John Hutchins is a veteran trial and technology lawyer with broad experience encompassing complex commercial and intellectual property litigation and trial work, privacy and data security matters, and compliance and strategic counseling on technology matters and transactions. While his nearly 30 years of litigation experience runs the gamut in subject matter -- from software and eminent domain, to vintage race cars and death penalty habeas corpus -- he has particular experience in matters involving privacy and data security, technology, intellectual property, government procurement, restrictive covenants and breach of fiduciary duty. He has tried numerous cases to jury verdict in state and federal courts, as well as bench trials, arbitrations, administrative and other evidentiary proceedings.
John’s privacy and data security practice, in addition to litigation, also includes advising clients on incident response, compliance with state, federal, and international privacy and data security laws and guidance. He has led hundreds of clients in responding to data security incidents of all types, including ransomware attacks. He founded the privacy and data security practices at two previous law firms, dating back to 2005. Meanwhile, his transactional practice consists of a mix of complex technology transactions, including sourcing deals, hosted services arrangements, cloud computing, technology licensing, systems procurement and project implementation
John is a frequent speaker and is published widely on privacy, data security and technology law topics. He has been quoted by news outlets such as National Public Radio, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Forbes, ComputerWorld and Law360. His versatility has been recognized by Best Lawyers® by listings in six different practice areas – Privacy & Data Security, Litigation (Intellectual Property), Technology, Commercial Litigation, Copyright and Information Technology. He has twice been chosen “Lawyer of the Year” in Atlanta by Best Lawyers® – once in 2017 for Information Technology Law and again in 2020 for Technology Law.