Privacy Lawyers Lead Way as Job Market for Privacy Professionals Perks Up

The market for privacy attorneys has surged in recent years, according to a Tru Staffing Partners study. The increase in regulation for data privacy and increase in concerns from adoption of artificial intelligence, may be contributing to the increase in recruitment for privacy lawyers, said Anna Gorodestky of Major, Lindsey & Africa.

“The regulatory landscape is trying to keep up with technological advancements,” she said. “As a result, there will be an increase in the demand for lawyers with expertise in AI-adjacent spaces like privacy, intellectual property and regulatory affairs.”

Goredestky, part of her firm’s in-house counsel recruiting group, said the demand for privacy attorneys in 2023 increased dramatically, though it wasn’t as much as in prior years. 

John Gilmore, managing partner of the recruiting firm BarkerGilmore, said he had noted a trend toward companies’ hiring compliance officers with privacy backgrounds instead of hiring privacy counsel.

“The privacy counsel puts in place the right policies, and then it’s the compliance officers that are responsible for oversight,” he said.

Gorodetsky cautioned attorneys against marketing themselves as experts in artificial intelligence, despite there being a current need int the market for attorneys with AI expertise. 

“It’s too early to call oneself an expert considering that AI is a relatively new technology and we also have to distinguish generative AI and ChatGPT-type AI as well as more traditional kinds of machine learning that we’ve seen through the years recently,” she said.

Are you interested in learning more about the job market for privacy professionals?  Read more in this law.com article.