Labaton Keller Sucharow PartnersMichael P. CantyandCarol C. Villegashave been recognized as 2023 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers by The National Law Journal. This annual list honors the lawyers who “make their mark in various aspects of legal work on the Plaintiffs’ side.”

Michael P. Canty is a Partner in the New York office of Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP, where he serves on the Firm’s Executive Committee and as its General Counsel. Michael has extensive experience representing consumers in high-profile data privacy litigation.  Most notably, one of Michael’s most recent successes was the historic $650 million settlement in the In re Facebook Biometric Information Privacy Litigation matter—the largest consumer data privacy settlement ever and one of the first cases asserting consumers’ biometric privacy rights under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). “We are not in the business of trying to thwart of stifle technology,” Canty says in his Trailblazer’s interview, “Some of these advancements have proved very popular, but at the same time companies have an obligation to fully and fairly disclose what they are collecting.”

Carol C. Villegas holds a variety of leadership positions within the Firm, including serving on the Firm’s Executive Committee and serving as Co-Chair of the Firm’s Women’s Networking and Mentoring Initiative.  Carol’s practice focuses on prosecuting complex securities fraud cases on behalf of institutional investors. Notable recent successes include In re Nielsen Holdings PLC Securities Litigation ($73 million settlement) and City of Warren Police and Fire Retirement System v. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. ($39 million settlement). “In many ways, data collection and data privacy by big tech is still the wild west,” says Villegas in her Trailblazer’s interview, “We hope that by bringing these lawsuits and enforcing these privacy claims, big data will begin taking affirmative steps.”