Data Breach Litigation

Ryan Calo is the Lane Powell and D. Wayne Gittinger Professor at the University of Washington School of Law. He is a founding co-director of the interdisciplinary UW Tech Policy Lab and a co-founder of the UW Center for an Informed Public. Professor Calo holds a joint appointment at the Information School and an adjunct appointment at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering.
Professor Calo's research on law and emerging technology appears in leading law reviews (California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Duke Law Journal, UCLA Law Review, and University of Chicago Law Review) and technical publications (MIT Press, Nature, Artificial Intelligence) and is frequently referenced by the national media. His work has been translated into at least four languages.
He is of counsel to Wade Kilpela Slade LLP

Starr Turner Drum is an attorney with Polsinelli PC, where she focuses her practice on privacy and data security class action defense. Starr advises clients across industries on navigating risks related to consumer privacy claims and cybersecurity incidents. Her experience includes defending Fortune 500 companies, health care providers, educational institutions, and financial institutions in regulatory investigations, nationwide class actions, and multidistrict litigation arising from security incidents and state and federal privacy laws. She also counsels clients on compliance with evolving state and federal privacy regimes. Starr frequently writes and speaks on topics related to data privacy, class action trends, and litigation strategy. She previously taught privacy and cybersecurity law at the University of Alabama School of Law.

James Pizzirusso is a founding member of Hausfeld and Chair of the firm’s 14-person Data Breach practice group, where he has achieved national renown and unmatched success as one of the country’s preeminent plaintiff-side cybersecurity attorneys.
He has practiced in data breach and privacy litigation for over a decade and over 38 courts (including 14 MDL judges) have appointed Mr. Pizzirusso personally to leadership positions in related class actions. Through his practice, he has helped negotiate the two largest data breach settlements ever reached and has recovered well over $2 billion for victims of data breaches throughout his career.
Mr. Pizzirusso has also worked with his colleagues in the defense bar previously serving on the Steering Committee of Sedona Working Group 11 on Data Security and Privacy Liability, the mission of which is to identify and comment on trends in data security and privacy law. He has also appeared as a panelist at numerous conferences and often presents on cybersecurity, legal ethics, and consumer protection topics.

Prior to co-founding his own firm, Wade Kilpela Slade, David began his legal career first as an associate and then as a partner at the Little-Rock-based class- and complex litigation firm Carney, Bates & Pulliam, where he focused on consumer protection class actions, with an emphasis on data privacy, data security, and antitrust-adjacent areas in the tech space. In his decade with the firm, he was instrumental in developing and prosecuting first-of-their-kind cases against defendants including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Comcast, Altice, Disney, ViacomCBS, ActivisionBlizzard, and many others. His favorite cases from this period include Michael McDonald et al., v. Kiloo Aps et al., No. 17-cv-04344-JD (N.D. Cal.); Amanda Rushing et al., v. The Walt Disney Company et al., No. 17-cv-04419-JD (N.D. Cal.); and Amanda Rushing, v. Viacom Inc. et al., case no. 17-cv-04492-JD (N.D. Cal.), which were the first instance of private litigants seeking to apply and enforce online privacy standards set forth under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), and which resulted in what the New York Times called “legal settlements that could reshape the children’s app market.”
Beyond litigation related to privacy, David also has extensive experience in cases involving Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and was a co-founder of the American Association for Justice’s practice group devoted to this law and to issues surrounding litigation of online platforms. His exemplar (albeit, unsuccessful) case, Kristanalea Dyroff v. The Ultimate Software Group, Inc., No. 17-cv-05359-LB (N.D. Cal.) was one of the first to plead that Section 230 did not apply to a website accused of designing its features in a way that was harmful to its users. Since that time, David has been involved in a host of successful litigations on this issue, including as outside counsel for multiple States.