MIAMI – Oct. 21, 2019 – Products liability attorney Rebecca A. Ocariz has joined the Miami office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A. as a shareholder, and Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity Shareholder Kate Black has moved to the firm’s Miami office.
Ocariz, who is joining the firm’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Practice, primarily focuses her practice on products liability and mass tort disputes. She joins Greenberg Traurig from Akerman, LLP and is a former senior counsel for IVAX Corporation. Ocariz represents pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, and other life science, retail, and technology companies. She also is highly experienced in commercial litigation, and has brought to successful completion numerous complex matters of professional negligence, business torts, deceptive trade practices, and construction.
Ocariz received her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law, and a B.S. from the University of Miami. She is a past president of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers (MDFAWL) and currently serves on the board of the organization’s foundation.
“We welcome Rebecca to our products liability team in Miami, which works strategically with lawyers throughout the firm on some of the most important product liability cases in Florida and throughout the country,” said Yosbel A. Ibarra, co-managing shareholder of the firm’s Miami office. “Her experience as a former senior counsel for an international pharmaceuticals corporation will allow her to offer a valuable perspective on issues affecting our clients.”
Black, who will reside in Miami and continue to practice in the firm’s San Francisco office, focuses on data privacy, information protection and commercial transactions in consumer technology, digital health, life sciences, and genetics. She provides companies with wide-ranging, practical strategies for meeting their regulatory obligations while building and maintaining public trust and advancing innovative and emerging models of health care research and delivery. She has managed every aspect of global privacy programs, including supervising privacy assessments, providing product strategy and counseling, managing complex vendor and partner agreements, and overseeing security policy audits for leading health technology companies. Black regularly advises on proposed regulatory and legislative changes that will impact the health technology environment and has been a featured speaker and frequent lecturer on data privacy and cybersecurity, data analytics, digital health, mobile medical applications, and privacy issues related to genetic and health research.
Prior to joining the firm in 2019, Black served as 23andMe’s first Global Privacy Officer in Mountain View, CA and worked in the Office of Policy and Planning in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.
Black received her J.D. from George Washington University Law School and a B.S. in Health Science, cum laude from Florida International University. She serves as an advisor with Babson’s Women Innovating Now (WIN) Venture Lab, which offers women entrepreneurs a five-month residency and the road map, expertise, inspiration, and community to succeed in growing their business. In addition, she volunteers with Code/Art, a Miami-based nonprofit, that uses art as an on ramp to teach coding to girls in grades 4-12.
“At nearly 20 percent of the US GDP, healthcare continues to grow as a major component and driver of the economy both nationally and in South Florida,” said Miami Co-Managing Shareholder Jaret L. Davis. “The additions of Rebecca and Kate dramatically expand the practice dimensions we can offer our healthcare and other commercial clients, particularly as South Florida continues to scale in providing innovative models of healthcare delivery, as well as consumer health and wellness applications.”
About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2100 attorneys in 41 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.