Jennifer A. Beckage, Esq., CIPP/US, CIPP/E

Jennifer A. Beckage, Esq., CIPP/US, CIPP/E is a former tech business owner, former public company executive over tech products, recognized for the last six years as one of the Top 50 Data Breach Lawyers in the US, a Best Lawyer in America©, multiple year recipient of SuperLawyer© designation for technology and litigation, and counsel to some of the globe’s largest organizations, brands, not-for-profits, celebrities, high-net-worth individuals, and Fortune 100 companies.

As noted in a recent feature on her in SuperLawyers©, Beckage's career trajectory is a testament to reinvention and innovation, which she leverages to help her clients also reinvent and innovate within their own organizations.

Law firm founder Beckage focuses her law practice on innovation and technology, with a recognized focus on data security and privacy and incident response. Throughout her legal career, she has responded to numerous headline-making, national and international cybersecurity incidents and counseled organizations of all sizes.

Beckage is a frequent contributor to the global conversation surrounding crisis response, speaking at several legal and cybersecurity industry events. She also is interviewed by global media on topics related to technology, crisis response, and data security.

Beckage is a Certified Information Privacy Professional, United States (CIPP/US) and Certified Information Privacy Professional, Europe (CIPP/E). She also received MIT "Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy" Certification in 2020.

Prior to her legal career, Beckage owned and led technology companies, one of which she helped lead to the sale to a publicly traded company. That telecommunications company retained her as an executive overseeing cutting-edge technical products and services and operations.

Entrepreneur

Although a lawyer, at her core, Beckage is an entrepreneur. Those who work with her see first-hand her intense passion for tech and law, high energy, and enthusiasm to help others. But Beckage also has been in her clients’ shoes. She has taken her own personal ideas from concept to exit and monetization. This is a lawyer who has done it herself many times, with a great track record of success, and very long-time loyal clients and teams.

Beckage has founded and sold businesses from idea to exit, holds a patent, and has helped counsel and support entrepreneurs and founders. She has been able to formulate business services and products, assemble teams, create entities, and run very fast-growing profitable businesses. Beckage also has been a long-time board member of LaunchNY, which provides support to high-growth entities and their founders.

Beckage's own professional career demonstrates her ability to take risks, pivot, innovate, and challenge herself. This attitude is reflected in her advice to clients who deeply respect her perspective and ability to think outside the box.

Career Highlights

Former Tech Business Owner

Beckage made a name for herself by leading a rapidly growing tech company in the DotCom era. Beckage and her entrepreneurial team developed cutting-edge technologies, essentially "writing the books" on new emerging programming languages. She helped lead that organization to the successful sale to a publicly traded company, where she was retained as an executive.

Public Company Executive

After Beckages's tech company was acquired by a publicly traded telecommunications company, seeking to expend into various technical services, she was retained by that company as an executive overseeing various technology products and services.

Specifically, as Vice President of Operations she oversaw development and implementation of technical services and product lines across 11 states servicing Fortune 500 clients. She facilitated the development of new products and services, made operational improvements, and expanded on the company's current customized internet-based offerings.

NY Law Firm Partner – Creates Data Security & Privacy and Crisis Management Teams

Having owned and sold a tech company during transformative technological explosion (the explosive use of internet-based technologies), and personally going through due diligence of selling a company, Beckage realized that there were very few in the legal profession that understood tech, much less the internet's capabilities and emerging technologies. In fact, many attorneys were not exposed to or did not understand network systems, databases, and data transfers--so, Jennifer saw an opportunity. Law never seems to keep up with technology, but since she knew technology, she could try to help get ahead of applications of the law and emerging laws as it relates to tech. Thus, Jennifer went to law school. Seeing an untapped market, an opportunity to reinvent and pivot, she focused on building a tech legal practice. At this time, tech and data security and privacy-focused courses were not available, much less (yet) a global conversation.

Beckage quickly became an equity partner at a regional NY law firm that had nearly 200 attorneys and offices in eight cities. She created the firm's Data Security and Privacy and Crisis Management Teams. When global data breaches first started to occur on a large scale, Beckage, with her unique background of law and tech, was a sought after tech lawyer. Her Data Security and Privacy Practice grew exponentially. She immediately gained national recognition for handling data security and privacy and technology issues. She also became a sought-after speaker and writer on the topic.

Beckage was one of the first classes of the annual peer-based recognition of Top Data Breach Lawyer in the United States by Cybersecurity Docket for her practice in the space (2018).

In addition to her tech and crisis counseling, Beckage also leverages her extensive business and tech background to advise clients on all aspects of business growth from product development, contracts, transactions, audits and investigations, and other matters. Entrepreneurs and founders sought her advice on how to build organizations, and she provided not just legal, but practical advice.

Following some of the largest first breaches and class actions in 2015-2017, Beckage pivitoed with the opening of a women-owned data security and privacy law firm.

Founder of The Beckage Firm

Beckage is leverging her prior crisis response experience (for data breaches and for addressing past personal health struggles), to have a hyper-focused firm where she can help organizations innovate, with data security and privacy top of mind, and help executives and others who have personal and professional security privacy matters that they would like to address with counsel.

Being intimately involved in some of the globe's largest privacy and data security events and disputes, and learning lessons from her own past personal health challenges, Beckage is determined that the the war on cyber and the measured process of innovating with tech is going to rapidly change once again.

Forecasting the rise in defense against cyber events, the evolution of technology, and opportunities to innovate, Beckage once again pivoted to prepare for the new data landscape.

The Beckage Firm was created to help organizations innovate, while adapting to a changing economic, technology, and threat landscapes.

Recognized: One of The Top Data Breach Lawyers in U.S. for The Past Four Years

Recognized in 2018, 2019, 2020, and again in 2021 as one of the Top 40 data breach attorneys in the United States by Cybersecurity Docket, Jennifer A. Beckage is part of the inaugural class of this award, and only one of a handful of people to earn the recognition for four years in a row.

This peer-evaluated award comes after "nominations, input from numerous senior lawyers in the field, and considerable research" to determine "the 40 best and brightest data breach response lawyers" in the country (Cybersecurity Docket). This award is in recognition of her representation of clients in some of the most significant data breach responses in the United States.

Beckage has significant data breach and privacy law experience, including representing clients in complex litigation, class actions, and internal and government investigations.

She is a regular contributor on topics of data security and privacy, information governance, and cyber security, and speaks at major industry and association events on these and other topics.

Beckage is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional, United States (CIPP/US) and Certified Information Privacy Professional, Europe (CIPP/E) as certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She was one of the first law firm attorneys in upstate New York to have a CIPP certification. Once again, being ahead of the curve as today numerous attorneys and other professionals carry the certifications.

She has received an MIT "Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy" Certification, taught master data scientists at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2021, and is a regular contributor and speaker on AI and innovation topics, including data breaches.

Top 40 incident response Cybersecurity Docket

Educator/Speaker

Jennifer Beckage has spoken at universities, masters programs, law schools, private schools, and other educational institutions on data security and privacy, technology and innovation, entrepreneurship, women leadership, and supporting underrepresented classes in STEM.

In 2021, she was a professor of a masters course on data security, privacy, AI, and ethics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities, including the State University of New York system and Duke University.

She is also a regular speaker on supporting underrepresented classes in STEM, encouraging entrepreneurship, and resilience in a crisis.

Beckage does not just teach, she also continues to educate herself. Beckage completed an artificial intelligence (AI) certificate program at MIT.

Recognitions and Thought Leadership

One of the Top 40 Incident Response Attorneys in the U.S., Cybersecurity Docket's 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Incident Response Recipient

Cybsecurity Docket's Incident Response 40 is, after peer review and independent evaluation, a list of the "best and brightest Incident Response legal and compliance professionals in the industry".


2022 Best Lawyers in America© for Electronic Discovery and Information Management Law

Jennifer A. Beckage, Esq., CIPP/US, CIPP/E has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the 2022 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America© for her work in Electronic Discovery and Information Management Law.

Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review.  The methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.

Best Lawyers 2022

Featured in SuperLawyers©

Rated by Super Lawyers

Jennifer A. Beckage, Esq., CIPP/US, CIPP/E was interviewed and featured in an article published in the 2021 edition of Upstate New York Super Lawyers Magazine entitled, "Tech Support: Before She Was a Tech Lawyer, Jennifer Beckage Was in on the Internet's Ground Floor". The article chronicles her pre-law career building tech start ups in the early years of the digital era.

Read the Article


Jennifer has also been recognized as a Super Lawyer in the Technology Transactions category in 2019, 2020, and 2021. She was one of the only attorneys named for the Tech Transactions category. Before that, she was an Upstate New York Super Lawyers® Rising Star 2013-2018.


Other Awards/Recognition


     
    • Recipient, 2020 Ignite Award - Honoring Female Entrepreneurs
    • Named "Top 10 Innovative Alumni", by State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, Aug. 2019

    Top 10 Innovative Alumni

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    • Named the "Woman in Technology" Infotech WNY, BETA annual awards, May 2019
    • Named "Top 25 Women of Influence," Buffalo Business First, 2018
    Read the Article
     
    • Make-A-Wish Hero – Over 10 years of granting wishes
    Make a Wish Hero

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    • Honoree of the New York State Bar Association 2011 Empire State Counsel® Program for Pro Bono Work
    • Winner of Business First's 2014 "40 Under 40" Award Winner of Business First's 2014 "40 Under 40" Award
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Experience

Innovation

    • Jennifer is sought after by numerous brands and startups to determine viability of ideas and teams and how to monetize and protect their ventures.
    • She guides companies in developing various strategies, including adapting new technologies, while still working to comply with international, federal, and state laws and regulations.
    • She is a lecturer on innovation and has had a myriad of personal success with her innovative ideas.

Data Security and Privacy Compliance, Policies, and Programs

    • Jennifer develops robust data security and privacy compliance programs.
    • She creates and edits policies, procedures, and plans for data security, privacy, online and mobile app use, and AI use review and audits.
    • Jennifer also designs other organizational policies, such as record retention plans, third-party vendor management programs, online disclosures, training programs, risk assessments, contracts, cloud arrangements, and other data transfer and storage agreements.

Data Breach – Incident Response

    • Jennifer responds to numerous data security incidents, cyberattacks, ransomware, and privacy breaches by providing legal and risk mitigation advice while coordinating appropriate technical and other teams to respond and stand up operations again.
    • For organizations of all sizes and across all industries, she responds to numerous headline-making, national and international data breaches.
    • She guides clients through data incident response from containment, mitigation, root cause analysis, forensics, public relations, and standing the organization back up again after an incident.
    • Jennifer represents clients in federal and state litigation, and class action defense, including in some of the globe's largest data privacy litigation.
    • She represents clients in regulatory investigations and inquires.

Training/Table Top Exercises (TTX)

    • Jennifer performs, under privilege, a particular table top exercise for IT and executive teams and to test IT policies and incident response capabilities.
    • For international brands across the world, she has developed approaches to cybersecurity preparedness from table-top exercises to board and management training.
    • Jennifer is routinely asked meet with IT teams and the in-house legal teams to help bridge gaps and foster dialogue on cost effective but high impact solutions.

Board and C-Level Presentations

    • Jennifer advises publicly traded companies, private enterprises, and educational institutions, their boards of directors, and their management teams on technology, innovation, resilience, data security, privacy, emerging laws, and incident response preparedness and data breach disclosure requirements.

Federal and State Privacy Litigation and Class Actions

    • Jennifer has represented clients in federal and state data breach and privacy litigation, including defending clients in putative class actions.
    • She has also represented clients across the country in headline-making data breach and privacy litigations.
Membership and Admissions
    • New York State
    • United States District Court, EDNY
    • United States District Court, WDNY
    • United States District Court, NDNY
    • United States District Court, SDNY
Education
    • MIT Sloan School of Management, "Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy" Certification, 2020
    • State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 2007
      (In 2019, named one of top 10 most innovative alumni)
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    • State University of New York at Buffalo, B.S., 1999
Charitable Experience

Make-A-Wish (2000 to Present), Certified Wish Granter to over 100 families, helping the child identify the wish, and then work with the family and Make-A-Wish to help execute the wish, whether it is a room make over or meeting a celebrity, Jennifer is a hands-on Certified Wish Granter.


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Jennifer participates personally, through volunteer work, fundraising, and financial donations, to many charitable and not-for-profit organizations, particularly those that support underrepresented classes in STEM.

Present Affiliations
    • 2021 - New York State Working Committee on the Future of the New York State Bar Exam
    • Board Director, Launch New York
    • Advisory Board Member, Buffalo Institute for Genomics & Data Analytics
    • National Advisory Board Member, UB School of Law Advocacy Institute
    • International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), Member
    • Wish Granter and Volunteer, Make-A-Wish Foundation, certified Wish Granter for almost 20 years
The Beckage Firm PLLC