International data privacy laws have existed long before the EU's General Data Protection Regulation came into effect in May 2018. But at least in the U.S., the GDPR was, for many businesses, the start of a global privacy shift.

"I think [the GDPR] was very much an intentional, organized way to make the U.S. pay attention to EU privacy laws," Michelle Six, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, said.

Six joined a panel of international lawyers and legal tech professionals at Relativity Fest's "The GDPR and Its Ongoing Ripple Effect: International Transfer" session on Tuesday, which looked at just how far-reaching—and limited—the EU regulation's impact has been around the world.