Clyde & Co offering puts legal expertise at heart of fight against cyber crime

Global law firm Clyde & Co has today announced the launch of a new end-to-end international offering to help organisations manage and respond to cyber risk.

Named One, the Clyde & Co offering puts legal expertise at heart of the fight against cyber criminals and helps organisations respond to cyber threats and build their resilience. One provides a lawyer-led, one-stop-shop approach, which manages and calls upon a comprehensive global panel of pre-approved vendors across all disciplines according to client need. One has been established and has built on Clyde & Co’s existing offering in response to the growing range of cyber risks, their increased complexity and the significant impact cyber threats now have on business across sectors and geographies.

The One network is led by three Clyde & Co partners specialising in cyber risk, liability and litigation: Helen Bourne and Ian Birdsey based in the UK and John Moran based in Australia. They are supported by over 40 Clyde & Co partners around the world and their teams, who have combined experience in managing over 4,000 cyber events.

Clients will be able to reach the One network 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week via global telephone hotlines and email.

Helen Bourne said: "Clyde & Co has developed a global team of cyber experts over several years. Every business sector in every country is facing an ever-increasing risk of being targeted by cyber criminals and we wanted to consolidate our global expertise into a solution that would meet clients’ needs and demands. That has led to us creating the concept of One as – a complete cyber solution led by expert lawyers and supported by a range of trusted vendor experts – a single phone call that will provide immediate access to a complete range of cyber specialists wherever they may be needed globally. Launching One, and making the solution readily accessible, represents an exciting opportunity for us to help clients manage one of the most challenging issues facing their business.”

Ian Birdsey said: “The fight against cyber threats is much more than a technical challenge. Legal issues lie at the very heart of this and should drive the response. Today’s cyber-attack is very different to that of five years ago. As organisations have learned how to respond, so criminals have learned how to keep ahead in the game. Their attacks have evolved in both complexity and severity.

“We’ve seen also cyber-related litigation bloom into one of the most challenging areas of international law. We only have to look at the rise of class actions like those previously brought against Google, TikTok and Facebook. Legal expertise goes hand-in-hand with cyber incident management, which is why Clyde & Co, a globally integrated law firm, is the right first point of contact to manage these issues for clients.”

John Moran said: “Today, there’s a clear space in the market for a lawyer-led response to cyber threats. Because of the complexity of these issues, their multi-jurisdictional nature, the sensitivity of data, the potential for regulatory involvement, an experienced legal team is perfectly placed to lead and guide the response. The last thing a business needs is to have to struggle with its response to a cyber breach while trying to manage day-to-day trading.

“Today, cyber risk has the ability to impact on virtually every aspect of an organisation’s ability to function. It is the single biggest risk most companies face, hence the need for legal expertise. Sticking plaster solutions are no longer fit for purpose. Some competitor networks are based on ad hoc vendor relationships; not ours. Our clients demand a holistic approach that guides them through each step of the journey to true cyber resilience. That’s why everything they need is available as part of our One offering.”

One is designed to support the full cyber lifecycle by helping clients boost their cyber resilience and provide a full package of support to organisations directly affected by cyber threats such as hacking and ransomware, both in terms of their immediate response and managing any resulting litigation or regulatory activity. It will work directly with corporates or via insurers, building on Clyde & Co’s market-leading reputation in the cyber insurance sector.

One will work with clients in three key areas:

• improving organisational resilience and the ability to fend off cyber threats before they occur; (Readiness)
• responding to live cyber events; (Response)
• helping businesses recover from incidents, which may include the need for legal action. (Recover)

Examples of services provided under the One umbrella include:

• Data and regulatory mapping, data risk register development, and digital risk auditBusiness continuity planning
• Cyber incident response simulation exercises Full incident response management, team mobilisation and vendor coordination
• Forensic review
• Data breach assessment
• Third party claims, litigation, class actions and regulatory investigations
• Post-incident packages including review, repair and develop new systems and processes
• Privacy compliance audit, policy review and privacy impact assessment
• Response to regulatory queries
• Recovery litigation against third parties
• Regulatory investigation
• Vulnerability, data risk assessment and root cause analysis post breach

The One network will operate from over 60 Clyde & Co offices across all regions of the globe providing local knowledge and language capabilities.

Clyde & Co’s global cyber team has managed over 4,000 cyber incidents. These range from small-scale hacking and ransomware incidents to advising clients on cryptocurrency risks, litigating data breach claims, retrieving stolen data and preventing the theft of personal financial information from trading websites., Clyde & Co works with commercial organisations directly, as well as drawing on its extensive experience and close relationships with the world’s leading insurance companies.

Clyde & Co has over the past few years expanded its global cyber offering following the hires of a number of highly experienced cyber, data and technology lawyers including Jan Spittka in Germany, Marc Voses in New York and Jacques Jacobs and Alec Christie in Australia. This follows the hires of Ian Birdsey, former Global Head of Cyber at Pinsent Masons in July 2020 and John Moran, from Norton Rose Fulbright in 2018.