About the IAPP

Colleen Theresa Brown is a partner at Sidley Austin LLP where she focuses on privacy, cybersecurity, data protection and emerging technology issues for a diverse group of companies, including those in the financial, life sciences, telecommunications, media, retail, technology, and manufacturing sectors. Her counseling experience includes cyber risk and data breach management, corporate data protection and privacy compliance programs, international data protection and cross-border transfer, Big Data, Internet of Things, electronic surveillance, trade secrets, social media, cloud computing, and online brand protection. In addition to counseling and litigation related to data protection, her work also includes counseling and negotiation of data-driven agreements, as well as privacy and cybersecurity diligence and integration planning for mergers and acquisitions. Colleen also advises civil rights and equality organizations through pro bono representations regarding complex constitutional and other privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity issues. At Sidley, Colleen co-founded Women in Privacy®, a networking group for women working as in-house counsel, compliance officers, and other professionals in the field of privacy. Women in Privacy® holds regular meetings in the U.S. and the EU and is dedicated to thought leadership for women privacy professionals. She is also a frequent speaker, writer, and commenter on privacy and cybersecurity legal developments and the chief editor of the Sidley Blog, Data Matters.

Colleen is ranked in Chambers as an “Up and Coming” privacy lawyer in 2022. Global Data Review named her to its “Women in Data” list in 2022, The Lawyer Network recognized her as Cybersecurity Lawyer of the Year in Washington, D.C. in 2021 and 2022, and Euromoney's Women in Business Law listed her as one of the world’s leading female practitioners in Privacy and Data Protection in 2022. Colleen is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States through the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She earned her J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and her Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University Maryland.