Gretchen A. Ramos

Ramos began her legal practice as a commercial litigator. Her focus changed 10 years ago when she fell victim to a phishing email scam and her identity was stolen.

The experience taught her a lesson about security and it also sparked an interest in the cybersecurity and privacy sectors.

“The whole time I thought, ‘Why would [someone] do that?’” Ramos said. “But looking back on it, it’s funny. It’s almost like I had to get initiated into the area.”

She started doing more data security and privacy work. Today, she advises technology companies on various privacy and security issues, including domestic and global compliance. Ramos also counsels tech companies on what she refers to as “gray area issues” where there isn’t just one piece of law to abide by.

“[It is] difficult to draft laws around these issues because of the tech industry and how fast it changes,” Ramos said. “What I like about it is, you look at a fact pattern and know which parts of the law fit into a field, but there’s no concrete answer, so in those gray areas, that’s where it becomes very challenging for companies to follow

“While having these gray areas can be frustrating for businesses, it can also in some ways be good because it gives them flexibility as well, depending on the companies and where they are in development,” she added.

Adding more complexity to Ramos’ work is the fact that some of her clients merge technology with healthcare and biological sciences, consumer products and manufacturing. One example is 23andme, a direct-to-consumer company offering genetic testing.

Despite the complexity and challenges, Ramos said she enjoys her work and has no regrets about the pivot she made years ago, though at the time, people questioned her decision.

“I had people asking, ‘Why are you spending time on this? You can’t develop a practice around privacy!’” she recalled. “Today, it affects everyone, given the internet age and everything we’re seeing in this area. It’s not going away.”

— Gina Kim