David Saunders > McDermott Will & Emery LLP > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile

McDermott Will & Emery LLP
444 WEST LAKE STREET
CHICAGO, IL 60606-0029
ILLINOIS
United States
David Saunders photo

Work Department

Privacy & Cybersecurity

Position

David P. Saunders (CIPP/US, CIPM) is an experienced litigator who focuses his practice on privacy and cybersecurity matters. David helps clients through the life cycle of their data privacy needs. He helps them mitigate and manage risks related to data privacy and cybersecurity by assisting their government affairs teams with the development of new privacy legislation, their legal and compliance teams through the implementation of privacy programs, and their litigation teams through regulatory investigations and civil class action litigations.

David has experience working with clients in a wide variety of industries. From food and alcohol to telecommunications and energy, and from PE funds and portfolio companies to small businesses and start-ups, David helps clients design a data privacy strategy that works for them.

David has experience in all aspects of privacy program implementation from conducting risk assessments and drafting privacy policies to planning around cross-border data transfers, and negotiating vendor agreements. He regularly counsels on GDPR, GLBA, TCPA, CAN-SPAM, and the growing list of state law privacy laws and regulations, including CCPA. He is also there for his clients in their most difficult times, having navigated data breaches, and successfully resolved both regulatory investigations and class action litigations related to corporate privacy practices. David also regularly performs due diligence for corporate transactions.

David has worked with a number of state attorney general’s offices and federal regulators, and advocated on behalf of clients in the telecommunications, cybersecurity, health and financial services sectors. His work also includes collaborating with clients to provide testimony and comment on existing and planned data privacy legislation at the state and federal levels.

David maintains an active pro bono practice, having represented inmates in various actions in state and federal courts, and providing privacy program development, counseling and training to non-profits.

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)

With the arrival of Washington DC-based duo Elliot Golding and senior counsel Robin Campbell  from Squire Patton Boggs in April 2022 as well as Kathryn Linsky, in New York, from an in-house position in August 2022, McDermott Will & Emery LLP has deepened its broad global privacy and cybersecurity group. Linsky focuses on privacy by design when advising clients on product and feature developments frequently involving AI and machine learning. The arrival of Campbell adds a dimension to the team with her specialism on undertaking global data compliance and breach response strategies in the autonomous vehicles and connected cars space. Likewise, Golding’s experience in working on innovative data compliance issues involving health-tech, biometrics, ad-tech and data monetization deepens the team’s expertise. Head of the US team Michael Morgan, based in Silicon Valley, works on both complex breach responses and global compliance strategies, involving US state privacy laws, GDPR and China’s Network Security Law. Boston-stationed Edward Zacharias and Daniel Gottlieb, in Chicago, are the key names for healthcare providers, insurers, pharmacies and medical device manufacturers on HIPAA compliance and investigation matters. Also in Chicago, Ryan Higgins is a further name to note for healthcare companies for data arrangements concerning transactions, while Jiayan Chen in Washington DC, covers big data issues pertaining to clinical laboratories, bioassets and big data transactions. Todd McClelland, in Atlanta, not only advises technology driven companies on responses to cyber incidents and also assists on pre-breach activities, namely incident response plan designs, vendor penetration testing and cyber tabletops. David Saunders in Chicago, is a key contact for state and federal level compliance advice.