Cybersecurity & The Energy Sector: Managing Escalating Risks

Melinda McLellan works with clients to navigate complex privacy, cybersecurity, and data management issues in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment. She counsels companies of all sizes across multiple industry sectors, helping them to identify, evaluate, and manage the myriad compliance obligations associated with corporate privacy and information security practices. Melinda regularly advises on the creation, development, and implementation of global privacy and security policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines, as well as company codes of conduct and employee privacy training programs. Attentive to her clients' business needs, Melinda's proactive approach favors pragmatic, forward-thinking compliance strategies that emphasize prevention and mitigation of privacy and data security risks.

Select Experience:

• Advises clients on the development and implementation of enterprise-wide privacy and information security programs, including by creating employee privacy training modules and drafting company codes of conduct, policies, standards, procedures and guidelines related to the protection of personal data.
• Develops compliance strategies for the execution of multi-marketer and multimedia digital and mobile marketing campaigns, regularly advising on online behavioral advertising issues, CAN-SPAM Act requirements, regulations imposed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule and National Do-Not-Call Registry, and the FCC's regulations applicable to telemarketing calls and text messages.
• Counsels clients on the legal implications of various data collection and analytics technologies, including facial recognition software, in-store WiFi tracking and web-based tools used for behavioral marketing and geotargeting purposes.

Sara Goldstein focuses her practice on legal issues related to privacy and data protection. As the former vice president and general counsel of a large provider of release of information and disclosure management services, Sara was responsible for overseeing all of the company’s legal and compliance-related matters. This experience gives her a depth of knowledge regarding her clients’ needs, bringing a business-oriented perspective to her practice and allowing her to provide legal guidance that is realistic and practical for her clients. 

Sara has authored a variety of industry-related articles in publications such as the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association(AHIMA), The Group Practice Journal, Compliance Today and RACMonitor.com. She has been invited to speak to organizations across the country about release of information, compliance with federal and state medical privacy laws, and breach prevention. She is also an adjunct professor of law at Drexel University, where she teaches a course on HIPAA and patient privacy.