Kate Heinzelman

KATE HEINZELMAN is a member of Sidley’s Privacy and Cybersecurity, Healthcare and Commercial Litigation groups. Her practice focuses on investigations, counseling, and litigation on technology, privacy, and regulatory matters, particularly in the healthcare and life sciences sectors.

Representative matters include:

• Coordinating a multidisciplinary, global rapid data breach response effort for a multinational company; 
• Conducting data-driven healthcare fraud and abuse investigation;  
• Designing cybersecurity and data privacy compliance programs and procedures;  
• Working with clients across industries on data security incident and crisis response; and
• Counseling healthcare, life sciences, and technology companies on complex regulatory and enforcement matters.

Kate also maintains an active pro bono practice. Among other matters, she has:

• Briefed, argued, and won In Re Estate of Rosa North Ford (No. 17-PR-463) (D.C. Jan. 31, 2019), which established an individual’s right in the District of Columbia to inherit as an heir from an intestate’s estate under equitable principles; and 
• Briefed, as amici curiae, challenge to constituent Facebook blocking on First Amendment grounds in Davison v. Randall (No. 17-2003) (4th Cir. Jan. 7, 2019), the first decision by a federal appellate court to address the First Amendment’s application to officials’ social media accounts.

Kate brings to her practice substantial experience working with a broad range of government agencies and federal programs across the national security, healthcare, and energy and environmental fields. Before joining Sidley, Kate was Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Health & Human Services. While there, she oversaw a variety of projects and agencies, including components of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Public Health Division, the Office for Civil Rights and the Office of the National Coordinator. Before joining the Department of Health & Human Services, Kate worked in the White House Counsel’s Office as Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to President Barack Obama. In this role, she advised the President and his Administration on crisis response, national security, privacy and technology, energy, and environmental matters. Kate also served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice, where she provided counsel to departmental leadership on national security operational and litigation matters as part of the division’s front office.

Kate served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. on the U.S. Supreme Court.