Washington, D.C., March 9, 2006 – Morrison & Foerster is pleased to announce that Leonardo Cervera Navas, Administrator for the European Commission, and Jay Cline, Data Privacy Officer for Carlson Companies, are the recipients of the second annual Barbara Wellbery Memorial Award. 

The Barbara Wellbery Memorial Fund, established in 2003 to honor the memory of Barbara Wellbery and her contributions to the field of international privacy, seeks to encourage the development of pragmatic and practical approaches to privacy and managing cross border data flows.  A former partner at Morrison & Foerster, Barbara Wellbery was well-respected for her in-depth knowledge of privacy issues, and strong commitment to fostering international understanding of differing privacy approaches around the world.  She was the chief architect and negotiator of the safe harbor privacy accord with the European Union.  Ms. Wellbery passed away in 2003 after a long illness.

"Barbara Wellbery was a visionary on international privacy issues," said Miriam Wugmeister, partner at Morrison & Foerster’s New York office and member of the Award Selection Committee.  "The intention of The Morrison & Foerster Foundation, in creating this award, was to promote and sustain her approach—to always keep in mind how the law will be used and implemented in the real world.  The work by Mr. Cervera Navas and Mr. Cline contributes to the efforts to find a practical global solution for international information flows.  We are delighted to present them with the Barbara Wellbery Memorial Award."

This is the first year that the board has selected two submissions to share the 2005 award.  One paper, by Leonardo Cervera Navas, promotes the use of existing laws regulating unfair commercial practices as a means to enforce corporate privacy rules or codes of conduct; the other paper, by Jay Cline, advances the idea of an international privacy framework and lays out possible privacy principles, negotiating for, and potential participants in such a system.  Because the international privacy community continues to struggle to find a global solution for data transfers, the board wishes to advance the debate and work towards a workable solution. We believe that these two papers in combination advance the debate.

For this award, Mr. Cerveras Navas and Mr. Cline received a total of $3,000 and their papers will be published in the International Review of Law Computers & Technology and by the International Association of Privacy Professionals.