Melinda McLellan joins New York office as Counsel

BakerHostetler announced that Melinda McLellan has joined the firm in the New York office, where she will practice as a member of the Chambers-ranked Privacy and Data Protection team. She joins a premier practice well known for effectively managing data security incidents, responding to regulatory investigations, and defending class actions. McLellan comes to BakerHostetler from the privacy practice of Hunton & Williams.

BakerHostetler’s Privacy and Data Protection team is a cross-disciplinary practice of 40 attorneys who counsel clients nationally and internationally from offices in New York, Washington, D.C., California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. Built from a foundation of security incident response and regulatory defense, the team has helped organizations respond to more than 750 data breaches. That experience has created a high demand for proactive compliance counseling, and BakerHostetler has continued to build that side of the team. McLellan’s move is the latest in a line of high-profile lateral additions who have joined this year, including Randy Gainer in Seattle, Tanya Forsheit, Scott Koller, and Alan Friel in Los Angeles, and Eric Packel in Philadelphia. These attorneys expand and enhance the firm’s proactive service offerings to our clients, which are focused on minimizing risk and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements related to data collection, use, sharing, retention, and security practices.

McLellan focuses her practice on privacy and cybersecurity issues, with an emphasis on the development of  enterprise-wide privacy and information management programs for clients in diverse industries, including financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, retail, transportation, energy, technology, mobile marketing, and online advertising. She works to mitigate potential compliance and reputational risks facing the companies she counsels by advising them on the legal complexities of emerging technologies, identifying issues that will impact their organizations, and designing pragmatic and cost-effective solutions to facilitate the integration of those technologies to maximize the benefits to their businesses.

“Melinda brings increased depth to our Privacy and Data Protection team. She has extensive experience in developing compliance strategies as technology evolves,” said Ted Kobus, Co-Leader of the firm’s Privacy and Data Protection team. “Each new addition to our team is a direct result of client demand.”

McLellan brings with her significant experience in the strategic development and implementation of multi-marketer and multimedia digital and mobile marketing campaigns. She frequently advises her clients on issues concerning the use of online behavioral advertising tools, CAN-SPAM Act requirements, regulations imposed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule and National Do-Not-Call Registry, and the Federal Communication Commission’s regulations regarding telemarketing calls and text messages. McLellan’s breach response and crisis management experience informs her work with clients that are developing employee privacy training, company codes of conduct, policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines related to the protection of personal data.

“Our clients in New York and across the country will benefit from Melinda’s deep privacy compliance experience and regulatory savvy,” said George Stamboulidis, Managing Partner of the firm’s New York office. “She is an excellent addition to our already strong team of attorneys working in this highly dynamic space.”

“I am excited to join BakerHostetler as the firm pursues its aggressive and thoughtful development of this area of the practice. I look forward to working with the firm’s clients to provide a holistic and proactive approach to managing their privacy and security issues,” said McLellan.

McLellan is a 2005 graduate of Harvard Law School where she served as Executive Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. She received her B.A. in Political Science and French Studies from Rice University in 2000. New York Super Lawyers has selected McLellan as a “Rising Star” for the past three years in a row.