Originally published in Student Lawyer, February 2003 (Vol. 31, No. 6)

Hot Practice

Privacy lawyers advise businesses and advocate for individuals' rights

BY LISA STANSKY

Living in the information age is a boon to young lawyers who want to make privacy law their niche. It has never been easier to amass and transmit vast amounts of information-including information about individuals. The technological landscape mutates daily, the law struggles to keep up, and lawyers strive to keep up with the law. That translates into lots of business for lawyers.

You may think that privacy rights practice involves mostly nonprofit advocacy on behalf of individuals. But the advent of e-commerce, e-mail, voice mail, and the like have made the business world a prime arena for legal battles over what happens to information, whether it's information about individuals surfing for shopping bargains on the web, or companies dealing with their own customers and suppliers. The cause is so pressing that corporate America has created a new executive post to deal with it: the CPO, or chief privacy officer.

Privacy as a legal concept is nothing new-Louis Brandeis wrote about the subject in an 1890 Harvard Law Review article. Privacy issues constantly morph to keep pace with social and technological evolution.

"This is a topic of great public concern; it is a topic of great business concern," says Ivan Fong, senior counsel for e-commerce and information technology at General Electric in Fairfield, Conn., and vice chair of the ABA Section of Science and Technology Law. "I think there are significant opportunities for law students because it is a growing field, and it is one where lawyers will play an integral role."

Despite the technological flavor to the practice, you don't have to be a computer whiz to thrive as a privacy lawyer. "I was an English major, not an engineer," says Ruth Hill Bro, chair of the Science and Technology Law Section's e-privacy law committee. A partner in the Chicago office of Baker & McKenzie, Bro says most of her clients are Fortune 500 companies. They rely on her for legal advice about keeping company data secure, handling personal information about workers, and managing information about customers.

Several avenues offer young lawyers a chance to break into the practice, Bro says. Consider government agencies and offices, use the Internet to search for firms with a privacy practice group or focus, and develop contacts by joining organizations like the ABA, she advises. Don't expect to have a privacy practice for a few years after graduation; your first job is to hone good lawyering skills, she says.

James O'Reilly, a visiting law professor at the University of Cincinnati, is chair of the governmental information and right to privacy committee of the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. He suggests that students ferret out internship opportunities with advocacy groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Consumers Union, Public Citizen, and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. On the government front, O'Reilly advises students to look for positions with the Commerce and Justice Departments.

Paid internships are available at EPIC, says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based center and chair of the privacy and information protection committee of the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. While jobs in the civil liberties arena can be difficult to find, he says, there are many opportunities to practice privacy law in the corporate realm.

"Privacy has become one of the biggest issues right now in the business sector. Almost any high-tech firm today is going to be facing important privacy issues," Rotenberg says, noting that the dot-com slump has slowed the business somewhat.

Opportunities for lawyers are generated by relatively new federal legislation on the privacy front. Examples are HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, regarding use of information by financial institutions. Practitioners say the European Union has its own requirements, so lawyers representing clients with interests abroad must get up to speed on those legal constraints, as well.

The chief privacy officer is a new breed of in-house lawyer. "More and more companies are hiring chief privacy officers," Bro says. "That's a sign of how it's becoming a critical issue for companies."

Rotenberg describes CPOs as lawyers who can guide businesses on privacy issues, including how to comply with legislative requirements.

"From a company's perspective, the use of its information ... is a core part of its business strategy," Fong says. The CPO "is a job at the intersection of law, technology, and business."

Lawyers aside from those who work in companies are seeing increasing opportunities in privacy law, Fong notes. Employment practitioners, for example, run into questions about workplace monitoring of e-mail, and health law practitioners run into issues governing release of information under HIPAA.

State as well as federal law comes into play. Fong says California recently enacted legislation requiring companies to notify consumers when there is a data security breach. Errant companies can face government sanctions, he says, pointing to the Federal Trade Commission's enforcement actions against companies for unfair and deceptive trade practices, deemed to include breach of a promise to keep information secure.

Students wanting to get an edge over the competition should become computer savvy and develop a global perspective, Fong says. "I spend more than half my time doing European privacy issues," he says, adding that many foreign countries have tighter controls on the use of personal data than the United States does.

Bro says students with an interest in privacy issues in the business sphere should check out Privacy and American Business (www.pandab.org), which sponsors a privacy job board.

Whatever route you take, remember patience is key. "It has a steep learning curve," Bro says of the practice. If you're really serious about this area of law, be prepared to do lots of reading to keep up. Bro spends an hour and a half daily on professional reading to stay current.

Immersing yourself in privacy issues as Bro has may be one ticket to success. "It's taken over my life!" she quips. As for students, she says, "if they learn privacy inside and out, they really will be in demand."

Lisa Stansky (nolawritestuff@cs.com) is a lawyer and freelance writer in New Orleans.

Are you interested in other fields of law? Read previous Hot Practice columns online at www.abanet.org/lsd/stulawyer.

ABA Resources on Privacy Law

Technology drives many privacy concerns, so one logical place to seek contacts and information is the ABA Section of Science and Technology Law (www.abanet.org/scitech). The section has a wealth of resources for the budding privacy law practitioner, including committees on e-privacy law and privacy and computer crime. Members receive subscriptions to Jurimetrics journal and BLAST: The Bulletin of Law, Science, and Technology. Student membership costs $5.

Also consider the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice (www.abanet.org/adminlaw), which has a committee on government information and the right to privacy. Members receive subscriptions to Administrative Law Review, Administrative and Regulatory Law News, and Developments in Administrative Law. Student membership is free.

For the civil liberties angle, think about joining the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities (www.abanet.org/irr), which has a committee on privacy and information protection. Members receive Human Rights magazine and IRR News Report. Membership for students is $7.50 per year.

The web site of the Health Law Section (www.abanet.org/health) has a "Job Opportunities" link so you can get an idea of possible career goals. Better yet, join the section for $10 and get The Health Lawyer plus a chance to sign on with a section committee such as the e-health and privacy interest group.

Law students can receive all the informational, educational, and networking benefits of ABA section membership-often free of charge or at reduced rates. To join a section, call 800-285-2221.