CBLI Hosts Successful Data Mapping Event

On February 19, 2021, the Data Privacy Student Organization along with the Center for Business Law & Innovation (CBLI) hosted CBLI Innovation Board member Maitreya Jani, who spoke to the group about data mapping. Jani is Assistant General Counsel for Patents at Fortune Brands Home & Security in Chicago, Illinois.

Jani spoke about the need to devise an internal regime for the control of information that satisfies the terms of various laws and international agreements, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, the California Privacy Rights Act, and the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union. Data mapping involves the examination of data, its separation into various categories, and the qualifying of those categories in terms of a business’s responsibilities as defined by law and regulation. Not only is data mapping necessary, but it can be accomplished by law students. Jani noted that data mapping is a great way for law students to enter the field of data privacy and to distinguish themselves by their expertise.

Jani’s talk inspired a lively question-and-answer period, during which he emphasized the need for attorneys to keep in mind the specific rights of consumers to their information and the necessity of adding Data Privacy Amendments (DPA’s) to their contracts.

“There is no better example of what the CBLI hopes to accomplish than this conversation,” remarked Richard Adams, Assistant Director of the Center for Business Law & Innovation. “The Center facilitated a presentation by an expert practitioner to a receptive group of eager and interested students. This sort of event is an ideal supplement to the Law School’s business law course offerings.”