Jennifer Howes is an associate in the San Diego and San Francisco offices of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm’s Privacy & Cyber and Data & Technology Transactions Practices.

She advises clients across a range of industries on matters relating to technology and data, including global data privacy, cybersecurity, digital marketing, product development, and regulatory compliance. 

Ms. Howes is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US and CIPP/E). She regularly provides strategic counselling on issues arising from the collection, use, sharing, and security of data, including when bringing new software or products to market, leveraging data in new ways, and complying with the CCPA, the GLBA, the GDPR, FTC requirements, and global digital marketing laws and frameworks. She also has substantial experience in complex M&A transactions, advising on privacy and data protection matters and conducting data privacy and cybersecurity diligence to assess potential liability, compliance, and integration issues. Additionally, she regularly assists clients in creating and implementing privacy policies and programs.

Prior to joining Latham, Ms. Howes was an associate at a leading law firm in New Zealand where she represented clients in privacy and employment related claims and advised on compliance with APAC data protection laws, health information privacy, consumer protection, and data security incident response. She has an LLM focused on data privacy and technology law from Columbia Law School, where she graduated as a James Kent Scholar. While at law school, she was a judicial extern for Magistrate Judge James L. Cott of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and an extern at the Knight First Amendment Institute.

Ms. Howes’ experience includes representing:

  • Purigen Biosystems in its acquisition by Bionano Genomics
  • Facebook in its:
    • Acquisition of Giphy, an online database and search engine that provides a library of animated GIFs and stickers
    • Acquisition of Kustomer, a CRM platform that enables businesses to effectively manage all customer interactions across channels
  • Facebook Overseas in its acquisition of Mapillary, a Swedish street-level image mapping platform, in a deep dive diligence process around data privacy and intellectual property concerns as well as commercial contracts reviews
  • NVIDIA Corporation in its acquisition of DeepMap, a provider of high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles. 
  • Intuit in its:
    • US$7.1 billion acquisition of Credit Karma
    • Acquisition of OneSaas, an Australian based SaaS integrations platform, including providing advice on post-close data integration 
  • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM), an entertainment company focused on the production and global distribution of film and TV content, in its US$8.45 billion sale to a multi-national technology company
  • MNTN Maximum Effort Marketing, a portfolio company of Mercato Partners, in its acquisition of Maximum Effort Marketing, a creative advertising shop
  • Dragoneer Investment Group in its US$250 million investment in Tonal Systems, a provider of fitness equipment, workout plans, and classes
  • Silver Lake Partners in its:
    • US$650 million equity investment in Klarna, a Swedish provider of payments and shopping service
    • Acquisition of Qualtrics, a provider of experience management software
  • Marlin Equity Partners in its:
    • Sale of a stake in Bazaarvoice, a provider of product reviews and user-generated content solutions
    • Acquisition of ProcessUnity, a leading provider of third-party risk and cybersecurity management software solutions
  • A China-based internet and social media company in general regulatory compliance and cyber security, in connection with its cloud service products
  • The Raine Group, a global boutique investment bank, on regulatory aspects including expansion throughout the world

Bar Qualification

  • California

Education

  • LLM, Columbia Law School, 2019
    James Kent Scholar
  • BA, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2013
  • LLB, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2013
    First Class Honors