Patterson Belknap Partners Speak on Panama Papers and Law Firm Cyber Risk at SCG Annual Meeting

Patterson Belknap litigation partners Michael F. Buchanan and Craig A. Newman will be speaking at the State Capital Group’s Annual Meeting on September 15, 2016 in Boston.  The SCG is a global network of 148 preeminent law firms located in 82 countries.  Mr. Newman, chair of Patterson Belknap’s Data Security, will moderate the panel, “Changing Norms in Global Privacy: Emerging Issues & Law Firm Risks.”  Mr. Buchanan, a former federal prosecutor, will serve on the panel, which will focus on the disclosure of more than 11 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca and the steps law firms are taking globally to protect client information.  The panel will also discuss the general cyber threat environment and what risks have emerged over the past year as well as a lawyer’s ethical obligations to safeguard the confidentiality of client information.  Finally, the panel will review the often conflicting regulatory framework authorities have invoked in the U.S. and E.U. to safeguard client data and the implications of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s ruling in Microsoft v. United States.  Messrs. Buchanan and Newman will be joined by Austin Berglas, former assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Cyber Branch in the bureau’s New York office, who is now a senior managing director and head of K2 Intelligence’s Cyber Defense practice, and Stephan Menzemer, a partner with expertise in international data security issues, with the German law firm, Graf von Westphalen.