Linda Clark is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Privacy + Data Security Group. Prior to joining the firm, Linda served as the Chief Data Security Counsel for RELX, where she led the data security legal compliance efforts for RELX in over 40 countries and across their operations in four different market segments worldwide. Prior to that, Linda was a litigator at a large New York law firm. She has over 20 years’ experience advising clients, including on data security best practices and obligations, designing and implementing frameworks for compliance across large multinational organizations, and in complex litigation and regulatory matters.

Linda’s practice centers on crafting strategic and comprehensive data security risk management programs, providing business-focused and practical advice, and leveraging her knowledge and deep experience to help organizations and their stakeholders, at all levels, prepare for and respond to incidents on a global and operationally feasible basis. This includes working with clients to proactively prepare for cyber incidents, including by developing incident response programs and risk assessment methodologies and conducting tabletop exercises for global audiences of varying seniority and responsibility. This comprehensive approach to incident readiness helps organizations hone the skills they will need to support critical decision making in high-stakes situations, allowing organizations to implement and leverage an incident response framework that goes beyond legal compliance and supports ethical decision-making.

A defining aspect of Linda’s counsel is her ability to translate complex legal issues into actionable advice while accounting for the myriad and diverse concerns of stakeholders at all levels of an organization. She combines an in-depth understanding of technology and cybersecurity with knowledge of the challenges and opportunities clients face when addressing real-world issues. She has a broad command of global privacy and data security laws, having worked on matters in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, China, Austria, Brazil, the Philippines, and Germany. She frequently engages with regulators and law enforcement, enabling her to understand and navigate regulatory reviews, third-party audits, and investigations on behalf of her clients around the globe.

An industry thought leader, Linda frequently speaks at conferences and educational institutions and is sought out by leading publications and think tanks for her analysis on timely data security and privacy issues, including the American Bar Association (ABA) Cyber Security Institute on topics such as ethical obligations to secure client information, cybersecurity risks, trends in the law relating to data security, and risk management and minimization strategies. Linda also speaks at schools and universities to educate younger generations about safeguarding their digital identities. Additionally, Linda works with leading U.S. nonpartisan, nonprofit law-and-policy think tank, the Sedona Conference, where she has served on the Data Security and Privacy Liability Leadership Council since 2017.

Linda graduated cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. While at Barnard, Linda was a Research Assistant for the Human Learning and Memory lab, and also focused her studies on human and primate cognition. She is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and a Steering Committee Member, New York City Bar’s Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Miami Chapter of “Women in the Profession.” She previously served on the Steering Committee for the Cybersecurity Leaders’ Roundtable as well as on the Executive Committee of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.