William J. Roberts

William "Bill" Roberts assists clients in developing and implementing data security systems and processes and negotiates vendor agreements that minimize the risk of data theft, piracy, hacking and ransomware attacks. He has advised manufacturers, retailers, media and technology companies, software and mobile app developers, educational institutions and other organizations on technology transactions, including the development and launch of new technology products and services. Bill has extensive, practical experience counseling clients worldwide on all aspects of cybersecurity protection and incident response, from handling data breaches affecting millions of individuals, to helping publicly traded corporations, privately held businesses and not-for-profit organizations establish compliance programs under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and related U.S. federal and state data privacy and consumer protection regimes. He has represented clients in hundreds of national and international data breach matters of all sizes and involving consumer and proprietary business information.

In the face of a suspected or actual data breach, Bill helps clients understand and comply with applicable reporting requirements and provides representation during investigations before or in connection with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Secret Service, the White House, U.S. attorney's office, state attorneys general and state departments of insurance. Among recent high-profile, broad impact matters, Bill counseled a U.K. company that suffered a global data breach and represented the target of one of the largest-known HIPAA "business associate" breaches by helping the client to avoid any penalties.

Bill is a Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP), and certified as an Information Privacy Professional/US (CIPP/US) and Information Privacy Manager (CIPM). His experience spans the gamut of privacy laws and regulations, including HIPPA/HITECH; Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB); Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TPA); EU General Data Protection (GDPR); New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) Cybersecurity Regulation; Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA); Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA); California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA); and Biometrics.