Clyde & Co strengthens Australian cyber team with partner hire

Global law firm Clyde & Co has announced the hire of leading digital law, data protection and privacy lawyer Alec Christie.

Alec's team will form part of Clyde & Co's Resilience practice, joining forces with the firm's leading cyber risk practice, headed up by Partner, John Moran. Alec joins as part of the firm's ongoing expansion and development of its global technology and cyber risk offering.

With over 30 years' experience, Alec has a national and cross-border Asia Pacific practice with an emphasis on data privacy, cybersecurity, privacy compliance, digital transformations and blockchain, smart contracts and cryptocurrency. He has particular expertise in pre-incident support and helping clients enhance their privacy and cyber resilience. He joins from Mills Oakley, having previously spent four years as a partner at Ernst & Young.

John Moran, Partner in the firm's Sydney-based cyber team and co-lead of the firm's global cyber practice, says: "This is a very exciting addition to our team.  Alec is a highly-regarded digital law, data protection and privacy lawyer, having assisted numerous clients in respect of many of the most significant privacy and cyber related transactions, innovations and issues in Australia and the region.  As the cyber threat landscape evolves and the operational, financial and reputational risks to organisations following an incident have increased, we have seen a rise in demand from clients to proactively manage the risk.  Our strategy is to provide a global 'one stop shop' privacy and cyber risk offering to meet our client's needs across the cyber lifecycle, including cyber incidents.  Alec's skills and experience will enhance our ability to provide this offering, helping organisations across the board to manage their data and privacy obligations, as well as become more cyber resilient.  His addition will benefit our clients locally in Australia, as well as globally through our market-leading global cyber practice and broader Resilience team."

Alec adds: "I am thrilled to be joining Clyde & Co and extremely excited about the opportunities both in terms of my practice and what we can deliver for our clients at a truly global firm. The last few years have seen a sharp increase in the frequency and severity of cyber incidents and a continuing growth in the need for the services my practice offers, both in Australia and globally. I look forward to playing my part in strengthening and expanding Clyde & Co's offering in this dynamic market."

This is the latest hire for Clyde & Co's global cyber practice following the hires of partners Marc Voses in New York in September and Ian Birdsey in London in July. 

The firm's global cyber practice provides an end-to-end cyber risk solution to clients. From transactions, innovations, pre-incident readiness and incident response through to regulatory investigations, proceedings, third party claims (including group litigation) and recoveries, the team assists corporate clients, insurers, insureds and brokers across the full cyber lifecycle. The cyber team has advised on over 3,000 cyber incidents and data breaches, ranging from small incidents through to some of the largest, most high profile, and multi-jurisdictional incidents to date.