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It starts with an innocent click to open an attachment or to follow a legitimate-looking link in an email. A laptop or smartphone is accidentally left in an airport. A briefcase of paper files is forgotten in a coffee shop.

Each of these simple acts can open the gates to a company’s information assets, resulting in the unintentional release of personal information, intellectual property, or other confidential materials. Data breaches have dominated the headlines in recent years, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down.

In this era of the mega breach, businesses face unprecedented challenges in the governance and protection of their information assets and in complying with an ever-changing regulatory landscape. To help our clients meet these challenges, attorneys from Schnader’s Privacy and Data Security group advise on information governance issues and help our clients navigate the complex framework of state, federal, and international laws that impact the way they collect, share, and dispose of sensitive personal information. From highly-regulated financial institutions, to unregulated retail companies, from healthcare providers to higher education and other non-profit organizations, we work closely with our clients to ensure they comply with relevant regulations and privacy best practices wherever they operate.

Proactive Approach

Schnader attorneys understand the importance of a proactive approach to privacy and data security issues. We perform privacy impact assessments for clients in order to identify potential privacy issues, and recommend measures to prevent or minimize the risk of a privacy breach. We develop policies and procedures that meet our clients’ legal compliance requirements and minimize the possibility of data loss, while honoring their corporate culture, their mission, and their businesses.

In addition to advising our clients on compliance issues, we review and advise on their existing policies and procedures relating to data security, internal security procedures, use of electronic systems, and privacy and data retention. We provide training to our clients’ employees to ensure their compliance with these policies and procedures, and to create an awareness that information assets are valuable and that everyone in the organization has a responsibility to protect them.

We prepare and negotiate vendor contracts involving access to personally identifiable information (PII), personal health information (PHI), and other sensitive information to ensure the appropriate protections are in place. We also evaluate our clients’ existing insurance coverage to help them assess first party and third party risk exposure, and we advise on the combination of insurance products to minimize risk and reduce the length of their business interruption.

Breach Response

We work with our clients to assemble breach response teams and to devise and test incident response plans. In the event of a breach, we manage the response team to implement the incident response, guide our clients through the immediate crisis period, and assess and implement notification procedures, including working with the appropriate state regulators. We also provide post-incident counseling to deal with resulting business interruption, fines and costs, and compliance issues. Our litigation and class action attorneys handle any state or federal investigation or private litigation that results from a data breach.

Our experience includes:

  • Counseling clients on compliance with U.S. federal statutes addressing privacy issues, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
  • Counseling clients in a wide range of industries on privacy policies and procedures, bring your own device policies, and social media issues.
  • Preparing privacy policies, terms of use, and terms and conditions for our U.S. and European clients.
  • Reviewing and negotiating contracts with our clients’ vendors with access to client PII, PHI, and other sensitive information, as well as business association agreements under HIPAA.
  • Performing data security assessments.
  • Advising clients on data protection requirements of the U.S., the European Union, Canada, and Mexico.
  • Counseling clients on information governance, records retention, and eDiscovery issues.
  • Advising clients on strategies and risk management in connection with the unauthorized access of data by third-parties.
  • Counseling clients on data breach response and notification requirements.
  • Instituting and implementing a data breach response plan for a HIPAA-regulated entity.
  • Working with client’s insured to ensure proper reimbursement and coverage of data breach related expenses.
  • Identifying, vetting, and securing cyber security forensic team to identify cause of breach of PII data within a nationwide staffing agency.
  • Advising client on viability of claim against third party vendor for causing data breach.
  • Executing notification to state agencies and individuals following ransomware breach of international import/export company.

Our Attorneys

Laurel Gift

Laurel Gift

412-577-5115

Pittsburgh, PA

lgift@schnader.com

 412-577-5115 Pittsburgh, PA
Anne E. Kane

Anne E. Kane

215-751-2397

Philadelphia, PA

akane@schnader.com

 215-751-2397 Philadelphia, PA
W. Drew Kastner

W. Drew Kastner

215-751-2122

Philadelphia, PA New York, NY

dkastner@schnader.com

 215-751-2122 Philadelphia, PA New York, NY
Scott J. Wenner

Scott J. Wenner

212-973-8115

New York, NY San Francisco, CA

swenner@schnader.com

 212-973-8115 New York, NY San Francisco, CA
Stephenie Wingyuen Yeung 楊穎苑

Stephenie Wingyuen Yeung 楊穎苑

215-751-2277

Philadelphia, PA

syeung@schnader.com

 215-751-2277 Philadelphia, PA

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The Higher Calling Of The Law Requires...

Inclusion. When Pennsylvania Attorney General William Schnader left politics and sought to return to private practice in Philadelphia, he discovered that no major Philadelphia law firms would hire his protégé, Bernard Segal, a Jewish attorney. In response, in 1935, William Schnader, Bernard Segal and Francis Lewis formed a new law firm, Schnader & Lewis -- the first religiously integrated law firm in Philadelphia.

Innovation. Because Schnader was religiously integrated from its founding, many local clients in the Philadelphia area would not retain the firm in the 1930s and 1940s. Accordingly, the firm sought to represent larger, national companies.

Vision. Firm founder William Schnader was president of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, which drafted and developed the Uniform Commercial Code. He successfully campaigned for the Code's adoption in 49 states.

The pursuit of freedom. At the request of President Truman, firm founder Earl Harrison, as Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, toured displaced persons camps at the end of World War II and recommended to the President that displaced persons in Europe be permitted to resettle in Palestine. His report was a major factor that led to American support for the establishment of Israel.

The pursuit of justice. Firm founder Earl Harrison testified on behalf of an African-American student denied entry to the University of Texas School of Law because of his race. The case challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine, as applied to state law schools and laid the foundation for Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court eventually overturned the lower courts' decisions and ordered the University of Texas to admit qualified black applicants.

Courage. Firm founder Bernard Segal convinced the Philadelphia bar to defend nine accused Communists pro bono. The defendants were convicted but their cases were thrown out on appeal. As a result, the Justice Department abandoned Smith Act prosecutions across the country.

The pursuit of justice. When George Wallace threatened to block integration of the University of Alabama, Schnader’s Bernard Segal drafted a statement in opposition. He and Jerome Shestack called lawyers all over the country requesting their support. The statement was published in the Birmingham News with 53 prominent lawyer signatories and provided support for President Kennedy's Executive Order federalizing the Alabama National Guard.

The pursuit of justice. In the wake of George Wallace's efforts to impede the integration of the University of Alabama, and at the urging of Schnader’s Bernard Segal, President Kennedy convened 244 lawyers at the White House to ask them to move the battle for civil rights and racial equality to the courts. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was born and Jerome Shestack became its full-time executive director while continuing to practice at Schnader.

Inclusion. Firm founder Bernard Segal was chair of the ABA’s Committee on the Federal Judiciary. He advocated the appointment of federal judges of all genders and races.

Inclusion. Firm founder Bernard Segal was the first Jewish person to serve as Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He encouraged the bar into public service and expanded its racial horizons.

Inclusion. Schnader was one of the first major Philadelphia firms to hire a female attorney.

Diversity. Schnader was a founding member of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group, which aims to increase the number of diverse attorneys in-house and in private practice.

Inclusion. The firm appointed Albert Dandridge as Chief Diversity Officer and charged him with increasing and developing our bench of diverse attorneys.

Service. The firm adopted Caton Village (now closed), a halfway house for women in Philadelphia, where we provided free legal clinics and social and educational activities for its residents.

Service. Schnader lawyers regularly represent undocumented children who were abused or abandoned by their parents. We help these children obtain guardians, stop removal proceedings, and begin the path to citizenship.

Service. As U.S. veterans waited an average of four years for a ruling on the denial of their disability benefits, Schnader attorneys led a campaign advocating for a solution to address the backlog.

The pursuit of justice. Schnader attorneys represented Guantanamo Bay detainees, advocating for fair treatment and due process against a byzantine legal landscape.

Service. With a nonprofit partner, Schnader attorneys and staff designed and taught a pilot life skills seminar for young adults aging out of the foster care system. The program included lessons on securing vital documents, opening a bank account, looking for jobs and going to an interview.

Service. Schnader attorneys help middle school students in Pittsburgh set up a youth court, prepare for mock trials and draft a bill of rights for their school. The students learn about Constitutional law, advocacy and restorative justice from participating in these programs.

Service. Bernard Segal, a founder of the firm, believed that Schnader's hallmark is its "dedication to the higher calling of the law," which he defined as "the lawyer's obligation to assume an active role in the pursuit of a just and ordered society, in helping to solve the emerging problems of social, economic and political importance, and to serve the public as his or her client, as she or he would serve a full-paying client."

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