Dechert LLP
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Karen Neuman
- Phone+1 202 261 3354
- Email[email protected]
Work Department
Privacy & Cybersecurity
Position
Partner
Career
Karen Neuman is a partner and co-chair of Dechert’s global privacy & cybersecurity practice. She is an internationally recognized, sought after privacy lawyer and thought leader. Recommended by The Legal 500, she was the former Chief Privacy Officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Obama Administration, where she was part of the DHS senior leadership team and principal privacy advisor to the DHS Secretary. Ms. Neuman provides sophisticated, solution-oriented advice to global organizations, including new entrants and well-established companies, boards and management in a wide range of sectors on cutting edge issues involving data-driven products, tools and services.
Ms. Neuman focuses on counseling clients on commercial privacy matters, including the collection, use, processing and protection of consumer and employee data. She has deep experience advising clients on sector-specific privacy laws and regulations, including federal and state privacy and cyber security laws and frameworks, as well as industry self-regulatory codes. Ms. Neuman also has extensive experience advising clients on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), cross-border data transfer mechanisms, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). In addition, she works closely with clients to craft internal data handling and incident response policies, conduct privacy and cyber security impact and legal risk assessments and lead sessions for corporate boards on privacy and cybersecurity risk, crisis management and cyber incidents. Ms. Neuman also conducts privacy due diligence in connection with mergers and acquisitions, financings and commercial transactions.
Ms. Neuman is uniquely positioned to help clients navigate their most complex privacy and cybersecurity matters. In her former role at DHS, she oversaw, implemented and enforced the department’s privacy and data security program and provided advice to other senior leaders at DHS and other agencies concerning relevant statutes, rules, presidential orders, policies and best practices. Appointed to President Obama’s Federal Privacy Council, Ms. Neuman spearheaded the integration of innovative privacy protections into various DHS programs and oversaw how those protections were operationalized. Notably, she worked on the department’s big data analytics program and White House initiatives for cybersecurity information sharing with commercial entities. She was also a member of the U.S. delegation that negotiated the EU – U.S. Umbrella Data Privacy Protection Agreement with the European Commission and was one of the senior officials that supported the U.S. team that negotiated the EU – U.S. Privacy Shield.