Kate Black

Kate Black practices at the intersection of privacy, health technology, and cutting-edge innovation. She advises companies on managing legal risk associated with highly sensitive personal data, including health, genetic, biometric, and consumer information. She represents clients spanning biotechnology, life sciences, digital health, mobile medical applications, consumer health and wellness products, e-commerce, data analytics, and AI platforms that handle health information.

Kate works with companies to design privacy and data governance programs, evaluate new data uses and products, respond to regulatory inquiries and investigations, and negotiate complex data transfer and protection agreements. She has deep experience helping clients navigate HIPAA and HITECH, the FTC Act, CCPA/CPRA and other state comprehensive privacy laws, GDPR, Washington’s My Health My Data Act, state health and biometric laws, and cybersecurity requirements.

Prior to working in private practice, Kate served as the first head of privacy and data protection at 23andMe, where she advised on privacy, data security, and law enforcement response issues.

Kate’s government experience affords clients valuable perspective. Having served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and advised the California Office of Health Information Integrity, she understands how regulators think and how policy is shaped. Her insights — further informed by her time at the Center for Democracy and Technology and internship at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy — enable her to anticipate regulatory trends and craft practical strategies that help organizations stay compliant while using data responsibly. 

Drawing from experience in-house, in private practice, and in the nonprofit sector, Kate delivers guidance that is both pragmatic and forward-looking.