Ms Brenda Sharton > Dechert LLP > Boston, United States > Lawyer Profile
Dechert LLP Offices

ONE INTERNATIONAL PLACE
40TH FLOOR, 100 OLIVER STREET
MA 02110-2605
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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 partners)The ‘extraordinary‘ privacy and cybersecurity team at Dechert LLP regularly handles high-profile, complex class actions in the sector, along with defending clients in regulatory investigations. A particular standout feature is the team’s experience in the healthcare sector, representative of its focus on data-rich sectors also including technology, and its ability to advise on the specific regulations applying to companies in these sectors. Team head Brenda Sharton, based in Boston, ‘is a phenomenal leader for the practice‘: leading large scale data breach responses, defending consumer class action litigation, and noted for her specific AI and machine learning expertise. Also in Boston, Timothy Blank advises on the privacy and data security implications of corporate deals. Los Angeles-based Kevin Cahill is a go-to for clients in the financial services industry; Benjamin Sadun, also in Los Angeles, handles matters relating to the Biometric Information Privacy Act. Associate Hilary Bonaccorsi is skilled in the development of global privacy compliance programs for data-driven businesses, working out of Charlotte.
Lawyer Rankings
- Leading partners 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
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- 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
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
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
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Finance > Fintech
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Antitrust > Merger control
- 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
- International trade and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Tax > International tax
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation