About Me
CIPP/US-certified product counsel with over 9 years of high-stakes legal experience specializing in privacy, technology initiatives, and data management. Proven expertise advising on AI and ML initiatives and products, data management compliance, and regulatory investigations. Adept at collaborating across functional teams, including compliance, engineering, and design, to deliver proactive legal solutions in a novel regulatory space.
Personal information
- Full Name
- Sean Nathaniel Johnson
- home
- McLean, VA
- seanjohnson.esq@gmail.com
- phone
- 904.294.3066
Specialization
Litigation Management
Legal Writing
Data Privacy
Cybersecurity
Incident Response
Risk Management
Product Counsel
AI/ML Governance
Regulatory Compliance
Bar Admissions
Achievements
Work History
2024 – Present
Capital One Financial Corporation, McLean, VA
Senior Counsel, Flexpert (AI, Privacy & Litigation Business Counsel)- Rotational “Flexpert” program placing attorneys in critical business groups for 4-6 month terms; rotated through the Enterprise Innovation Legal Group, Card Litigation Group, and Tech-Reg-Legal Group supporting Capital One’s ML/AI initiatives and data management.
- Business counsel for Capital One’s foundational AI model for predicting customer behavior, advising engineering teams on training data governance and regulatory risk in credit decisioning.
- Product counsel for Capital One’s first AI-powered, agentic chatbot for servicing customer needs, advising engineering and design teams on a planned launch to 23 million customers.
- Lead Subject Matter Expert in AI and ML, advising business counsels across the company on use cases including fraud detection, performance management, and internal agentic workflows.
- Streamlined legal review of all external AI research by launching a new risk-based assessment process, cutting turnaround time from weeks to days while safeguarding IP and reputational risk; lead counsel on 25+ published papers in 2025.
- Lead legal advisor for the Enterprise Data Privacy and External Data Sharing team, guiding 10+ engineers and product managers in developing new consumer privacy systems compliant with a rapidly evolving landscape of data privacy laws, including the CCPA.
- Created litigation strategy for a high-volume docket of over 200 credit card matters, coordinating with outside counsel to streamline processes and reduce total costs by 10%.
- Provided product and privacy counsel to the Research and Design team on UDAAP compliance, intellectual property, and NDAs for new experiments and research projects, including identity management and biometric authentication initiatives.
2021 – 2024
Perkins Coie LLP, Washington, D.C.
Privacy and Data Security Associate- Outside counsel to multiple social media and technology clients handling responses to both civil and governmental requests for user records with an expertise in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Stored Communications Act (SCA).
- Successfully quashed multiple civil subpoenas on jurisdictional and constitutional grounds.
- Successfully negotiated with law enforcement to narrow warrants requesting location-specific user records for large client across multiple jurisdictions.
- Advised clients on potential Wiretap Act risks related to new technologies, including requests for data used to train AI models.
2023 – 2023
Meta Platforms, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Civil, Regulatory, and Election Work Response Secondee- Spent eight months embedded in Meta’s civil and regulatory response team responding to civil subpoenas, criminal defense subpoenas, and regulatory CIDs from both federal and state agencies.
- Managed outside counsel on brief-writing leading to a 100% success rate in motions practice.
- Worked with team to create frameworks for special requests for user data including matters involving deceased users, reproductive rights, allegations of sexual assault, and minor users.
- Managed large workload with up to a dozen open requests for user records at a time and up to 200 requests per month.
- Worked cross-functionally with teams across the company in order to implement initiatives and standardize policies and external responses, including Litigation, Privacy, Engineering, and eDiscovery teams.
2019 – 2021
Cooley LLP, Washington, D.C.
Litigation and Privacy + Cybersecurity Associate- Investigated and advised client on potential security breaches of client’s mobile application. The investigation included advising client on Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and Lanham Act claims, personally tracking and identifying potential bad actors online, and drafting cease and desist letters. The investigation successfully stopped multiple bad actors from operating and selling unlawful software.
- Investigated and advised technology platform on information security policies, risks, and legal requirements by assessing conformity with NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
- Advised financial clients and multiple technology platforms on compliance with global, federal, and state privacy and consumer protection laws, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and New York SHIELD Act.
- Drafted and filed complaint on behalf of a major publisher for breach of contract by a digital publishing platform. The defendant agreed to settle claims within three weeks of the filing.
- Interviewed employees, reviewed documents, and prepared reports and presentations on behalf of a leading AR manufacturer in response to a Civil Investigative Demand from a federal agency. The agency ultimately decided not to move forward.
2016 – 2019
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Washington, D.C.
Complex Litigation Associate- Prepared HSR filing and second-chaired portions of preliminary injunction hearing filed by the FTC in an administrative action to block the merger of two large healthcare providers.
- Second-chaired the deposition of the executive director of a state health plan and successfully negotiated the production of documents in an antitrust action filed by federal and state regulators.
- Wrote, served, and negotiated multiple subpoenas, discovery requests, interrogatories, and deficiency letters to both opposing counsel and third-party witnesses.
- Assisted in complicated e-discovery matters, including being requested specifically for my expertise to find documents related to technology and trade secret disclosures.
2011 – 2013
Teach For America, José de Diego Middle School, Miami, FL
6th, 7th, & 8th Grade Math Teacher- Improved proficiency in sixth grade math from 18% in 2011 to 29% in 2012.
- Achieved learning gains in 90% of students on the math state standardized test in 2011.