Jim Halpert is a partner in the Communications, E-Commerce and Privacy practice of DLA Piper.

Mr. Halpert counsels technology and content companies on a broad range of legal issues concerning new technologies, including intellectual property protection, content regulation and First Amendment law, privacy, cyber-security, government surveillance, Internet gambling, Internet jurisdiction, telecommunications regulation, on-line contract formation, and marketing. His counseling practice includes advising a wide range of companies regarding privacy and computer security issues, and advising copyright owners, ISPs, and equipment manufacturers regarding IP infringement and copy protection technology strategies.

Mr. Halpert has represented and counseled Fortune 500 and smaller companies on a broad range of privacy issues, including information management, data transfer, data security, government regulation of marketing practices, the privacy practices of network operators and websites, communications companies, email spam, and disclosure of customer information in response to government surveillance requests. For example, he has counseled clients regarding responses to more than one hundred data security breaches.

Mr. Halpert is deeply involved in the evolution of new law in the technology area, and draws on this experience to provide strategic advice to clients both about where the law is today, and how it is likely to evolve in the future. He has helped draft many of the federal laws that govern e-commerce and use of the Internet. These include the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the CAN-SPAM Act, USA Patriot Act, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and Communications Decency Act. Representing a coalition of Fortune 500 companies, Mr. Halpert has helped to draft most of the state data security, security breach notification, and state spyware laws and many of the recent state spam laws, as well as California’s online privacy law. Mr. Halpert has also been involved in drafting and negotiating provisions in a variety of international treaty provisions affecting e-commerce, including the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, and portions of the IP protection provisions in the US-Singapore and US-Chile Free Trade Agreements.

Mr. Halpert represents clients in technology litigation in the federal courts, including in Internet copyright, First Amendment, privacy, and spam cases, and has written numerous appellate briefs. He is active in FTC, FCC, and other agency proceedings related to the Internet in areas such as intellectual property protection, cyber-security, and privacy protection.

The respected English research firm Chambers & Partners cites him in both Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business and Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business as a leader in Privacy & Data Security, and in the latter publication states that he is lauded by clients as the "anchor of the practice" and "outstanding - his knowledge of the legal and political landscape is second to none."

Legal 500 notes that Mr. Halpert "is highly thought of by clients and receives a barrage of praise, including one enthusiastic client's comment that he's 'the only man I'd dream of asking about data privacy.'" Mr. Halpert, the publication adds, is "renowned for his 'excellent judgment and awareness of the pressures a modern business faces,'" who clients praise "'for being 'pro-active and impressively hands-on for such a well-respected lawyer'" and that he is "'responsive, detail-oriented, knows the industry and regulators.'" Another client commented to Legal 500 that Mr. Halpert is "adept at providing guidance about the broader legislative and regulatory landscape."

In 2006, Washington SmartCEO magazine named Mr. Halpert to its short list of Greater Washington's Legal Elite. He has also been named a Washington, DC Super Lawyer.

While on leave from the firm, Mr. Halpert served on the Obama-Biden transition's Technology, Innovation and Government Reform (TIGR) and Commerce Department agency review teams, where he worked on broadband, health IT issues, and a review of the US Patent and Trademark Office operations.

In 2001-2002, he was the chief legal advisor for a report of the Autorita per le Garanzie nelle Communicazioni, the Italian communications regulator, to the prime minister and parliament of Italy regarding how the Internet should be regulated under Italian law.