Mullen Coughlin, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

Mullen Coughlin LLC, a leading international data privacy and security law firm, proudly announces the addition of Chris Ballod to the Incident Response team as Senior Partner.

With a legal and professional career spanning over two decades where he held prominent positions within the cyber insurance ecosystem, including most recently as Associate Managing Director for a well-known cybersecurity risk management and digital forensic incident response (DFIR) firm, Chris possesses a deep understanding of the complicated and nuanced data privacy legal landscape and real-life experience in leading forensic investigations into hundreds of various types of data privacy incidents.

“It is my great honor to join the team that made the incident response community what it is today. The attorneys and staff at Mullen Coughlin are some of the best and most experienced in the field, and I am excited for us to face the future of this industry together,” says Chris about joining the Firm. 

Chris’s addition reinforces Mullen Coughlin’s commitment to delivering effective and efficient legal services tailored to each organization’s unique needs – prior, during, and after a data privacy and security incident. With a proven record of success for organizations around the globe, Chris’s knowledge and experience further strengthens Mullen Coughlin’s ability to provide unmatched cybersecurity and data privacy legal counsel to organizations of all sizes and across all industry sectors.

“The addition of our friend, and now colleague, is another chapter in the Firm’s dedication to one theme – One Firm, One Focus: Cyber,” says Mullen Coughlin CEO John F. Mullen. “I’ve worked with Chris for many years, both at previous law firms and as a business partner, and know that he will make an immediate impact here and for our clients and cyber insurance partners.”

Mullen Coughlin Managing Member, Jennifer A. Coughlin, adds, “Chris is recognized by all in the market as having unmatched legal and forensic investigatory experience, and we are excited for him to utilize this experience to further solidify the Firm’s established reputation as the go-to law firm for data privacy and incident response legal counsel, consistently delivering on the needs of the cyber insurance industry.”

Mullen Coughlin Partner and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Advisory Compliance practice, Elizabeth Dill, speaks to non-profit and private Virginia college leaders at Virginia Private College’s 2024 Technology Conference on June 6.

Presenting her session, “Anatomy of Effective Cybersecurity Incident Preparation and Response – Practical Tips and Best Practices,” Liz discusses how to create an effective incident response program, utilizing real-world examples and providing practical insights into the best practices for preparation, response and mitigation.

Learn more about Virginia Private Colleges here.

Mullen Coughlin is proud to be a Silver-level sponsor of NetDilgence’s Cyber Risk Summit held in San Diego May 20-22. Managing Member, Jennifer Coughlin also moderates the plenary session, “2024 Claims & Losses Update.”

Joined by cyber insurance professionals – Karrieann Couture (Aon), Tim Francis (Travelers), Micah Howser (NetDiligence) and Scott Tenenbaum (AXIS Capital) – the session reviews the current cyber trends within the industry so far in 2024 and make predictions based off of relevant cyber claims data and Mullen Coughlin’s experience in responding to almost 1,100 data privacy and security incidents in Q1 2024 alone about what to expect for the rest of the year and beyond.

In addition to Jennifer, Gregory Bautista, Carolyn Purwin Ryan, Cameron Carr, and Jim Monagle will be in attendance.

Learn more about the NetD Cyber Risk Summit here.