DRI conducted a Continuing Legal Education seminar entitled “Data Breach and Privacy Law: Cyber Security Strategies in a Digital Age.” The seminar was “standing room only” and apparently could not have been timelier given recent high-profile and massive data breaches at Target, Home Depot, Bank of America and other corporate entities.
“My experience with data security breach litigation tells me that it is only going to grow in significance as more data breaches occur,” said former DRI president and presenter Marc E. Williams of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough of Huntington, WV. “But now I see more fully how my clients really need broad and complex assistance in addressing the risk, reality, and aftermath of a data breach and how to best provide it.”
High-level instruction was provided by a range of experts from law and accounting firms, data forensics and security providers, corporate attorneys, academia, and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Session topics ranged from developing a data security plan to privacy law administration and enforcement; from the roles of the Chief Privacy Officer and the General Counsel to insurance coverage issues implicated in data breach claims.
“Almost half of the attendees were in-house attorneys, confirming that this is a hot issue for corporate America,” said Kelly Freeman, assistant general counsel with Meadowbrook Insurance Group in Southfield, MI. “As a result of the networking opportunities, I now know many attorneys, in-house and in private practice, with expertise in this area. That’s enormously helpful to me.”
Added Williams, “This DRI seminar was the only program in the country that focused on defending and preventing data security and privacy litigation. It was a cutting edge program dealing with one of the fastest growing areas of concern to businesses: how do you protect your data, how do you respond to a threat or a breach, and how do you defend the litigation that results from it.”
Course materials from the DRI Data Breach and Privacy Law Seminar can be purchased by calling (312) 795-1101.