Lynda Klebanoff is a Partner at Mullen Coughlin, also serving as the Firm’s Assistant General Counsel. Lynda focuses her practice primarily on third-party single-plaintiff and class action privacy litigation and regulatory investigation defense, as well as with assisting other team members in the response, and investigation into, data privacy and security incidents. She is licensed to practice in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
As a member of the Firm’s Privacy Litigation practice, Lynda defends organizations in both state and federal courts who have had third-party claims levied against them related to violations of various data privacy statutes and regulations. She first works with the organization to assess the facts of the claim(s) and then, in conjunction with other organizational or third-party (if applicable) stakeholders, identifies viable defenses. Then, throughout the litigation of the claim(s), she strives to achieve the best outcome for the defense – whether that be obtaining a dismissal, settling the claim(s) or litigating through a final court judgement. She has handled cases related to state data breach notification laws; violations of state comprehensive privacy laws including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA); violations of state and federal privacy laws and regulations including the Fair Credit and Reporting Act (FCRA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA); wire and other types of fraud; and the misuse of website tracking technologies such as, Meta Pixel.
She also counsels organizations on their defenses and responses to formal state, federal and industry regulatory investigations and follow-up. She has significant with respect to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigations, having achieved well over 25 investigation closures from the OCR without fines for her clients. During these investigations, she works closely with her clients to identify and address potential compliance gaps. And, as part of these efforts, drafts policies and procedures for organizations to rely on for the collection, retention and safeguarding of protected health information (PHI) under HIPAA and for organizational training.
She also has experience working with numerous other regulatory bodies, including state Attorneys Generals; the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); the Federal Trade Commission (FTC); the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); law enforcement at the local, state and federal levels; and state departments of insurances, financial services and health.
Using her proficiency in the understanding of various data privacy and security laws and regulations, she also assists in data privacy and security incident response by advising organizations on their interpretation of relevant laws and how they apply to their unique circumstance. She then assists in satisfying any applicable legal or regulatory obligations created by the data privacy and security incident.
Lynda joined Mullen Coughlin after years of representing Fortune 100 clients from the financial services industry in employment disputes and other complex commercial litigation matters. She received her J.D. from Villanova University Law School and completed a year-long federal clerkship with the Honorable Robert F. Kelly in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.