Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, announces today the continued strategic growth of its Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies practice with the addition of Allison J. Bender as partner, resident in the Washington, DC, office. Bender was previously with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

“The venture technology group’s growth trajectory over the course of 2021 is nothing short of extraordinary,” said Victor Boyajian, Global Chair of Dentons' Global Venture Technology practice. “This year alone we have realized growth of 97 percent – a key indicator of the market’s strong embrace of our differentiated service offering in the tech sector. Allison brings extensive cybersecurity and privacy experience to our top ranked global team, putting us in the forefront of market leadership in the arena. Clients will particularly benefit from her experience at the intersection of cybersecurity, government affairs and policy.”

Bender began her career as a lawyer at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of the General Counsel, where she spent nearly a decade, first negotiating public-private, multimillion-dollar international research and development agreements on behalf of DHS and the US Government, later serving in a number of interagency technology policy roles, including as the DHS Primary Representative to the President’s Export Control Reform Initiative Taskforce, and then focusing on cybersecurity. At DHS, she served as the primary operational legal counsel for a number of significant cybersecurity incidents and co-chaired the interagency Automated Indicator Sharing Initiative’s Privacy and Compliance Working Group. In private practice, Bender has advised startups to Fortune 50 companies on managing cybersecurity preparedness, compliance and incident response, including on hundreds of incidents.

Bender is a noted public speaker in the field, having spoken at the Mandiant Cybersecurity Summit in 2019 and 2021, BlackHat USA 2018 and the International Association of Privacy Professionals 2018 Global Summit, among others. She also serves an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching courses on cybersecurity law and national security regulation.

Cybersecurity continues to be a top risk for companies of all sizes, with cyberattacks increasing in frequency and impact. Emerging privacy and cybersecurity laws also create challenges for international, enterprise-wide compliance and risk management.

Bender is the latest of a significant number of strategic hires across key disciplines by the Global Venture Technology Group in 2021 in a competitive field across the United States, including in cybersecurity, privacy, tech M&A, fund and debt finance, technology transactions and venture finance.

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