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Desktop Image: Savage, Christopher W.
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Christopher W. Savage

Partner

T 202.973.4211 Washington, D.C.
If my clients' problems were easy, they wouldn't ask me to help solve them.
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Chris Savage helps navigate legal and regulatory challenges involving Internet and communications services and networks, privacy, and data security. When compromise is possible, he negotiates solutions that work. When it isn't, he litigates—against the government or private parties, as needed. And for clients who can take a longer view, Chris works with regulators and legislators to help build a legal and regulatory ecosystem where clients can flourish.

Chris brings more than four decades of diverse experience in complex regulatory matters to every client problem. His work has involved disputes arising from competitors entering established markets; technical and economic arrangements to interconnect different networks; deployment of new technology and infrastructure; data security and privacy; and complex issues of cost allocation, financial accounting, and contract interpretation. A former co-chair of DWT's Communications practice group, Chris continues to be recognized as one of the "Best Lawyers in America" in Communications Law.

Internet and communications technology is always changing, so law and regulation are constantly changing too. To stay informed, Chris participates in formal and informal discussion forums with other high-level legal and technical professionals and teaches Internet Law at George Washington University and Internet Law, Information Privacy Law, and Artificial Intelligence Law at the Catholic University of America. He was recently a Fellow of People-Centered Internet, looking for ways to use internet technology to improve resiliency and innovation in developing economies. He is also the author of a well-received article on the economics of consumer privacy for the Stanford Technology Law Review, a leading academic journal addressing complex issues at the intersection of law and technology.

Practice Highlights

Managing a complex data breach investigation

Long before Chris' client acquired a business, the prior owner shared protected consumer information with a marketing company and did not get it back when the marketing campaign was over. Years after the acquisition, the marketing company experienced a data breach, and regulators sought to hold the client partially responsible for the aftermath. After developing and presenting arguments against this unprecedented theory of liability, Chris negotiated a favorable settlement.

Navigating shifting regulation of broadband Internet access

For more than a decade, broadband Internet providers have been subject to vague and shifting regulatory obligations, both in the United States and overseas. For the last several years, Chris has been advising broadband providers on how to meet those obligations—involving disclosure of network management policies, privacy protections, and more—with the minimum disruption of their business.

Protecting innovative communications competitor against attacks by foreign monopolist

Acted as lead counsel in federal court litigation defending a competitive communications company against claims that its Internet-based international mobile calling service violated United States law, while pursuing counterclaims contending that the foreign plaintiff, a near-monopolist in its home country, violated United States' communications and antitrust laws.
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Admitted to Practice

  • District of Columbia, 1982
  • California, 1980
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, 1983
  • U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 1980
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, 1982

Education

  • J.D., Harvard Law School, 1980, cum laude
  • A.B., Economics, Sociology, Harvard College, 1977, magna cum laude

Professional Recognition

    • Named to "Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll" by the D.C. Court of Appeals and the D.C. Superior Court, 2017
    • Named one of the "Best Lawyers in America" by Best Lawyers in Communications Law, 2015-present
    • Selected to "Washington D.C. Super Lawyers" in Communications, Thomson Reuters, 2013-2020
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