Ms Brenda Sharton > Dechert LLP > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
Dechert LLP Offices
1900 K STREET, NW
WASHINGTON DC 20006
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
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Ms Brenda Sharton
Work Department
Privacy & Cybersecurity
Position
Partner
Career
Brenda Sharton, partner and co-chair of Dechert’s global privacy & cybersecurity practice, is a top privacy and cybersecurity litigator and one of only 20 lawyers in the country ranked as a “Leading Lawyer” by The Legal 500 for Cyber Law and Data Protection/Breach Response. A first chair trial lawyer, Ms. Sharton counsels and represents public and private corporations and their boards in complex commercial litigation, arbitrations and civil government/regulatory and enforcement matters.
Ms. Sharton is a nationally recognized expert, pioneer and thought leader in the area of privacy and cybersecurity law. She has handled over 500 data breach investigations and cyber-attacks of every type and size for companies in every industry ranging from start-ups to global multi-billion dollar public companies. Ms. Sharton has handled some of the highest-profile data breaches brought by nation states, organized crime and other threat actors, including the negotiation of ransom/ransomware, business email interruption/Office 365 attacks, corporate and nation state espionage, DDoS, insider threats and theft of computer/electronic data of all types. She has defended companies in over 100 privacy-related government investigations and enforcement actions brought by global and U.S. regulators, including state attorneys’ general, the FTC, HHS/OCR for HIPAA breaches, the SEC Cybersecurity Division, among others, as well as defended public and private companies in class action litigation arising from those data breaches.
Ms. Sharton’s experience is second-to-none in handling cyber attacks, including those brought by nation states, organized crime, and threat actors of all types. She has handled hundreds of data breaches, including numerous high profile, front page news breaches. Since COVID-19 has forced a remote work environment, Ms. Sharton has counseled numerous companies on enhanced cyber and physical security related to the exponential increase in cyber attacks related thereto, including companies engaged in COVID-19 research. She counsels companies pre-breach as well as handles all aspects of data breach investigations (crisis management, working with law enforcement and third party forensic firms, crisis and PR firms, as well as board, auditor and investor communications, advice on global notification obligations, and analysis of cyber insurance). She has litigated some of the landmark cases in this space, including one of the first bank online hacking cases to have been litigated to an appeals court. She provides counseling on cyber and physical security programs, in particular for high target companies.
Education
- Boston College, B.S., 1987, magna cum laude
- Boston College Law School, J.D., 1990, summa cum laude, valedictorian, Order of the Coif
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
(Leading lawyers)The experienced Brenda Sharton, co-chair of Dechert LLP‘s global privacy and cybersecurity practice from the Boston office, handles high profile data breaches, not limited to ransomware attacks and business email interruptions brought about by a range of threat actors, including nation states, organized crime groups and insiders. Sharton also defends clients against government investigations and enforcement actions brought by global and US regulators, namely the FTC, SEC and OCR for HIPAA breaches. Also working from Boston, trial litigator Timothy Blank advises technology, biotechnology and investment firms on privacy risks in relation to US state and global regulations, drafting security programs, class action defenses, responding to data breaches and FTC investigations. Los Angeles-based Kevin Cahill advises on complex and nuanced issues related to the scope of the CCPA’s GLBA carve-out and its impact on personal information collected from investors across various channels. Charlotte-stationed associate Hilary Bonaccorsi is a key contact for financial institutions and registered investment advisors on the SEC’s privacy regulations. Bonaccorsi also focuses on developing compliance programs related to the development and purchase of alternative data sets and web scrapping risks. Former co-chair Karen Neuman has retired.
United States > Finance > Fintech
Dechert LLP has made good headway into the market with a combination of expertise in cryptocurrencies and digital assets, and traditional finance products. The firm has developed a good niche in related investment fund work, with clients such as Franklin Templeton instructing the team to assist with the launch of its tokenized money market fund. Lead partners include Timothy Spangler in Los Angeles, who works at the crossover between fintech and alternative investment management. Respectively based in San Francisco and Washington DC, Mark Perlow and Susan Grafton are highly experienced in regulatory matters, while Karen Neuman (Washington DC) and Brenda Sharton (Boston) are lead contacts for data privacy and cybersecurity. The firm also recruited New York partner Jay Southgate from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, who has a strong focus on consumer lending and fintech.
Lawyer Rankings
- Leading lawyers United States > Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection) United States > Media, technology and telecoms
- Fintech United States > Finance
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices
- Real estate > Real estate finance
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Finance > Fintech
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Tax > International tax
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Antitrust > Merger control
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation