Mullen Coughlin, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

In September, Mullen Coughlin welcomed three (3) new Associates to the Firm: Celia Uwaekwe to the Incident Response practice and Jacob Schultz and Travis Randle to the Litigation practice.

Celia, based in Texas, is a former Law Clerk with the Firm and re-joins the Firm now licensed to practice in Texas. She will continue to build on her Law Clerk experience, assisting organizations respond to and investigate data privacy and security incidents. With particular experience counseling organizations in the financial services industry, as well as those regulated by the SEC, Celia is well-versed in the relevant laws and regulations that pertain to them in the context of data protection, privacy and information security. In addition to her J.D. from Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, she also holds a Master of Laws in Cyber Law and Data Privacy from Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and a BBA cum laude in Economics from Kennesaw State University.

Jacob joins the Litigation practice and is based in Devon. A former litigator at an AmLaw200 law firm, he has over five (5) years of experiencing defending organizations in security and privacy litigation, including single-plaintiff, class action and B2B. In addition to being well-versed in common defenses, he has vast experience in successfully identifying and arguing novel legal theories related to data privacy and security incidents and related litigation. Jacob received his J.D. from Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and a B.A. in East Asian Languages and Civilization from the University of Chicago. Jacob is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is business-level fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and French, and conversational in German and Italian.

Travis also joins the Litigation practice and is based in Maryland. With over five (5) years of litigation experience, a majority with AmLaw100 firms, Travis is well-versed in defending organizations from numerous highly-regulated and complex industry sectors such as healthcare and life sciences, financial services, education, and government. At Mullen Coughlin, he will build upon his previous regulatory and compliance experience by defending organizations in single-plaintiff, class action and B2B privacy and security disputes in U.S. state and federal courts nationwide. Travis is licensed to practice in Washington, DC and Virginia. He holds a J.D. from Howard University School of Law, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and a B.A. cum laude from Morehouse College.

Mullen Coughlin welcomes Dennis N. Lueck, CIPP/US, as a Senior Partner to its Litigation practice. Dennis brings 20 years of trial experience in privacy and security cases. He has regulatory experience with agencies such as the California Department of Consumer Affairs (CA DCA), New York Department of Financial Services (NY DFS), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As part of our litigation practice, Dennis will leverage this extensive experience to represent organizations in a wide variety of third-party privacy- and security-related disputes and regulatory investigations.

“I am thrilled to become part of Mullen Coughlin. It’s a privilege to contribute to the Firm’s focused success with specialized privacy- and security-related defense cases. I look forward to our future together,” said Dennis.

Based and licensed in Colorado, Dennis is also licensed in California and New York, as well as numerous U.S. federal courts nationwide. Dennis received his J.D. magna cum laude from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Lawand a B.S. cum laude in Sociology from the University of Utah. As a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), he holds a U.S. Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

On behalf of the Litigation practice, Co-Chair Carolyn Purwin Ryan said about Dennis, “We are thrilled to have Dennis join us! His two decades of litigation experience and his enthusiasm will be a tremendous asset to the team.”

“Mullen Coughlin is a leader in the security and privacy litigation space,” said Managing Member Jennifer A. Coughlin. “We’ve been at it a long time throughout the country. Dennis’s exceptional talents and decades of experience will allow us to continue to deliver positive results.”

Mullen Coughlin’s nationwide litigation team possess deep subject-matter knowledge, industry experience and insight in data privacy and security class action litigation. We have successfully managed thousands of litigation and regulatory investigation matters on behalf of organizations of all sizes and across all industry sectors in the United States.

Mullen Coughlin General Counsel & Co-Chair of the Litigation practice, Claudia McCarron, presents at the American Bar Association’s 2025 Class Actions National Institute on October 23 in Dallas, TX.

During the session, “Tie-Down Roping: An MDL Data Breach Class Action,” Claudia and fellow defense and plaintiff attorneys explore the use of Multi-District Litigation (MDL) in data breach class actions – using their experience of leading hundreds of similar cases to successful conclusions. Claudia provides her and Mullen Coughlin’s perspective on the most effective and efficient ways to manage these types of cases – both from a strategic and logistical perspective – via a variety of ways including practical and novel motion practice, discovery and resolution.

The ABA Class Actions National Institute brings together trial attorneys from around the country to discuss tips, techniques and best practices for leading class action trial practices. Learn more and register to attend here.