Chambers 2021 Global Practice Guides for Data Protection & Privacy and Cybersecurity Available
The updated 2021 Chambers Global Practice Guides for Data Protection & Privacy and Cybersecurity, edited by Alan Charles Raul, are available now, covering important developments across the globe and offer insightful legal commentary for businesses. Read the introductions to each Guide here and here.
Sidley Ranked in Chambers Global 2021
We are proud to announce that Sidley received 83 practice area rankings and 119 lawyer rankings in the 2021 edition of Chambers Global. Of these, 16 practice area rankings and 14 lawyer rankings were in Band 1.
Sidley’s Privacy and Cybersecurity practice received two honors. Partner Alan Raul is ranked Band 1 for Privacy & Data Security (USA). The practice is also newly ranked in the Data Protection category.
The annual Chambers Global guide provides analyses of legal practitioners around the world based on in-depth interviews with clients and in-house counsel.
Preparing Your 2020 Form 10-K: A Summary of Recent Key Disclosure Developments, Priorities, and Trends
This Sidley Practice Note highlights certain key disclosure considerations for preparing your annual report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2020, including recent amendments to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosure rules and other developments that will affect 2020 Form 10-K filings as well as certain significant disclosure trends and current areas of SEC staff focus for disclosures. Appendix A to this Practice Note sets forth a summary checklist of significant Regulation S-K amendments affecting 2020 Form 10-K filings, which are discussed in further detail. As always, we invite you to contact us with any questions on these topics or any other SEC reporting and compliance matters.
Congratulations to Sidley’s Newly-Elected Partners
Congratulations to our 28 colleagues, including Clayton Northouse, for their election to the Sidley Austin partnership. Clay represents companies that have suffered cybersecurity attacks and consumer privacy incidents and has developed multidimensional defenses to litigation, congressional inquiries, and regulatory investigations. He has experience in the use of cybersecurity forensics and the investigation of sophisticated international incidents. In addition to counseling companies regarding their compliance with the full range of data protection laws, Clay also helps companies assess the legal implications of deploying novel communication and digital technologies. Clay has been a driving force in guiding Sidley’s privacy and cybersecurity diligence for significant M&A and private equity transactions.
The Seventh Edition of The Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity Law Review is Now Available
The seventh edition of The Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity Law Review takes a look at the evolving global privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity landscape in a time of unique workplace challenges, new dimensions to cybercrime, significant new data protection regimes coming into effect around the world, and increased scrutiny from regulators, Boards of Directors and customers. Several lawyers from Sidley’s global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice have contributed to this publication. See the chapters below for a closer look at this developing area of law.
Guidelines Published for Changes to the Singapore Data Privacy Regime
On November 20, 2020, the Singapore Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) published a set of draft advisory guidelines (the Advisory Guidelines) to provide clarification on recent amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act (the PDPA Amendments). We have summarized the PDPA Amendments in our previous client Update. The Advisory Guidelines address operational details on key amendments, as summarized below.
Sidley Receives Four Awards at the 2020 Who’s Who Legal Awards
In recognition of the exceptional caliber of the firm’s work, Who’s Who Legal honored Sidley with two “Firm of the Year” awards and two “Country Firm of the Year” awards at its 2020 Who’s Who Legal Awards. The annual ceremony identifies the firms that stand apart from others in practice areas of law.
California Privacy Law Overhaul – Proposition 24 Passes
The results are in, and California voters have approved the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) which was listed on the ballot as Proposition 24. The law, most of which does not go into effect until January 1, 2023, will substantially overhaul and amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which went into effect just this year, on January 1, 2020, with final regulations issued just a few months ago, on August 14, 2020. And indeed, CCPA obligations continue to evolve, with proposed amendments to the regulations proposed by the Attorney General’s Office mid-October 2020.
Former U.S. Associate Deputy Attorney General Sujit Raman Joins Sidley in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. – Sidley is pleased to announce that Sujit Raman joined the firm as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Raman will be a member of the Privacy and Cybersecurity practice group, and will contribute to the firm’s globally regarded litigation, national security, and trade practices.
The EU’s Highest Court Announces Significant Decision Regarding Cross-Border Data Flows: Invalidates EU-US Privacy Shield Program and Upholds Standard Contractual Clauses
In a decision with significant implications for international trade and cross-border data flows, the EU’s highest court – the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) ruled on 16 July 2020 that a key legal mechanism (called the EU-US Privacy Shield program) used to enable transfers of personal data from the European Union (“EU”) was invalid, while also potentially requiring additional protections to be implemented when another key transfer mechanism (called Standard Contractual Clauses) is used. The case – Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland, Max Schrems (“Schrems II”) – considered the validity of the EU-US Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”) program (a privacy certification made available for US organizations through an agreement between the European Commission and the US government) and Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCC”) (a form of international data transfer agreement made available for use by the European Commission).