Saikali Named National Law Journal Cyber Security Trailblazer

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Miami Partner and Chair of Shook’s Data Security and Privacy Practice, Al Saikali, has been named to National Law Journal’s inaugural list of Cyber Security Trailblazers.

In his 16-year career, Saikali has gained the trust of clients challenged by data breach response, crisis management, and compliance with laws governing the collection, storage, use and disposal of sensitive information. He also represents companies in class action lawsuits arising from data breaches and other data privacy issues. Saikali’s most recent data breach response experience includes a network intrusion affecting the payment card information of an online retailer’s consumers in every U.S. state and more than 150 countries; the loss of thousands of health records arising from compromised mobile devices; the insertion of malware into a company’s website, affecting the payment card information of more than 100,000 individuals; and a vendor’s theft of consumer information from a national financial services company.  He was one of the first lawyers to represent an organization in a class action lawsuit arising from a data breach, and he regularly represents clients in responding to regulatory inquiries following data incidents.

In addition to leading breach response efforts for his clients, Saikali helps companies proactively minimize the risk of a breach and comply with state, federal and international privacy laws. He has assisted clients by advising companies on their legal obligations regarding permissible use, sharing, storage and disposal of customer information; designing and drafting incident response plans for financial institutions and multinational science and technology companies; training employees of covered entities, business associates and insurance companies about the proper handling of protected health information; and advising Fortune 100 companies about their obligations under federal data privacy laws.

A Certified Information Privacy Professional and board member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Saikali founded the Sedona Conference's Working Group 11 on Privacy and Data Security, which he now co-chairs, and the South Florida Privacy and Data Security Summit attended by more than 150 in-house counsel and privacy professionals. He maintains the Data Security Law Journal blog and has provided commentary to Bloomberg Businessweek, Corporate Counsel, Daily Business Review, and Law360, which tapped him for its Privacy & Consumer Protection Editorial Advisory Board. He is also an active member of the U.S. Secret Service's Electronic Crimes Task Force.

Saikali’s recognition includes accolades from Florida Super Lawyers, Attorney at Law Magazine and South Florida Business Leader. He has been named one of 40 Rising Stars of 2014 by the Daily Business Review, a Top Lawyer by South Florida Legal Guide, and a Top 40 Under 40 by South Florida Business Journal.

This is the National Law Journal’s ninth practice group recognition in its Trailblazers series. Two other Shook partners received Trailblazer recognition in 2015: Tristan Duncan in energy and environment, and Paul Williams in litigation. Shook’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Division Chair Madeleine McDonough was honored as an inaugural Litigation Trailblazer in 2014.