, 2020
Practical Commentary: Personal Data Processing Act (Wolters Kluwer, 2019)
Commentary on eIDAS (C. H. Beck, 2017)
Law on the Net (C. H. Beck, 2016)
Fundamentals of Information Technology Law (Wolters Kluwer, 2013)
The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 – Leading lawyer TMT, IP
Chambers and Partners Europe 2023 – Ranked lawyer TMT (Band 1)
The Legal 500 2022 – Leading TMT, IP lawyer
Chambers and Partners Europe 2022 – Leading TMT Lawyer (Band 1)
The Legal 500 2021 – Leading TMT lawyer, IP
Chambers and Partners Europe 2021 – TMT Rated Lawyer (Band 1)
The Legal 500 2020 – Leading TMT lawyer, IP
Chambers and Partners Europe 2020 – IP Lawyer (Band 3), TMT Lawyer (Band 1)
The Legal 500 2019 – Leading TMT Lawyer
Chambers and Partners Europe 2019 – Top Rated IP Lawyer (Band 3), TMT (Band 1)
The Legal 500 2018 – Leading TMT Lawyer (Band 2), IP (Band 2)
Chambers and Partners Europe 2018 – Top Rated Lawyer, IP (Band 2), TMT (Band 2 )
The Legal 500 2017 – Leading TMT lawyer
Chambers and Partners Europe 2017 – Top Rated Lawyer, IP (Band 2), TMT (Band 2)
ICT Law Firm of the Year 2010–2022 (ROWAN LEGAL – Team Leader)
ICT Lawyer of the Year 2014
Law Firm of the Year 2016 in the field of Telecommunications and Media (ROWAN LEGAL – Team Leader)
Chambers and Partners Europe 2016 – Ranked lawyer / Notable practitioner in TMT and IP
Chambers and Partners Europe 2016 – Band 1 in TMT (ROWAN LEGAL – Team Leader)
School: Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, Great Britain, Law and Business Management, 2011
Field of study: Master of Laws/LLM.
School: Police Corps Academy, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 2010
Field of study: Law and Legal Science
School: Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, Brno, 2007
Field of study: Law and Legal Science
Company: ROWAN LEGAL, law firm s.r.o.
Position:
Company: National Centre for the Digital Economy
Position: Director and founder (03/2015–2022)
Company: Advertising agency AETNA, spol. s.r.o.
Position: Key account manager for ICT (3/2000–12/2006)
JUDr. Josef Donát, LL.M.
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