Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy; Artificial Intelligence; National Security

Partner, Co-Head

David Simon is co-head of Skadden’s global Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Practice and a member of the firm’s National Security Group. He has deep experience working closely with boards, executive teams, product teams and security teams to develop holistic and pragmatic strategies for navigating rapidly evolving U.S. and European legal, regulatory, compliance and policy issues involving cybersecurity, AI and privacy. Formerly a Pentagon special counsel, chief cyber counsel to the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission and practitioner of EU law in Brussels, Mr. Simon regularly assists clients as the lead investigator and crisis manager for high-stakes, cross-border incidents involving cyberattacks, data breaches, extortion, AI and regulatory defense. Mr. Simon has dealt with some of the most significant cyber incidents on an international scale. His experience includes advising victims of state-sponsored cyber activity, ransomware and other cyber extortion attacks, as well as breaches of health information, sensitive government information, intellectual property and personal data. Dual qualified to practice in the U.S. and the EU, he often represents global companies in connection with cyber incident preparedness and response investigations requiring analysis of breach reporting obligations under U.S. and EU law, including the EU GDPR, NIS2, DORA and the Cyber Resilience Act, and investigations by European data protection authorities and national cyber authorities. He has counseled companies on major cyber incidents and incident preparedness across virtually every industry, including financial, health care, energy, chemical, defense and aerospace, telecommunications, food, transportation, online retail and hospitality.

J.D., Harvard Law School M.Phil., International Relations, Trinity College, University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholar) B.A., University of Minnesota (Truman Scholar)