For Second Consecutive Year, Latham Honored Among Top Cybersecurity & Privacy Groups

For a year of stunning victories, including securing a favorable resolution in a high-profile data privacy matter in which Latham narrowed the case from 16 plaintiffs asserting 10 different causes of action down to a single plaintiff with a single remaining claim, defeated class certification on a US$6 billion damages claim, and ultimately negotiated a no-damages settlement, Latham & Watkins was named one of the top five Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Groups by Law360. Notably, 2020 marks the second consecutive year the firm was chosen to the publication’s annual shortlist of leading cybersecurity and data privacy practices. 

Speaking about the above litigation matter with Law360, New York partner Serrin Turner credited “the ‘depth of our bench,’ including class action experts Melanie Blunschi and Andrew Clubok” who complemented the firm’s data security subject-area expertise. For this same client and running concurrently with the litigation were multiple regulatory inquiries initiated by government agencies in jurisdictions across the world. Turner stressed “the importance of Latham's global reach and the integrated team we were able to put together,” which enabled Latham to seamlessly respond to these global regulatory inquiries in parallel with litigating the case. 

Washington, D.C. partner Jennifer Archie discussed one of the elements that sets Latham apart from its competitors – the firm’s standout bench of lawyers with deep experience litigating matters before the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). She stated, "a theme across our FTC practice … [is] you have to earn your reputation and credibility with those decision makers one matter at a time, especially when you're in these demanding and high-stakes areas." 

Commenting on the rapidly changing data privacy and regulatory landscape, which this year included the implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act, Bay Area partner Michael Rubin noted the firm has “benefited from 'being as efficient as possible [and] getting straight to the issue” on matters. He concluded, "so much of the work that we do is beneath the surface. Matters we get closed … all of the work that we do every day to keep our clients out of trouble."

Latham’s Data Privacy & Security Practice delivers rapid global response capabilities on data protection or cybersecurity issues, and develops innovative structures, processes, and arguments to enable global organizations to comply with an increasingly complex, and often conflicting, global regulatory environment.