Stephen W. McInerney

STEVE McINERNEY is an associate in the firm’s Chicago office. His practice focuses on matters related to privacy and cybersecurity law, including data breach and cyber incident response, evolving domestic and international privacy and data protection laws, data use and sharing questions, and internal investigations regarding privacy and cybersecurity issues. He is an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional/U.S.

Steve also represents clients in litigation, and has experience with contract disputes and class actions involving state law claims for fraud and deceptive practices.

Some of Steve’s recent experience includes:

• Assisting corporations with preparation for and responses to sophisticated cybersecurity incidents.
• Advising companies on California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) compliance issues and developing CCPA preparedness programs.
• Conducting internal investigations involving privacy, data security and regulatory compliance guidance.
• Diligence counseling for mergers related to data security and privacy risks.
• Responding to inquiries and subpoenas from state attorneys generals, the Federal Communications Commission and Congressional Committees regarding privacy and cybersecurity issues.
• Advising U.S. and EU companies on cross-border data transfer and cloud computing issues, including compliance with the GDPR.

Steve maintains an active pro bono practice. His recent experience includes representing an individual in a two-day criminal trial and representing pro se litigants in trials before the Cook County Circuit Court. He also completed a Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) Graduate Fellowship at Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice.

Steve graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he won first place in the nationwide Food and Drug Law Institute’s H. Thomas Austern Memorial Writing Competition. Prior to law school, Steve worked for three years at the U.S. Department of Justice as the lead analyst on multiple complex criminal investigations of major pharmaceutical companies relating to violations of FDCA off-label marketing provisions.