Mr. Nahra is a partner with WilmerHale in Washington, D.C., where he specializes in privacy and information security litigation and counseling, along with a variety of health care and compliance issues. He is Co-Chair of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice as well as Co-Chair of the Big Data Practice.  He assists companies in a wide range of industries in analyzing and implementing the requirements of privacy and security laws across the country and internationally.  He provides advice on data breaches, enforcement actions, contract negotiations, business strategy, research and de-identification issues and privacy, data security and cybersecurity compliance.  He advises companies in virtually all industries, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups.  He also works with insurers and health care industry participants in developing compliance programs and defending against government investigations into their practices.

A long-time member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, he was the editor of Privacy Advisor, the monthly newsletter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals for more than a decade and chairs IAPP’s Publications Committee.  He is also a founding Board Member of the Privacy Bar Section of the IAPP and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional.  He received the 2021 Privacy Vanguard Award from IAPP in recognition of his “exceptional leadership, knowledge and creativity in privacy and data protection.”  See https://iapp.org/news/a/kirk-nahra-receives-2021-iapp-vanguard-award/

He served as the Co-Chair of the Confidentiality, Privacy and Security Workgroup, a panel of government and private sector privacy and security experts advising the American Health Information Community (AHIC) on privacy and security issues arising from health information technology. 

Mr. Nahra received his law degree from Harvard Law School, Cum Laude, and his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.  Mr. Nahra is an active author and lecturer in the health care, compliance, privacy, information security and anti-fraud areas. 

He has taught privacy issues at several law schools.  He teaches both Information Privacy Law and Health Care Privacy and Data Security Law as an adjunct professor at the Washington College of Law at American University.  He teaches both of these subjects as an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University Law School as well.  In addition, he has taught Health Care Privacy and Security Law at the University of Maine Law School.  He also guest lectures regularly at other law schools on privacy and data security issues, including Washington University in St. Louis, Georgetown University, Boston University and Northeastern University.  In connection with his teaching, he recently published “Privacy Law and the First-Year Law School Curriculum,” in the Autumn 2019 issue of The Green Bag, available at http://greenbag.org/v23n1/v23n1_articles_nahra.pdf. In addition, he currently serves as a fellow with the Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law at Washington University in St. Louis and as a fellow with the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology.