William Ridgway

Practice Areas

William E. Ridgway is co-head of Skadden’s global Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Practice. He is a former federal prosecutor with extensive trial and investigations experience who advises companies on their most sensitive cybersecurity, data privacy and white collar matters. Mr. Ridgway has been recognized as a leading lawyer for crisis management, cybersecurity, data security incidents and high-stakes white collar matters by several industry outlets. He regularly leads the defense of investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, state attorneys general and other U.S. and foreign regulators. These investigations frequently involve matters related to cybersecurity and data breaches, financial fraud, trade secret theft, public corruption, antitrust violations, market manipulation (including spoofing) and the False Claims Act.

Mr. Ridgway has led the incident response and associated investigations for some of the most high-profile cybersecurity incidents in recent years, and his clients include financial institutions; technology, energy, insurance and health care companies; defense contractors; data brokers; and e-commerce retailers. He also is often retained to lead privacy and data security and technology class actions and litigations around the country.

Career

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Illinois, 2008-2016.

Personal

JD, Stanford Law School, 2006 (with distinction; Articles Editor, Stanford Law Review); BS, Stanford University, 2003 (with distinction).