McDonald Hopkins Hires Privacy Atty From Miller Canfield

Business advisory and advocacy law firm McDonald Hopkins LLC has hired away the co-leader of Detroit-based Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone PLC's data privacy practice to join its own growing group of national cybersecurity lawyers.

Colin M. Battersby, who helped build Miller Canfield's cybersecurity team from the ground up, said Thursday that he made the jump to McDonald Hopkins because he was attracted to the firm's wider reach and its more-established data privacy team.

"It was going to take a special opportunity to pry me away from Miller Canfield, but I was looking to grow my cyber and privacy practice, and the abundance of work here and the platform here will allow me to grow in that space," Battersby told Law360. "It's something that I've admired from afar and now I have the opportunity to be a large part of."

Battersby joined McDonald Hopkins as counsel on March 19. He will stay based in Detroit but plans to advise clients around the country on data breach incident responses, complying with post-breach notice obligations and a host of other pressing cyberlaw issues.

The veteran attorney, who is certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, joined Miller Canfield as an associate in the commercial litigation practice shortly after earning his J.D. from Wayne State University Law School in 2007, after receiving a bachelor's in economics from the University of Michigan in 2004.

He became a principal at Miller Canfield in 2015, around the time he co-founded the firm's data privacy and cybersecurity practice. His clients included property management companies and doctor's offices responding to data breach incidents, he said, as well as companies seeking advice on how to avoid data security episodes by protecting sensitive data on the front end.  Battersby said he's also counseled clients in how to comply with the new sweeping European data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into effect May 25.

McDonald Hopkins, in a press release, touted Battersby's experience working with company executives and digital forensic investigators to respond to data security incidents, complying with America's smattering of state data breach notification laws, responding to specific contractual obligations, drafting and coordinating the delivery of required notices and advising on post-breach remedial measures.

"We are very excited to add Colin to our data privacy and cybersecurity team," said James J. Giszczak, chair of McDonald Hopkins' litigation department and co-chair of the data privacy and cybersecurity practice group. "His wide spectrum of data protection and cybersecurity knowledge, experience and capabilities are an excellent fit for the needs of our clients."

Click here to read the full article in Law360.