Harry Valetk
Biography
Harry A. Valetk is a partner in the Global Privacy and Security Practice group based in New York, advising global organizations on privacy and data security compliance requirements. He regularly supports companies in financial services, retail, pharmaceutical/ healthcare, travel/hospitality, cloud technology, and manufacturing industries. His practice is focused on delivering commercially practical advice to highly regulated companies on designing security, privacy, and technologically compliant solutions. Harry's practice routinely covers a wide range of issues on global regulatory implementation readiness for privacy laws, including GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, HIPAA, GLBA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). He also works with companies in developing customized comprehensive incident response plans, trainings, table-top exercises, and advising senior management on liability risk mitigation.
Harry puts on an insider's perspective when advising his clients building on his in-house experience as Director of MetLife’s Global Privacy Office in New York for almost seven years. In that role, he supported business lines in more than 60 countries to protect the personal data of over 90 million MetLife customers. Additionally, he led numerous strategic efforts to build out a global Privacy Risk Framework, achieve global compliance with applicable privacy and data protection laws, deploy cross-border data transfer solutions, implement global training and awareness initiatives, and manage data and cyber security incidents. Before MetLife, Harry led the video game publishing industry's privacy compliance efforts as the Director of Privacy Online for the Entertainment Software Rating Board and its COPPA Safe Harbor Seal Program. Finally, Harry served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division.
Practice Focus
Harry advises companies on matters including:
- designing global privacy and data protection policies and notices, data transfer agreements, and cross-border data transfer solutions;
- developing compliance programs for financial services firms (fintech), app developers, and health care industry participants (medtech) manage global regulatory risk against enforcement, private causes of action, and government investigations into their practices;
- managing data security incidents and building customized global incident response plans; and
- supporting data privacy and security contract negotiations when outsourcing services across multiple jurisdictions.
Representative Legal Matters
- Advises on the design and implementation of global data privacy policies and notices, data transfer agreements, and cross-border data transfer solutions.
- Advises on data security incident response plans, global incident management, and regulatory defense following notification.
- Advises on digital marketing, ad-tech, cookie use, passive tracking, and third-party advertising across multiple jurisdictions.
Professional Honors
- Top Lawyer Under 40, Hispanic National Bar Association, 2011
- Recipient, Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant, 2008
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) - Board Member
- International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP):
- Certified Information Privacy Professional - CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPM
- KnowledgeNet New York Chapter, Co-chair
- Hispanic National Bar Association - Former Deputy Regional President - New York
- New York City Bar Association - Judiciary Committee and the Information Technology Law Committee
Admissions
- U.S. Court of International Trade~United States (2003)
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit~United States (2003)
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit~United States (2002)
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York~United States (2000)
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York~United States (2000)
- New York~United States (1999)
Education
- Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (J.D.) (1998)
- Bernard M. Baruch College (B.B.A. Marketing Management, cum laude) (1995)
Languages
- English
- Spanish