Janet Fisher is an experienced investigative attorney and partner in Venable’s Washington Commercial Litigation Group.  She focuses her practice on security, privacy, and compliance issues related to social media, where rapid innovation and global reach have overwhelmed the scope of current law and regulatory oversight.  She also helps clients navigate federal and state statutes regarding online transactions and data storage and comply with privacy and disclosure requirements.

Prior to joining Venable, Ms. Fisher spent nearly five years as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division (NSD) where she participated in numerous counterterrorism matters and prosecutions brought under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).  As an active member of the NSD, Ms. Fisher regularly participated in matters requiring a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information Access (TS/SCI) Security Clearance and ex parte hearings before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.  In addition to investigating homeland security matters, she regularly worked with telecommunication and internet companies, including those in the social media space.  Ms. Fisher has also worked on legislative matters related to FISA, on criminal exploitation of new technologies, and on various matters before Congress.  This experience has equipped her to help clients in a broad range of matters from privacy cases to cutting-edge social media litigation, including:

• Advising clients in responding to government-based requests for domestically- and internationally-collected data;
• Developing and implementing protocols for processing legal requests from governmental authorities;
• Counseling compliance and developing proactive client policies regarding the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), the Stored Communications Act (SCA), the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), European Union Privacy Laws, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA);
• Advising clients in working with United States and foreign law enforcement authorities to develop and maintain working relationships;
• Counseling clients to develop and activate cybersecurity measures;
• Ensuring that clients’ legal teams are engaged with government regulators and legislators on security and law enforcement issues;
• Working with both brick-and-mortar and Internet-based entities to provide a comprehensive cyber risk management strategy covering a wide range of potential incidents, from IT system breaches and hacking events to privacy law violations, data security, intellectual property infringement, and social media-related threats; and
• Ensuring that clients’ privacy statements and disclosures are compliant with current and pending laws, legislation, and regulations, including geolocation and cell site legal standards.

Ms. Fisher is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Cornell University.  Before joining the Department of Justice, Ms. Fisher was an attorney at Williams & Connolly LLP where she handled complex litigation trial and appellate matters before state and federal courts, including preparing briefs on novel legal issues, conducting discovery, and developing strategy for cases.  Ms. Fisher has also clerked for the Honorable Richard W. Roberts of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and worked as an attorney for Dickstein Shapiro LLP.