Pillsbury Senior Counsel Catherine Meyer is recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. as an authority on data protection, privacy and cyber law.

Cathie’s Los Angeles-based practice is focused on advising clients on compliance with state, federal and international data protection and privacy statutes and regulations regarding the collection, use, sale, transfer and sharing of customer information for commercial purposes, including the General Data Protection (GDPR) in Europe, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the United States. She assists when personal information is compromised and advises on responding to data breaches.

Cathies counsels clients on privacy issues associated with digital marketing and advertising. She also has experience conducting privacy and data security due diligence in the course of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions.

Representative Experience

  • Advised multiple U.S. and international public and private companies in connection with compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act and similar legislation, from risk assessment and data mapping, through public disclosures and compliant response processes.
  • Handled data security breach investigation and response for various travel industry, hospitality, manufacturers, retailers and nonprofits.
  • Advised multiple retail and financial services companies in connection with ransomware attacks.

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  • Represented financial services providers, retailers, restaurants and other companies in connection with the massive Anthem health information and Target data security breaches.
  • Assisted various clients with revisions to privacy policies and other privacy-related tasks, including risk assessments, comprehensive information security plans and related procedures, and incident response planning and testing.
  • Advised a mass transit organization on cyber-privacy issues following hacker attacks on the organization’s websites.
  • Represented a health facility in handling a data security breach after storage tapes and a laptop containing more than 300,000 people’s personally identifiable information were stolen from an employee’s car.
  • Provided investigation and data breach notification support to a learning software client when it experienced a data break-in by a computer hacker that compromised approximately 40,000 personally identifiable records.
  • Representing a European producer of online video games with operations in the United States on a consumer class action alleging violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA).
  • Assisted in the successful defense of a class action defendant in California, which raised claims that the defendant unlawfully encoded employees’ social security numbers in their company-issued identification cards.
  • Represented a credit union in arbitration against a technology vendor in connection with a data breach.
  • Represented a financial institution in relation to international data protection and privacy compliance, as well as with a state enforcement agency investigation in connection with a data loss.
  • Advised several U.S. and international financial institutions in handling data breach response and oversaw forensic investigation for these incidents. This is in addition to dozens of clients across various industries where Pillsbury conducted similar services.
  • Assisted a national retailer in connection with a denial-of-service cyberattack. This includes advising the company on data breach issues arising from the attack and securing insurance coverage for costs stemming from the incident.
  • Assisted multiple technology, retail, and energy companies in audit of privacy and data protection practices to ensure compliance with stated policies as well as outside regulatory or legal requirements.
  • Represented various interactive video game developers in preparing data security policies and procedures, including data breach response plans, for the companies’ smart phone applications.

Professional Highlights

Honors and Awards

  • The Legal 500 U.S., Cyber Law (2017 2019) and Data Protection & Data Breach (2017 2019)

Speaking Engagements

  • Third Party Risk Peer Exchange, Navigant, April 10, 2019, teleconference
  • California's new Consumer Privacy Act versus the GDPR – What you need to know for compliance before 1st January 2020, i-4 Forum 96, February 26, 2019, Seattle

Education

  • J.D., Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, 1979

    B.A., Bryn Mawr College, 1973

Admissions

  • California