Welcome to Profiles in Leadership, a page featuring alumnae of the BWLC’s Women’s Leadership Fellows Program at NYU Law. Each month, a Fellow from the Class of 2021 through 2024 will be in the spotlight — to share career insights, their path to leadership, and key takeaways from the BWLC.
Mari Dugas ’22
Cyber/Data/Privacy Associate, Cooley LLP
I work with clients from financial services institutions, Fortune 500 companies, and emerging tech start-ups on risk management, information security governance, and incident preparedness and response. My role is to advise them on all matters of cyber and privacy risk, as well as to provide counsel on national and international privacy and security compliance regimes and related legal issues and risks in complex commercial agreements and corporate transactions.
How did you come to be in your current position? How has your path mirrored what you envisioned during your first year at NYU Law (or not)?
I began working in this field fortuitously. A mentor asked if I wanted a new challenge, trusted me to learn fast, and threw me into the world of cybersecurity and incident response. I've never looked back. As a 1L, I knew I wanted to work in cybersecurity, but didn't really know what that entailed. While at NYU Law, I got to see cybersecurity lawyering from so many angles, from summering with Cooley, where I now work, to working with experts at the Reiss Center, to interning with the legal office at US Cyber Command. I didn't expect to end up in the private sector, but I love it.
I work with clients who are pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation, all while navigating cybersecurity threats and risks and an increasingly complex legal and regulatory landscape. My work hinges on understanding what my clients do and are creating, the risks they face, and the laws that apply. I also do a lot of crisis response and management. To me, there’s nothing more fulfilling than helping a client navigate one of their worst days — a cyber incident — that is probably a new experience for them, but what I do all the time. I love helping a client make sense of what feels like a daunting situation to help them make it back to business as usual and navigate the legal challenges that come up from an incident. It’s an exercise in creativity and flexibility every day.
How does leadership — by others, for others, with others — present itself in your daily life?
Leadership happens 24/7. Sometimes it presents in obvious frameworks, like working with a partner or senior associate, but it is also in the little moments. In my incident response work for example, we often deal with high stress, fear, and uncertainty as companies navigate challenges. Leadership to me is “what tone do I set?” “How can I do small things to make someone’s life easier when everything else feels out of control?” “What can I do to innovate a process to help keep the partner and client on top of workstreams, so they don’t go to bed worrying something has been dropped?” These are leadership moments for anyone, no matter how senior or junior. They are leadership moments for others, but they’re also leadership moments with others. When working on large dynamic teams, it can be leadership to take stock of the whole team and where I am best placed to help, rather than just jumping in. I like quiet forms of leadership — taking a moment to assess the situation, the team, and everyone’s preferences and strengths, in order to be more efficient and impactful.
Leadership by others also sets the tone. I don’t forget the great leaders I have worked with. The ones who lift others up, create learning moments, and celebrate the wins. I’ve been so lucky to work with world-class leaders and I try to take notes whenever I can; there’s always more to learn!
What lessons/takeaways/words of wisdom from the BWLC Fellows Program do you find yourself leaning on most now?
There is nothing more important to me than being of service. There are communities on whose shoulders I stand. My grandmother immigrated to the United States when she was the age I was in law school. I take the experiences that she has lived and the lessons she imparted to us and use all of it in my immigration pro bono work.
I’ve also been grateful to be welcomed into the security researcher community, a.k.a. the “hacker” community. From Day One, people welcomed me into spaces to learn and grow. I feel responsible to help others have the same opportunities, especially those of us who aren’t often seeing ourselves reflected in these rooms.
It also is important to me to give back to the election and democracy communities, where I did work before and during law school. Democracy is the foundation of our country and finding avenues to use my law degree to help people access and exercise their right to vote, and understand what are often convoluted voting laws, is a common thread for me.
The BWLC fostered all of this. The Fellows program, and my cohort, encouraged us to find ways to serve that we feel personally connected to, to go out and make a difference.