Christopher Ballod

Christopher E. Ballod, CIPP/US, CIPP/E is a partner in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh offices of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Data Privacy & Cybersecurity, Corporate, and Complex Business & Commercial Litigation Practices.

Mr. Ballod counsels clients in the prevention of data breach incidents, and during the response and notification process after an incident occurs. His experience protecting his clients’ interests before an incident includes :

• Negotiation and drafting of vendor agreements such as cloud data hosting agreements, software support agreements, telecommunications contracts, cloud-based human resources management services, and online reservation service agreements, providing for defense, indemnification, and response costs in the event of a data breach incident
• Regulatory compliance counseling including compliance with HIPAA, payment card industry standards (PCI-DSS), NYS Department of Financial Services compliance, and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Incident preparation counseling including “table top” exercises practicing breach response procedures, and multi-day stakeholder “boot camps” training key personnel in all aspects of risk management and response
• Preparation of terms of service agreements, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies, and ancillary agreements for web-based crowdfunding ventures.

After an incident occurs, Mr. Ballod works as part of the Lewis Brisbois response team to partner with data forensics experts and insurance professionals in order to assess the scope of the breach and to provide the appropriate response. His breach response experience includes:

• Coordination of breach response services for clients of all market sizes and across multiple business sectors including construction, energy generation, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, municipal government, and retail
• Breach risk assessment and regulatory reporting including response to enforcement actions
• PCI Account Data Compromise assessment response and appeal for all major card brands

Mr. Ballod’s experience with technology matters is unique in the industry. In addition to litigating the first “virtual property” case in the United States, Bragg v. Linden Labs, he counseled multi-national vendors of goods and services in a virtual world game about their participation in a virtual currency exchange, and the legality of their gaming businesses under state and federal gambling laws.

Mr. Ballod possesses the Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US) credential required to perform ISO 27002 audits. He also possesses the Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) credential.

Education :

• Delaware Law School, Juris Doctor
• Pennsylvania State University

Admissions :

• State Bar Admissions, : Pennsylvania, West Virginia
• United States Courts of Appeals & Supreme Court
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• United States District Courts
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

Associations :

• International Code Council
• Financial Industries Network
• RIMS Risk Management Society
• Allegheny County Bar Association