Leslie Shanklin is the Vice President, Legal – Data Protection & Privacy at Discovery, Inc. In this role, Leslie oversees the team responsible for building and managing Discovery’s global data protection compliance program. Leslie and her team work closely with Discovery’s Information Security team and advise the business globally on management of risk and legal compliance relating to collection, use, storage and transfer of data.
Prior to her position with Discovery, Leslie acted as lead global intellectual property, privacy and data security counsel for Scripps Networks Interactive ("SNI"). In her intellectual property role, Leslie led a team managing SNI’s global IP portfolio, including trademarks, copyrights and patents and enforcing and defending SNI’s IP assets worldwide. In her role as lead privacy and data security counsel, Leslie managed SNI’s global data protection compliance program with a focus on SNI’s bases of operation in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Before taking the in-house position with SNI, Leslie was a Partner with Holland & Knight, LLP. Leslie managed the trademark and copyright counseling and litigation practice group in the Washington, D.C. office of the firm, handling a portfolio of clients from a variety of industries, including media, publishing, entertainment, telecommunications and consumer products. As an associate, Leslie worked in the firm’s media law group involved in counseling and litigation on a variety of media law issues, including 1st Amendment, defamation, prior restraint, rights of privacy and publicity, newsgathering torts, marketing and promotions law and IP issues.
Leslie is a Certified Information Privacy Professional in the U.S., and she has spoken on data protection and intellectual property issues at conferences, CLE seminars and industry meetings around the world. Leslie has worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Chief Counsel for International Commerce and Office of Intellectual Property Rights, as well as personnel from the USPTO, U.S. Copyright Office, U.S. State Department, and U.S. Small Business Administration, to develop online intellectual property law courses and guidelines for federal agency lawyers and U.S. small businesses.
Leslie holds a J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center and a B.A. from the University of Virginia. She is also a graduate of the London Business School’s Emerging Leaders Program.
