British-born and New Zealand-educated, Johnny Chal is a dual-jurisdiction qualified senior lawyer with extensive experience at the intersection of technology, data, privacy, AI and risk.

He began his career in private practice at Minter Ellison in New Zealand and more recently at Corrs Chambers Westgarth in Sydney. He has extensive experience in-house across some of the world's most recognised technology and commercial organisations, including Adobe, Salesforce, VMware, Deloitte, Equifax and McAfee. Alongside this, he has advised government entities in New Zealand, including Ministry for the Environment and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and more recently, Transport for NSW and icare NSW, giving him a rare depth of perspective across private practice, private enterprise, financial markets, government departments and critical infrastructure.

That breadth isn't incidental; it's the foundation of how he thinks and how he advises. His path has also taken him through the Middle East and, in 2011, into Afghanistan as part of the ISAF coalition, an experience that shaped a grounded, pressure-tested approach to risk that's rare in commercial legal practice.

Johnny specialises in technology and commercial contract negotiation, data privacy, data security, breach response and preparedness, data residency, AI governance, risk mitigation and management and end-to-end risk and compliance frameworks.

Whether navigating a complex cross-border data arrangement, advising on regulatory exposure, building a privacy or AI governance programme from the ground up, or guiding an organisation through a cyber incident, he brings both legal rigour and sharp commercial instinct to every engagement. He is pragmatic by nature, solution-focused by design and never loses sight of the business objective behind the legal problem.

Johnny has a practical understanding of how privacy, AI and risk actually play out in decision-making, not just on paper.

What distinguishes Johnny is his ability to translate complex, fast-moving privacy, AI and data security landscapes into clear, actionable strategy: speaking plainly to executives, regulators and technical teams alike and finding workable solutions where others see roadblocks.

He connects authentically across industries, cortex and levels of business, building trust quickly and creating environments where diverse perspectives are genuinely valued.

Away from the law, Johnny has a deep love for music and vinyl records, always on the hunt for the next great find, exploring new artists and rediscovered ones, spending his evenings in the company of a great record and and even better sound system.