Ben Flanagan

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT BEN FLANAGAN

Ben is experienced trial and appellate counsel, representing public and private sector clients in cybersecurity events, privacy breaches and the defence of associated third-party claims, including class actions. He is called to the bar in Ontario (2013), Alberta (2017) and British Columbia (2020) and holds a Certificate in Cybersecurity from York University. Ben also acts on environmental liability, complex GL and coverage matters.Most of Ben’s time is devoted to cyber breach coach work involving ransomware, email compromise, funds transfer fraud, and other network compromise events. Having acted as counsel in hundreds of cybersecurity events, Ben has the experience to guide organizations through the most challenging moments they are likely to face. Ben offers practical legal advice on Canada’s privacy laws to minimize exposure to claims and protracted regulatory investigations, and avoid reputational harm. Ben also defends organizations against third-party claims that arise from cybersecurity events, privacy breaches, data loss, funds transfer fraud and other similar events. Ben has represented clients at trial, appeal and at judicial review hearings. Ben is also frequently retained to bring court proceedings to recover funds lost in EFTs and other types of payment fraud. Ben’s cyber and privacy expertise is not limited to response work: he acts for enterprises of all sizes to better their preparedness for cyber and privacy incidents. Ben’s pre-breach work includes ensuring compliance with privacy laws across Canada, developing bespoke incident response plans and playbooks, running tabletop exercises to test readiness, assisting with vendor selection, etc. Ben believes that every minute spent on a matter must add value to his client. He also approaches every matter with the care, diligence and comprehensiveness that would be expected in a courtroom.Ben has been an invited guest lecturer at his alma mater, the University of Alberta, and he frequently presents to industry on civil litigation topics. He has also served as a judge for law school moots and regularly mentors junior lawyers and students in trial advocacy and ethical practice, topics at the heart of Ben’s work.