James P. Melendres to Serve as Advisor to the Study Committee on Data Breach Notification

PHOENIX - Jan. 2, 2018 - PRLog -- Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce that partner James P. Melendres has been recommended by the ABA's Section of Business Law to serve as an advisor to the Study Committee on Data Breach Notification. The study is being conducted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (ULC), who invited the ABA's participation.

ULC provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. The ULC study committees review an assigned area of law in light of defined criteria and recommend whether ULC should proceed with a draft on that subject. Study committees focus their research on assessing the extent and nature of potential opposition or support for uniform legislation, recommending what the scope of the project should be, and assessing the feasibility of legislative enactment. In the past, ABA advisors have not been appointed at the study committee stage since these committees typically do not meet in-person. Rather than appointing ABA advisors to study committees, ABA entities with comments or suggestions on topics being reviewed by study committees were encouraged to submit written comments to study committee chairs. In the fall of 2008, ULC made the decision to accept ABA advisors to some study committees.

At Snell & Wilmer, Melendres is co-chair of the Cybersecurity, Data Protection and Privacy practice and the White Collar Defense and Investigations practice. Prior to joining Snell & Wilmer, Melendres served in the leadership offices at the Department of Justice as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General where he oversaw legal and policy issues regarding sensitive cyber matters. He also led some of the Justice Department's most high-profile and complex matters, including the prosecution of former Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus for mishandling classified information and making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In his cybersecurity practice, Melendres leverages his substantial prosecutorial background and experience with data security and cybercrime matters to help clients across a spectrum of industries manage cybersecurity risks and respond to cyber-attacks. His experience positions him well to protect companies both before and after a data breach, including conducting pre-breach security and privacy assessments, leading tabletop exercises and breach simulations, coordinating crisis management and incident response, advising on breach notification, and defending companies in breach-related litigation and regulatory proceedings. He has unique experience for advising companies about post-attack regulatory enforcement actions and private litigation. Additionally, Melendres' experience makes him valuable to companies responding to government demands for information about their customers and subscribers pursuant to a variety of electronic surveillance statutes, and gives him a wealth of knowledge for advising emerging virtual currency companies regarding anti-money laundering (AML) requirements and other regulatory compliance obligations.

During his tenure at the Department of Justice, Melendres advised the Assistant Attorney General on legal and policy issues involving cyber matters, including sophisticated network intrusions, corporate breaches, digital espionage, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against critical infrastructure, cyber extortion, and ransomware threats. Additionally, he served as the Justice Department's representative to the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), a multi-agency fusion center that serves as the national focal point for integrating and sharing information related to all domestic cyber threat investigations. Melendres also led multiple large-scale cyber investigations involving the distribution of sophisticated malware and the subsequent exfiltration of proprietary business information from corporate victims.

About Snell & Wilmer
Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 400 attorneys practicing in nine locations throughout the western United States and in Mexico, including Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles and Orange County, California; Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Los Cabos, Mexico. The firm represents clients ranging from large, publicly traded corporations to small businesses, individuals and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.swlaw.com.