Pascal Schumacher is a partner with a focus on data & tech. He has particular expertise in regulated industries like the telecoms, financial services and life sciences sectors. Pascal’s clients include industry flagships as well as some of the most successful tech start-ups in Europe. Clients often come to him for specialized advice at the interlinks between their complex regulatory framework, data sharing and data privacy compliance, e.g. when implementing new worldwide business opportunities. They value his business-minded approach and responsiveness. His work includes the design of digital platforms, privacy governance and litigation, and complex data/ tech agreements.
Projects
- SpaceX: regulatory compliance advice for Starlink operations in Germany
- Microsoft: regulatory and international data protection advice on collaboration and cloud services (incl Teams, Azure and Outlook)
- Various health tech start-ups (incl Ada Health, Dr Smile, Sunshine Smile): Comprehensive data protection advice at the interlinks with medical device regulation, including worldwide rollout of digital medical products and cooperation with pharmaceutical companies
- Various insurance companies and banks: Legal representation in private enforcement proceedings for data protection damages
- DFL on TV and OTT broadcasting rights for the German football league (Bundesliga)
- Leading fintechs (incl Solaris and N26): advice on data protection law (privacy by design) including international data transfers and proceedings before the supervisory authority
- Leading provider of insurance in the motor vehicle sector: data protection advice on and coordination of international roll out of various vehicle insurance products
- Various car manufacturers: Data protection advice on international rollout of a marketplace for on demand in-car content; implementation and roll-out of payment system
- Leading global provider of mail-order cooking boxes: Implementation of a comprehensive data privacy risk analysis and restructuring of internal data transfer, data privacy governance, and adaptation of business processes, among other things.
- LVM: data protection advice on carve-out transaction for the sale of the fund business and takeover of other business units (construction financing) of Augsburger Aktienbank
- Breitling: Data protection advice on the sales business
- Inmarsat on the provision of high-speed inflight WiFi services onboard Lufthansa’s European continental fleet
- Sunshine Smile: Data protection law advice at the interface with medical device regulation
- Leading digital real estate broker: Implementation of a comprehensive data protection risk analysis
Distinctions
- Leading expert in technology law and telecommunications law, Germany, Best Lawyers / Handelsblatt 2024/2025
- "Pascal Schumacher is an excellent legal advisor in every respect, has a firm grasp of the subject matter, has many years of experience (including in dealing with the authorities) and has the ability to advise his clients in a goal-oriented manner with clear guidance and professional expertise, even in complex situations. He succeeds in making the difficult look easy." Legal 500 2024
- "Pascal Schumacher is a top lawyer for digital companies because he not only understands his field, but also the technology behind it." Legal 500 2024
- Recommended for Data Protection and recognized as "name of the next generation" for Telecommunications, Best Lawyers and Legal 500 (2023). Noerr's data protection practice (Legal 500) and telecommunications practice (JUVE, Legal 500 and Best Lawyers) are each listed in the first band.
- "Pascal Schumacher is particularly well versed in providing practical, actionable, and balanced guidance for telecommunications in the midst of unclear laws and regulations." Legal 500 2023
- "Pascal Schumacher: Because of his experience, he is very good at bringing the risks, if any, common practice and possible reaction of the authorities into the decision-making of the company, which actually makes it easier for complex projects." Legal 500 2022
- "Pascal Schumacher can always be reached quickly (...), is patient and also very flexible. You have the feeling with him that you are always looked after with priority A. Furthermore, he also supports the communication with international subsidiaries very professionally and is available for worldwide advice." Legal 500 2022
- "I have always found the Noerr teams I have worked with to be very responsive, accessible, thorough and business-oriented. Pascal Schumacher [...] deserves a special mention in this regard." Legal 500 2021
- "This makes it all the more remarkable that a salary partner advises at the interfaces to telecoms-related IoT products and OTT services, including Microsoft and, more recently, another US tech company." JUVE 2020
Insights
Career
Legal studies and traineeship in Berlin, Paris, Muenster and Düsseldorf
European Commission expert in the EU-China InfoSoc Project, Beijing (telecoms working group)
Head of the regulatory research group at the institute for IT, telecommunication and media law
Lawyer with a boutique for regulatory law
With Noerr since 2013
Admitted to the Berlin Chamber of Lawyers
Memberships
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Recht und Informatik e.V. (DGRI)
- Internet & Gesellschaft Collaboratory e.V.
- Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht
Lectures
- Regular seminars on GDPR-compliance
- BDEW-conference Energy Metrology 2017, lecture on „Data and Data Privacy / How may the data be used?“
- Annual Meeting 2017 of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS), lecture on „Doing business under Cybersecurity Regulations in Germany and Europe“
- Lecture on „Internet platforms and networks under scrutiny in antitrust law“ (Noerr Competition Day 2017), with Oliver Vahrenholt
- Panel lecture at the BMWi/DIHK Forum "Synergies in broadband expansion", 2013
Publications
- Datenschutzrechtliche Zulässigkeit der Kontrolle von Führungszeugnissen und Vorstrafen am Beispiel von Franchiseverträgen, ZVertriebsR 2024, 3. (with Steffen Sundermann)
- Klagebefugnis bei Verbandsklagen nach der DSGVO: Reicht eine Verletzung von Informationspflichten aus?, DB 2024, 445. (with Steffen Sundermann)
- Gegenwart und Zukunft kollektiver Rechtsdurchsetzung im Datenschutzrecht (with Tobias Lühmann and Lea Stegemann), in: ZD 2023, p. 131 et seqq.
- Co-author of Art. 10-12, in: Paschke/Rücker (Hrsg.), Data Governance Act, C.H. Beck (in preparation)
- Kein immaterieller Schadensersatz bei bloßem Ärger über Datenschutzverstoß, Comments on Opinion of the Advocate General of 6.10.2022 – C-300/21 (with Lea Stegemann), in: ZD 2023, p. 34 et seqq.
- Der immaterielle Schadensersatzanspruch nach der DS-GVO (with Lea Stegemann), in: RDi 8/2023, p. 390 ff.
- EuGH: Keine Bagatellgrenze für immateriellen Schadensersatzanspruch bei Datenschutzverletzungen (with Lea Stegemann and Katharina Trenkler), in: ZD-Aktuell, 2023, 01208
- Market Intelligence - Privacy and Cybersecurity 2023 - Country Chapter Germany, Lexology Getting the Deal Through, 2022 (with Daniel Rücker, Sebastian Dienst and David Bomhard)
- The International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG) Data Protection 2023 - Germany Chapter (with Daniel Rücker, Julian Monschke and Korbinian Hartl)
- Das Datenrecht als neues Rechtsgebiet?, Guest article in Legal Tribune Online of 21 March 2022 (with Max von Schönfeld and Marvin Bartels)
- Market Intelligence - Privacy and Cybersecurity 2022 - Country Chapter Germany, Lexology Getting the Deal Through, 2022 (with Daniel Rücker, Sebastian Dienst and David Bomhard)
- The International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG) Data Protection 2022 - Germany Chapter (with Daniel Rücker, Julian Monschke and Korbinian Hartl)
- Cookie Compliance, quo vadis?, in: MMR 2021, p. 603 et seq. (with Max von Schoenfeld and Lennart Sydow)
- Review of the judgement of the European Court of Justice of 13 June 2019 (C-193/18) on whether Gmail qualifies as a telecommunication service under European telecom regulation, K&R 2019, 490-491.
- Part 5 - Data Protection, in: Bräutigam, IT-Outsourcing und Cloud-Computing, ESV, 4. ed. 2019
- Co-author of chapters B and D, in: von Rücker/Kugler, New European General Data Protection Regulation - A practitioner`s Guide, Nomos 2017.
- OTT-Dienste und Telekommunikationsrecht – Einordnung der neuen Dienste im Kontext der TK-Regulierung, in: K&R 12/2015, pp. 771-776
- Ein Abgesang auf den Routerzwang? – Plädoyer für eine funktional differenzierende Auslegung der einschlägigen Regelungen (with Michael Bergmann), in: MMR 2015, pp. 13 et seq.
- Beck’scher TKG-Kommentar (co-author §§ 77a-77e TKG), C.H. Beck, 4. ed. 2013
- Incentive regulation law, Energy - Railway (co-aothor), C.H. Beck, 2. ed. 2019
- EU-Vorstoß zum infrastrukturübergreifenden Breitbandausbau – Kommissionsvorschlag für eine Verordnung zum zügigen Ausbau von Hochgeschwindigkeitsnetzen (with Marc Schramm), in: MMR 2013, pp. 571 et seq.
- Netzpolitik ist nicht Medienpolitik – Wie man zwei gegensätzliche Welten neu ausbalancieren könnte, in: Hachmeister/Anschlag (ed.), Rundfunkpolitik und Netzpolitik – Strukturwandel der Medienpolitik in Deutschland (with Bernd Holznagel), Köln 2013, pp. 99 et seq.
- Energienetze für ein schnelles Internet, in: RdE 2013, pp. 213 et seq.
- Jurisdictional Requirements for the Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Against Defendants and their Ownership Interest in Subsidiaries – a Comparative Review, International Arbitration Law Review (with Jarred Pinkston, Zhong Guan, Genevieve Poirier und Wesley Pydiamah), 3/2012, pp. 97 et seq.
- Breitband-Universaldienst: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen deutscher Politik – Funktionales Internet endlich für alle?, in: MMR 2011, pp. 711 et seq.