Leading Privacy Attorney to Head Arnall Golden Gregory's New D.C. Office

ATLANTA and WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Arnall Golden Gregory LLP is pleased to announce that it will open an office in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 4, which will be led by one of the leading privacy attorneys in America, Robert R. Belair.

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Mr. Belair is a founding partner of Oldaker, Belair & Wittie in Washington and served for many years as co-editor of the nation's pre-eminent privacy periodical for the business community, Privacy & American Business.  Prior to that, Mr. Belair was a longtime partner in the Washington office of what is now K&L Gates.  Mr. Belair served as Deputy Counsel to the White House Privacy Committee in the Ford Administration and as a lawyer in the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, doing privacy related work. He later served as General Counsel of the National Commission on the Confidentiality of Health Records.  Mr. Belair also served on the Senate Judiciary Committee Advisory Committee for then Chairman Joseph R. Biden, and as an adviser to Sen. Robert F. Bennett's Health Privacy Task Force.

Joining Mr. Belair at AGG's new Washington office will be Kevin Coy, a partner at Oldaker, Belair & Wittie, and Kim Phan, an associate at that firm.  Both are also privacy experts.  Also joining AGG, as counsel, is Dr. Alan F. Westin, a lawyer, a preeminent privacy scholar and Columbia University Professor Emeritus, and author of the two leading works on information privacy.

Among Mr. Belair's clients are metro Atlanta-based Equifax and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Mr. Belair frequently speaks and writes about privacy topics.  His practice includes representation of clients before the Federal Trade Commission and on Capitol Hill on the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other privacy matters. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School.

Mr. Coy, a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, counsels organizations on domestic and international privacy law and policy matters. He also advises clients on online privacy issues and privacy best practices.

In addition to providing counsel on privacy law, Ms. Phan is an expert on navigating Washington's policy-making bureaucracy. She is a graduate of George Mason University School of Law.

Legal issues involving privacy and regulation affect a broad array of businesses, including those in the healthcare and life sciences fields, where AGG is a national leader in legal representation.

AGG's presence in Washington enhances the firm's ability to serve industries that are greatly affected by continually changing federal regulations, such as healthcare, life sciences, financial services, real estate, technology, telecommunications, energy, manufacturing and international trade.

By establishing a presence in the nation's capital, AGG will be able to maximize its forward-thinking approach to matters involving privacy, taxes, intellectual property, corporate governance, the FDA, employment and immigration.

"We are pleased to start our D.C. office with such a high-profile group of attorneys," said AGG Managing Partner Glenn P. Hendrix. "We plan to expand beyond this nucleus to build on the firm's strengths in healthcare, FDA, HUD/tax-credit housing, international trade, intellectual property, telecom and white-collar defense work."

Mr. Belair said, "I'm delighted to be joining AGG. I appreciate their commitment to a Washington presence and their commitment to developing further a national and international privacy practice.  I'm especially honored to be joining such great lawyers, dedicated to excellence in the practice of law."

Arnall Golden Gregory LLP is an Atlanta law firm that serves the business needs of growing public and private companies. Through mergers and acquisitions, capital markets financing, strategic alliances, joint ventures, litigation and other business-related guidance, the firm helps clients across a broad range of industries turn legal challenges into business opportunities.

SOURCE Arnall Golden Gregory LLP