Brian Sinclair is an Associate with Mullen Coughlin with over 25 years of legal and prosecutorial experience. Practicing in the Firm’s Incident Response practice group, Brian is a Breach Coach for organizations who have experienced a data privacy and security incident, such as a ransomware attack, business email compromise or other network intrusion. Industry-agnostic, Brian guides victim organizations through the full lifecycle of an incident response, providing the necessary counsel to oblige by the various data privacy and information security laws and regulations that affect how an organization needs to respond to, and investigate, a data privacy and security incident. He works closely with all incident response stakeholders – including cyber insurance carriers and brokers, digital forensic investigators and law enforcement – to identify and contain the incident, determine legal and regulatory obligations and mitigate the effects of the incident on the organization’s operations, finances and reputation.

Prior to joining Mullen Coughlin, Brian was a Senior Assistant Prosecutor for the Bergen County, NJ Prosecutor’s Office. In addition to his prosecutorial duties, Brian created the first-of-its-kind Cyber Crimes Unit for the Office in 2004 and served as the Unit’s Chief Assistant Prosecutor for over 17 years. In that capacity, he was responsible for supervising and prosecuting all cybercrime cases in Bergen County, such as unlawful/unauthorized data access, child exploitation and endangerment, terroristic threats and “swatting.” During this time, he built relationships with state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Homeland Security. These relationships are ones he leverages when responding to data privacy and security incidents as part of his current practice.

Brian also supervised the creation of, and acted as the legal advisor for, the Digital Forensics Lab of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, which analyzed thousands of devices for digital evidence of criminality.

Brian was also assigned to various other units at the Office including Trial, Internal Affairs and Public Corruption, Juvenile, Domestic Violence and Appellate, wherein he prosecuted cases spanning from murder, arson and domestic terrorism to assaults, drug-related offenses and weapons possession.

Brian also presents to, and with, other attorneys and law enforcement agencies on topics related to cybercrimes, cyber law and technology.

For his dedicated service and leadership as a prosecutor, Brian was the recipient of Bergen County’s highest honor – the “Meritorious Service Award” – in both 2004 and 2021.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Co-counsel on back-to-back, first-of-its-kind trials – State v. Graziano and State v. Dalal – under New Jersey’s domestic terrorism statute
• Obtained conviction in State v. Tung, wherein defendant was charged with murder and arson
• Convicted a computer technician who engaged in unlawful sexual communications with a minor in State v. Nandy

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & PRESENTATIONS

• “Law Enforcement on Trial: Balancing Justice in Cases of Alleged Police Misconduct,” Heckel Inn of Court at Rutgers Law School, September 2023
• “Evidentiary Issues Concerning Social Media,” New Jersey Association for Justice, April 2015
• “Cyberbullying in America: A Discussion of Liability, Policy, and Progress,”Rutgers Law School, April 2013
• “Taking a Byte Out of Crime: The Role of Technology in the Criminal Justice Professions,” St. Thomas Aquinas College, Spring 2013
• “Cybersecurity/Cybercrimes,” County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey, September 2012
• “Cybersecurity Law and Policy: Changing Paradigm and New Challenges,” Seton Hall University Law School, June 2011
• “Criminal Law in Cyberspace: Impact of New Technologies on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense,” New Jersey Association for Justice, April 2011