Evan D. Wolff

Evan D. Wolff is co-chair of Akin’s cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection practice and a member of the firm’s government contracts and national security and global investigations practices. He is ranked by Chambers USA and Chambers Global as a leading privacy and cybersecurity practitioner and is nationally known for his deep technical background and nuanced understanding of complex cybersecurity legal and policy issues. Over the past two decades, Evan has led investigations into hundreds of cybersecurity incidents. He regularly conducts training and incident simulations, develops response plans, and leads privileged investigations. Additionally, he has advised on hundreds of data breaches, working closely with forensic investigators. Evan is a Registered Practitioner under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) framework and draws on his experiences as a scientist, program manager, and lawyer to advise leading global companies and their boards of directors on mitigating the risk of cyber and privacy incidents, as well as the planning and execution of the rapid, comprehensive response required when incidents occur. He counsels a broad range of companies across multiple sectors, including government contractors, the defense industrial base, transportation, energy, health care, insurance, hospitality, education, and non-profit organizations. His counsel includes advising on global privacy and data security regulations, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Privacy Shield, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and providing legal and technical advice on the Department of Justice’s Bulk Data Collection and Use Policy. In addition to cybersecurity and privacy issues, Evan frequently advises clients on regulatory compliance with the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), as well as multiple cyber False Claims Act (FCA) cases. Evan is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). He served in advisory roles during the formation of the Department of Homeland Security and in 2017 was inducted into the Council on Foreign Relations. Evan remains active in national security policy circles and has previously served as a senior associate (non-resident) in the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), on the Sandia National Lab External Advisory Board, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Security Task Force, as a panel member on the Department of Defense’s Defense Science Board and a senior adviser at the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council. He also served as the co-chair of the ABA Homeland Security Law Institute and as a senior adviser to the ABA Committee on Law and National Security.