Mullen Coughlin, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

In October, Mullen Coughlin LLC welcomed six (6) experienced Associate attorneys to the Firm’s Incident Response practice – Kara Brownlie, Bridget Gallagher, Jessica Jasper, Charnique Johnson, Shalu Kodiyattu and Jessica Yurick – across three (3) states. All six attorneys provide Breach Counsel services to organizations of all size and across all industry sectors.

Bridget, Char, Shalu and Jessica Yurick are based and licensed to practice in Pennsylvania. Bridget is a former Deputy District Attorney (DDA) for the Chester County, PA District Attorney’s Office and received her J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law. Char Johnson received her J.D. from Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and is a former member of her previous firm’s healthcare litigation practice. Shalu Kodiyattu also received her J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law and most recently led privacy assessments for Fortune 500 companies across all industry sectors as a Senior Data Risk and Privacy Associate at a top advisory and consulting firm. Jessica Yurick is also a former DDA alongside Bridget and received her J.D. from Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law.

Jessica Jasper is based and licensed to practice in Mississippi. She formerly served as a Special Assistant Attorney General with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, where she led investigations into privacy law violations and data privacy and security incidents, consumer protection litigation and regulatory enforcement matters. She received her J.D. cum laude from Mississippi College School of Law.

Kara Brownlie is based and licensed to practice in New Jersey. She previously worked as a general liability litigator at a regional civil defense law firm. She received her J.D. from Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law.

Mullen Coughlin LLC recently added five (5) new associates to its Incident Response practice – Noland Deas, Devan Deck, Shane Dorsey, Kyndal Hutchison and Aaron Matos. All five are former Law Clerks with the Firm and join the Associate ranks after passing the most recent bar exam for their respective jurisdiction – Noland, Devan and Shane in Pennsylvania; Kyndal in Ohio; and Aaron in Texas. As law clerks in both the Incident Response and Litigation practices, each individual worked closely with Partners assisting them in a variety of areas such as legal research, drafting communications and regulatory responses, maintaining timely and accurate reporting for clients and other special client and firm projects, as instructed.

Each attorney devotes their practice to providing Breach Counsel services to organizations of all sizes and across all industry sectors. Noland received his J.D. from Rutgers Law School, Devan and Shane from Temple University Beasley School of Law, Kyndal from Cleveland State University College of Law and Aaron from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

Mullen Coughlin attorneys James F. Monagle and Nicholas J. Pontzer recently obtained a first-of-its-kind summary judgment victory in Doe v. Eating Recovery Center LLC – a lawsuit involving alleged violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) by a healthcare entity who utilized the Meta Pixel on its website. 

On October 17, 2025, Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment to Eating Recovery Center (ERC), finding ERC did not violate CIPA or CMIA by using the Meta Pixel on its website. Judge Chhabria opined that “courts should not contort themselves to fit the type of conduct alleged in this case into the language of a 1967 criminal statute about wiretapping.”

In recent years, Plaintiffs’ counsel have brought hundreds of similar claims against website operators who use third party website technologies for data analytics and targeted advertising purposes. Generally, these claims attempt to shoehorn ancient wiretapping statutes in pursuit of class-wide statutory damages. This decision is a welcome step in rejecting those claims.

Mullen Coughlin’s nationwide litigation team possess deep subject-matter knowledge, industry experience and insight in data privacy and security single-plaintiff, class action and B2B litigation. We have successfully managed thousands of litigation and regulatory investigation matters on behalf of organizations of all sizes and across all industry sectors in the United States.

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