Lena Ghamrawi
Founder and Managing Partner, The Privacy Counsel
Founding The Privacy Counsel
Lena Ghamrawi is a privacy lawyer and the founder and managing partner of The Privacy Counsel LLC[1]. Privacy Daily reported in January 2026 that she had launched the firm, which it described as a privacy-focused law firm[3]. The same report noted that she had previously worked as in-house privacy counsel at Quora and Viasat and had founded LG Consulting[3].
The firm describes its work as fractional privacy legal services focused on counselling, compliance and contracts[1]. Its listed services cover privacy, cybersecurity and AI legal work, including fractional privacy counsel, CPO and DPO support, secondments, and global data protection compliance under laws such as the GDPR, CCPA, LGPD and PIPEDA[2]. It also lists privacy and AI product counselling, data protection impact assessments, AI governance design against the NIST AI RMF and ISO 42001, and AI legal compliance under the EU AI Act[2]. Audit preparation for SOC 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701, data processing agreement reviews and staff training round out the list[2]. The firm says its advice draws on experience of building and leading global privacy programmes as in-house counsel[2].
In-house privacy roles
Before founding the firm, Ghamrawi served as senior privacy counsel and data protection officer at Quora and at Stack Overflow, and as associate general counsel for privacy at Viasat[1]. Earlier in her career she was a senior privacy consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton and at Aleada[1]. Her firm's biography describes her career as spanning consulting, a nonprofit privacy watchdog and in-house counsel roles at several technology companies[1].
In a 2022 profile, Modern Counsel described her Quora work as making sure the company complied with global privacy laws and handled consumer personal data responsibly, and said she also developed privacy training[5]. She was still listed as senior privacy counsel and DPO at Quora on the speaker list for the spring 2025 Privacy + Security Forum[7].
The International Digital Accountability Council
Ghamrawi helped launch the International Digital Accountability Council (IDAC), a nonprofit watchdog group[5]. Her firm's biography lists her role there as policy counsel, with IDAC shown under the Future of Privacy Forum[1].
With IDAC's Quentin Palfrey and two researchers from Good Research, she co-authored the COVID-19 Mobile App Accountability Project, a conference paper published in July 2020[4]. The paper reported that IDAC had investigated 108 COVID-19-related mobile apps from 41 countries to examine their technology and privacy implications[4]. It said the study was prompted by the rapid development and roll-out of such apps during the pandemic[4].
Community work, speaking and credentials
Ghamrawi launched and led the Washington, DC chapter of Women in Security and Privacy from 2019 to 2021, and Modern Counsel reported that the chapter grew to more than 300 members[5]. Modern Counsel named her in its 35 Under 35 list in 2022, and noted that she mentors women and law students[5]. Her firm's biography also lists her as the founder of The Privacy Coach, an affiliate member of Women in AI Governance, and an IAPP Fellow of Information Privacy[1].
She has spoken at the IAPP Global Summit and the Privacy + Security Forum, according to her firm's biography[1]. On the Cybercrime Magazine podcast in 2025, she said that car makers collect drivers' precise geolocation and behavioural data without their consent[6]. In that interview she pointed to data such as seat position and the weight on a seat as potentially sensitive[6].
Ghamrawi holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley (2013) and a JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law (2017)[1]. She holds the IAPP's CIPP/US and CIPM certifications and is admitted to practise in California and Maryland[1].
Known for
- Founding The Privacy Counsel
- Helping launch the International Digital Accountability Council
- Co-authoring IDAC's COVID-19 app study
- Leading the Women in Security and Privacy DC chapter
Sources
- The Privacy Counsel LLC: About — checked 6 Nov 2026
- The Privacy Counsel LLC: Services — checked 6 Nov 2026
- Privacy Daily: Former In-House Counsel Launches Privacy-Focused Law Firm, January 2026 — checked 6 Nov 2026
- Zenodo: COVID-19 Mobile App Accountability Project (Palfrey, Ghamrawi, Good, Monge), July 2020 — checked 6 Nov 2026
- Modern Counsel: 35 Under 35: Lena Ghamrawi, 2022 — checked 6 Nov 2026
- Cybercrime Magazine: Driver's Ed: Privacy Lawyer Reveals Automakers Are Snooping On You, March 2025 — checked 6 Nov 2026
- Privacy + Security Academy: Privacy + Security Forum Spring 2025 speakers — checked 6 Nov 2026