Fish & Richardson Adds Former DHS Acting General Counsel and Litigator Gus P. Coldebella as a Principal in Its Commercial Litigation Group

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Apr 22, 2015) -  Fish & Richardson today announced that Gus P. Coldebella, the former acting General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has joined the firm as a Principal in its Commercial Litigation Group. Coldebella, formerly with Goodwin Procter, will continue his practice helping companies deal with all aspects of cyber security planning and incident response, government and internal investigations, and complex civil litigation. 

Coldebella is a recognized authority on the legal and policy aspects of homeland and cyber security. At DHS, he helped lead implementation of President Bush's Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, designed to shore up the government's civilian networks from attack and to promote cooperation between the public and private sectors. In private practice, he helps clients investigate and manage all aspects of cyber security incidents. He advises companies and their boards of directors on steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk of attack, as well as post-event regulatory enforcement and litigation. His experience as a securities litigator perfectly positions him to advise public companies on SEC and other regulatory requirements regarding cyber security disclosures and board of directors' fiduciary duties regarding the same. Coldebella also advises on other security related issues, including privacy, infrastructure protection, liability protection, and export control.

Coldebella's litigation practice also includes securities and M&A litigation, partnership and post-closing disputes, breach of fiduciary duty cases, class actions, and other complex litigation. He conducts internal investigations, including those arising out of whistleblower complaints or shareholder derivative demands. He represents clients in all manner of governmental investigations and agency enforcement actions by federal and state agencies, and manages congressional investigations and testimony. 

"Gus is an important lateral hire for our growing Commercial Litigation Group. He is a seasoned litigator, and his deep expertise in cyber security -- which concerns itself with protection of a company's assets -- is a natural fit," said Ann Cathcart Chaplin, Litigation Practice Group Leader at Fish & Richardson. "His experience will be extremely valuable to our clients across all industries, and we are very excited to have him join our team."

Coldebella is on the advisory board of the NYU Law School's Center on Law and Security, he is a senior fellow at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, and he speaks and writes frequently on security law and policy. He received his J.D. magna cum laude from Cornell Law School in 1994, and his B.A. from Colgate University in 1991, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees and chair of its Audit Committee.

Fish & Richardson is a global patent, intellectual property (IP) litigation, and commercial litigation law firm with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists across the U.S. and Europe. Fish has been named the #1 patent litigation firm in the U.S. for 11 consecutive years. Fish has been winning cases worth billions in controversy -- often by making new law -- for the most innovative clients and influential industry leaders since 1878. For more information, visit www.fr.com.