Recognized as part of the "Incident Response Elite" and ranked by Chambers Global and Chambers USA for Privacy & Data Security Litigation, Fran Faircloth is a partner in Ropes & Gray's data, privacy, and cybersecurity practice. She has navigated clients through dozens of complex cyber incidents and advises leading organizations—including financial institutions, technology companies, education providers, healthcare systems, data brokers, and e-commerce retailers—on the full spectrum of data privacy, cybersecurity, AI governance, and information governance challenges.
Fran serves as lead incident response counsel in high-stakes ransomware attacks, insider threats, and data breaches, helping clients contain risk, assess exposure, engage with forensic investigators, and communicate effectively with executive stakeholders and government agencies. She also helps clients prepare before crisis strikes through bespoke tabletop exercises tailored to her clients' operational needs and advises executives and boards on cybersecurity governance programs that incorporate frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and ISO standards.
Fran counsels clients on compliance with federal, state, and global privacy and security laws, including
- The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the growing collection of emerging state privacy, AI, and biometric data laws
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
- The SEC’s cybersecurity disclosure rules
- The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
- The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
- The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)
- The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
- The Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA)
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
She regularly represents clients in investigations and enforcement actions involving the FTC, SEC, state Attorneys General, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), and international regulators, and has defended clients in class action privacy, cybersecurity, and data breach litigation.
Fran advises companies on AI-related legal and regulatory questions, including compliance with the Colorado AI Act and other emerging state laws regulating AI. She counsels on generative AI use policies, automated decision-making compliance, and AI vendor due diligence, including issues at the intersection of AI, privacy, and cybersecurity. Her practical, risk-based approach helps clients balance innovation with regulatory compliance in an era of rapid technological change.
In addition to her data practice, Fran maintains an active pro bono practice focused on women's rights and election law. Fran is also a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University Law School, where she teaches Cybersecurity Law, and is a contributor and co-lead editor of the PLI treatise Cybersecurity: A Practical Guide to the Law of Cyber Risk (Second Edition 2024, 2025).
Before joining Ropes & Gray, Fran completed a fellowship with the National Women's Law Center and practiced at a large global law firm. Fran earned her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal and co-chaired Yale Law Women. She clerked for the Honorable Scott M. Matheson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Experience
Crisis Management and Incident Response
- Represented an online retailer with respect to multiple investigations by Attorneys General and Data Protections Authorities in the EU and Canada into a data breach.
- Represented a major medical device manufacturing against FTC allegations of privacy violations.
- Defend a major dialysis provider against allegations relating online advertising pixels.
- Advised an international media consulting company on its response to a ransomware attack.
- Represented a quantitative trading fund that suffered an insider attack on significant IP assets by a foreign national.
- Represented a provider of professional services to major film studios who suffered an insider theft of personal data.
- Represented a major hospital system that suffered an intrusion and resulting investigations and litigation in the midst of the pandemic.
- Investigated data breaches for the independent Special Cybersecurity Review Committee of the Yahoo! Board of Directors.*
- Represented several major Internet, retailer, pharmaceutical, financial services and telecommunications in connection in more than 100 data security incidents that required analysis of breach reporting obligations under U.S. and global statutes.
Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement
- Represented the former CEO of SolarWinds in congressional testimony, regulatory investigations, and securities and derivative litigation in multiple fora.
- Represented a leading EdTech company against purported class action student privacy allegations.
- Represented online behavioral health services against purported medical privacy allegations.
- Represented large healthcare system against alleged misuse of website advertising pixels.
- Represented online retailer defendant against class action data breach allegations.
- Represented major hospital system against class action data breach allegations.
- Represented major international financial institutions in regulatory investigations by NYDFS.
Counseling and Compliance
- Advised a financial services company in overhauling its data governance framework in light of data subject access right requests, data processing agreements, and global data protection requirements.
- Advised an international pharmaceutical company on data protection issues.
- Advised a large investment advisor on internal data governance and privacy data structure for policy and procedures.
- Directed diligence of key data, privacy, and cybersecurity issues in hundreds of private equity transactions.
- Represented the Internet Cross-Community Working Groups with respect the historic transition of the Internet domain name system to private governance by the ICANN multi-stakeholder community.*
- Counseled major U.S. and global companies on response to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, California Consumer Protection Act, and emerging state privacy and artificial intelligence laws.
- Provided analysis, advice and regulatory counseling regarding major U.S. and international privacy and data security laws and regulations, including ECPA, CFAA, COPPA, FERPA, GLBA, the FCRA, and unfair or deceptive trade practice restrictions.
- Advised investment advisors and hedge funds with respect to rapidly evolving cybersecurity rules.
- Counseled several branded pharmaceutical manufacturers on a range of privacy compliance issues.
- Analyzed compliance with U.S. and international privacy and data security laws and regulations, including advertising restrictions and children’s privacy for major media companies.
*Experience prior to joining Ropes & Gray