Michelle L. Visser

Visser believes she began near the ground floor of data breach security litigation.

In January 2007, TJX Companies Inc. - known for its retailers T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, among others - announced that information from more than 90 million credit cards was stolen, according to media reports.

"This was one of the first times such an announcement caught the attention of the media," she said.

Visser joined a team that represented TJX, which settled litigation with 41 states for nearly $10 million.

"I was a very, very young litigator at the time with a lot of availability, so I became very involved in the litigation," she said. "When things slowed down, the group of us at Ropes & Gray could fairly say that we had more experience in this space than the vast majority of litigators in this country."

That experience has led to other high-profile data breach work. Right now, she is part of a team that advises Target Corp., which had about 110 million customers affected by a data breach that occurred in December 2013. More than 140 lawsuits against the company are consolidated before U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in Minnesota.

Visser said she enjoys data breach work because she gets to learn something new with every case.

When she started working in it, "There was no data breach practice," she said. "The law is very much unsettled ... it's very interesting to work through it for our clients."

As a young lawyer, she said taking risks has helped her get ahead.

"Taking an extra step going to show this is something you want to be a part of allows you to move into better and better roles."

- Saul Sugarman