Liza Barry-Kessler

Biography

Liza Barry-Kessler works with companies and organizations to protect their data, their people, and their reputations. In partnership with key stakeholders, she develops corporate policies and trains employees so that everyone understands the ground rules for using social media. She also works with all levels of corporate staff to evaluate data security and privacy policies and practices, reduce the risk of data breach, and limit the impact of state data breach notification requirements when there is exposure.

She specializes in working with startup companies, companies new to the social media and data security/privacy area, companies harmonizing different data collection, retention, and use practices, as well as bloggers and social media participants. Ms. Barry-Kessler has more than 15 years experience as a privacy professional and advising clients on data security issues, best practices for management of personally identifiable information, FTC advertising requirements, compliance with law enforcement information requests, civil electronic discovery, state data breach notification requirements, and federal public policy advocacy.

Ms. Barry-Kessler is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies, with a focus on Information Policy, Law, and Ethics. Prior to entering the Ph.D. program, she practiced law for more than a dozen years, primarily working on issues related to privacy, technology, and the First Amendment. Ms. Barry-Kessler’s experience includes a solo practice, working as Compliance Counsel and Senior Product Manager for EarthLink, Inc., and as Product Manager and Program Manager for America Online, Inc. (AOL). Her litigation experience includes appearances before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a State Circuit Court jury trial, and federal, state, and tribal court bench trials.

Ms. Barry-Kessler’s research focuses on areas of expression that are excluded from protection under U.S. copyright law, such as recipes, fashion designs, games, and tattoo art. She is also interested in information policy issues related to privacy, freedom of expression, and communications technology, and in critical social science theories.

She is the co-author of 2 books, Privacy in the 21st Century: Issues for Public, School, and Academic Libraries and the Global Internet Policy Initiative’s Advocacy Training Manual, and a contributor to the books Mothering and Blogging and Mothers of Intention. Ms. Barry-Kessler was featured in an ABA Journal article, “Just Like Everyone”. Past public speaking engagements include Wired Wisconsin, BlogHer, American Library Association, American Association of School Librarians, International Society for Technology in Education, Consortium on School Networking, the German political party the Christian Democratic Union (panel chaired by now-Chancellor Angela Merkel), Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and numerous state and local organizations.

Ms. Barry-Kessler earned a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and also studied abroad at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She received an A.B. in Sociology at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She is admitted to practice in Wisconsin, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Education & Bar Admissions

Education

• University of Wisconsin Law School, J.D.
• Smith College, A.B., Sociology

Bar Admissions

• Wisconsin
• U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

In the News

• 2/19/2013 - GSH Welcomes Liza Barry-Kessler