Dr. Karsten Kinast, LL.M.

Attorney at Law (Germany)

kinast@kinast.eu

Telephone

+49 221 222 1830

Dr. Karsten Kinast is the founder and managing partner of KINAST. He is the External Data Protection Officer of numerous large national and international corporations, banks and insurance companies as well as church and public sector organizations. Furthermore, Dr. Kinast advises various companies in a wide range of industries as External Compliance Officer.

Milestones

Dr. Karsten Kinast is listed in the top 30 personally recommended lawyers in Germany, in the legal field of data protection law ("kanzleimonitor.de - Recommendation is the best reference" 2023-24)
Over 15 years of legal experience in data protection law as well as in the area of compliance
Admitted attorney at the Cologne Bar Association and registered European attorney at the Austrian Bar Association in Vienna
Managing partner of KINAST Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH and other companies of the KINAST Group, e.g. dataKonform Gesellschaft für Auditierung und Rating von Unternehmen im Datenschutz mbH (data protection auditing and rating company)
Certified data protection officer (TÜV Nord)
External compliance officer
Publisher of a handbook on the implementation of the GDPR in Austria and Germany (LexisNexis): Kinast / Stanonik (ed.) Practical handbook on data protection for SMEs Step by step to meaningful GDPR compliance
Author of various legal publications; publications in the journal ´Zeitschrift für Revisionspraxis "PRev"´, the ZD and the NJW
Fellow Analyst at KuppingerCole, a leading and globally active IT analysis company
Lecturer at the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences and formerly at the University of Applied Sciences Europe (Iserlohn, Berlin, Hamburg)
Lecturer on data protection, media and copyright law in Germany and abroad
Former employee of medium-sized law firms, various university law institutes, Bertelsmann AG, Deutsche Welle as well as AustroMechana Verwertungsgesellschaft für Musikrechte (exploitation company for music rights)
Doctoral studies at the University of Vienna with dissertation on European copyright law
Master studies "European Legal Informatics Study Programme" (EULISP) at the Universities of Hannover and Vienna. Master thesis on European copyright law
Law studies in Cologne and Barcelona

Publications

Character

Clients appreciate Dr. Karsten Kinast’s practical advice on data protection strategy as well as his personal representation of clients in data protection law, for example in discussions with relevant supervisory authorities. In addition to his work as a lawyer, he regularly lectures at numerous german universities and publishes articles, whitepapers and even pracitcal application handbooks, on various subjects within data protection and IT law.

Languages

German

English

Spanish

French

Karsten is here to help

In fact, there’s a whole team of experienced lawyers and data protection experts ready to advise you on your international data protection issues.

Dr. Karsten Kinast is devoted family man who loves to spend his limited free time with his wife and children. When the opportunity arrises, he particularly enjoys winding down on the beautiful coastline of the Netherlands or sometimes even the picturesque towns and beaches of Portugal. Karsten's energetic and positive attitude towards both life and business is truly infectious; his drive often empowers and motivates the people around him to achieve their own goals.