McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Amy C. Pimentel (CIPM) advises clients on global data protection, privacy and cybersecurity. She is skilled at harmonizing requirements across jurisdictions and legal regimes to build practical and business-focused global privacy and cybersecurity programs. She also helps multinational companies understand privacy rules and balance their legal risk when entering new markets or breaking into new or non-traditional industries.

Amy provides day-to-day product counseling and advises on data strategies. She works with clients across industries – spanning the health care/life sciences industries to big tech, finance, media and consumer products – to help them leverage and transfer data in a compliant way. She also partners with multi-disciplinary teams to advise on product development, digital advertising, artificial intelligence/machine learning and other emerging technologies to incorporate privacy-by-design and security-by-design principles. Her pragmatic approaches to managing data enable clients to achieve their business objectives while remaining compliant with their dynamic regulatory environment.

In addition to regulatory and product counseling, Amy also drafts and negotiates complex data arrangements and manages privacy and cyber risks in corporate transactions and outsourcing. She advises clients on effective due diligence strategies when vetting risks of purchasing and disclosing data and regularly partners with transaction co-counsel to evaluate the regulatory impact of specific privacy and cybersecurity matters, including government investigations and security breaches. She also companies on their legal obligations with respect to supply chain management and third-party risk management.

Alexander (Alex) Southwell is a leading technology-focused litigator and investigations lawyer. Top global companies rely on Alex to handle investigations, regulatory defense, and litigation related to a wide range of privacy, data security, information technology and governance, trade secrets, computer fraud, advertising and marketing practices, and consumer protection issues. He also regularly handles white-collar and securities enforcement defense matters and complex, high-profile internal investigations. As one client noted, “Alex is tremendous. If you’ve got an issue that is a paramount crisis and going to break the company, Alex is who you should turn to. He is top-notch, savvy, and he understands what you need.”

A former federal cybercrimes prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Alex advises clients ranging from emerging companies to global enterprises across all market sectors facing data breaches, security incidents, or cybercrimes. He has extensive experience counseling on broad issues under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Economic Espionage Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Communications Decency Act, and related federal and state computer fraud and consumer protection statutes. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Alex is regularly retained to lead privacy and data security and technology class actions and complex civil litigations across the US. He also frequently leads the defense of regulatory investigations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state attorneys general, and other federal, state, and local regulators and criminal authorities.

Clients appreciate Alex’s “keen eye for attention to detail, client service, and navigating a complex legal and regulatory landscape.” His wide-ranging practice covers cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, cloud deployment and risks, dark pattern allegations, data innovation, and digital assets and cryptocurrency. He advises clients on privacy and security risks related to data-driven product development and compliance with the full range of US and international privacy and data protection laws and regulations as well as global regulatory strategies. Alex is also experienced in counseling companies on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules on cybersecurity risk management and disclosures, including cybersecurity governance and board oversight, and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) cybersecurity regulation.

Alex’s white-collar practice includes representing corporate executives, individuals, companies, and boards in connection with white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions and related civil investigations. He also has significant experience conducting internal corporate investigations and compliance monitoring. Alex’s practice covers securities and accounting fraud, healthcare fraud and compliance, economic sanctions violations, money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act violations, tax fraud, the False Claims Act and contracting fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and public corruption, among other areas.

Alex previously served as an assistant US attorney for the SDNY, focusing on cybercrimes and securities, commodities, and other white-collar frauds. He began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Naomi Reice Buchwald of the US District Court for the SDNY.