Justin B. Weiss

In his practice as a senior counsel in Crowell’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Group, he draws on over 20 years’ experience of private sector leadership advancing companies’ in-house privacy, cyber, and artificial intelligence (AI) governance capabilities. In addition to providing legal advice and specialized support to technology investors, Justin helps established industries integrate innovations from the internet and digital sectors to inform their own digitization and digital risk management efforts, including compliance with data protection, AI, and evolving digital sector regulatory requirements across jurisdictions.

Prior to joining Crowell, Justin was the associate general counsel for digital and regulatory matters in South Africa’s Naspers Group, one of the largest consumer internet technology investors in the world. Through its Dutch investment arm Prosus, Justin led the AI, Privacy, IP, and Competition policy teams in their management of matters raised by investees through the full lifecycle of their engagement with Naspers: including early stage due diligence, M&A and related transactions, transitional services, IPOs, market entries and exits, product compliance, consumer disclosures, risk management, maturity modelling, ESG and CSRD reporting, media relations, investigations, and interactions with governments. Representing Naspers, Justin has served on the global board of directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and was elected by his peers to its chairmanship in 2020.

Previously, Justin had served as assistant general counsel for privacy and international Policy at Yahoo!, representing the company before world governments, APEC, the COE, the EU’s Article 29 Working Party (predecessor to the EDPB) and technology-focused trade associations on regulatory matters. He has also worked for the trade associations the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and the Email Sender & Provider Coalition (ESPC). Those experiences enabled him to develop a deep technical and legal understanding of the privacy implications of online advertising and tracking technologies and their regulation. During this period, he became a well-respected voice and interface with the international community of data protection regulators and lawmakers in Brussels during the lead up to the GDPR. Justin was also selected as an advisor to the OECD in its 30-year review of the OECD privacy principles. He maintains positive and constructive relationships with data protection authorities around the world and enjoys facilitating dialogue between them, and with the private sector.

Government Experience