The National Law Journal recently honored McGuireWoods partner Janet Peyton as a Technology Trailblazer, recognizing her achievements as a go-to lawyer for corporate clients on all aspects of data privacy law.
As momentum builds for a federal privacy law governing how businesses handle consumers’ personal information, Peyton advised the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the nation’s largest business lobbying group — on crafting model legislation that would pre-empt a patchwork of inconsistent state laws. In the NLJ’s profile, Peyton said the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) were “huge catalysts pushing us toward some sort of national legislation.”
“We need to find a way to fold more protection into the U.S. model,” Peyton told the NLJ. “The U.S. Chamber draft has made great strides in that area. I’m proud to have helped build that.”
Data privacy and security have been integral to Peyton’s practice for more than two decades. She advises clients — from energy companies to manufacturers to elite U.S. boarding schools — on preventive data security and compliance issues in the aftermath of a breach. She also serves as McGuireWoods’ United States liaison on U.S.-EU cross-border data transfer matters and counsels U.S. clients on compliance with GDPR. She has led the firm’s work on more than a dozen data breach matters over the past two years.
In addition to her data privacy and security practice, Peyton leads McGuireWoods’ transactional intellectual property group. She handles technology-related transactions, sophisticated IT procurement contracts and enterprise software licenses for corporate licensees and buyers.
McGuireWoods’ global data privacy and security industry team advises clients on protecting the integrity of their systems, networks and data; developing programs to harness and manage their information; and navigating post-breach investigations and remediation efforts. The firm earned a nationwide ranking for cyber law in the 2019 edition of The Legal 500 United States.