Mark G. McCreary was featured in the ABA Journal article, "New Top-Level Posts Grow From Law Firm Tech Expertise." Full text can be found in the January 1, 2016, issue, but a synopsis is below.
This past September, Fox Rothschild named Mark McCreary to the role of chief privacy officer, making him the first individual to hold such a position within a law firm. With a higher level of responsibility and accountability, McCreary is tasked with answering internal and client questions related to data privacy.
"Most important, the title tells everyone in the firm, when these issues come up, who they should go to," McCreary says. "It tells people internally to take these issues seriously. And we want our clients to rest assured that these issues are very important to us."
When initially discussing McCreary's new role within the firm, the debate of what his new title would be was addresses. McCreary believed that chief privacy officer was the most fitting title and that it emphasized the legal aspect of the position rather than the technical.
"We intentionally wanted an attorney to fill the role," he says. "We wanted someone who really understood the law and understood data security and privacy in practice. I'm much more focused on determining what data is private and what needs to be kept safe."
McCreary also enjoys the fact that his new title promotes conversation with other firms.
"It's a trigger for them to say, 'Why aren't we doing this? Why are you doing it, and should we?' " he says. "That's been refreshing."
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