Attorney

Cybersecurity & Privacy Attorney | Charlotte, NC (hybrid, some remote) | $150,000 to $350,000

When a company gets breached, the first call doesn’t go to IT. It goes to a lawyer.

If you’ve taken that call and found you’re good at it, keep reading.

Who’s writing this

• I’m Clark Pollins, an attorney recruiter at Distinct Recruitment. I’m not the firm.
• Several firms with Charlotte offices are hiring cyber and data privacy attorneys at the same time.
• Two are national firms with dedicated incident response teams. One is a Charlotte headquartered firm with a technology practice. Others are building out data breach litigation benches.
• Usually you wait for one seat to open. Right now you get to compare.

Pick your lane

Incident response

• You’ve guided clients through ransomware and business email compromise, from the first call to the closed file.
• You’ve worked alongside forensics firms under privilege, and you know why that structure matters.
• You can map notification duties across state breach laws, HIPAA, GLBA and the regulators without starting from scratch every time.
• Project attorney seats suit 1 to 3 years of experience, and one is open to remote work.
• Associate seats suit 4 to 6 years.

Data breach and privacy litigation

• You’ve defended data breach class actions: standing fights at the motion to dismiss stage, MDLs, settlement structures.
• Tracking pixel, wiretap or biometric privacy claims on your résumé will get noticed.
• Associate seats want five or more years. There’s a counsel seat for 12 or more.

Privacy advisory and transactional

• You’ve run privacy diligence on M&A deals and negotiated DPAs, vendor contracts and cross border data transfers.
• You know CCPA and the other state privacy laws, HIPAA, GLBA and the NYDFS cybersecurity rules well enough to advise without a script.
• AI governance work is a plus.
• Four or more years of real data protection work. Senior roles want five or more.

What gets you through the door

• Active bar admission. North Carolina admission helps, and some firms will consider other admissions.
• Law firm experience in one of the lanes above. Government, regulator or in house privacy counsel experience also counts for some seats.
• You write clearly when everyone else is panicking.

What gets you a better offer

• CIPP/US, CIPM or similar certifications.
• Technical fluency. You can read a forensic report without needing a translator.
• Financial services experience. Charlotte is a banking town, and regulated clients tend to show up in this work.
• Relationships with cyber insurers or breach panels. Carriers send a lot of incident response work to panel counsel, so this is worth real money.

The numbers

• The range is wide because these firms are hiring across levels.
• Project attorney seats start around $150,000.
• Senior associate and counsel seats go up to $350,000.

How you’d work

• Hybrid or remote is a genuine choice at several of these firms from day one.
• You pick the platform: a national cyber practice, or a firm with deep Charlotte roots.

How I’ll work with you

• One call. Tell me your lane and what you want next.
• I’ll tell you which of these firms fits you and which doesn’t.
• Nothing goes to any firm without your say-so. Fully confidential.