Jim Pastore is a litigation partner and a member of the firm’s Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice and Intellectual Property Litigation Group. His practice focuses on privacy and cybersecurity issues. Mr. Pastore is recognized by The Legal 500 US (2015) for his cybersecurity work.
Prior to rejoining Debevoise in 2014 as counsel, Mr. Pastore served for five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. While he was with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Pastore spent most of his time as a prosecutor with the Complex Frauds Unit and Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section. He successfully litigated eight jury trials to verdict and was the lead prosecutor in United States v. Monsegur, a/k/a “Sabu,” and Operation Cardshop, both of which were named to the FBI’s top 10 cases of 2012. Additionally, Mr. Pastore was the lead prosecutor on Operation Dirty R.A.T., which targeted the creators and users of Blackshades malware, and resulted in the largest ever worldwide law enforcement action against cybercriminals. Mr. Pastore also obtained a first-of-its kind order in the prosecution of the Rove Digital organization to prevent catastrophic Internet outage from the so-called “doomsday virus.”
Mr. Pastore was an associate at Debevoise from 2004 to 2009, focusing on IP litigation. During his earlier tenure at the firm, he worked on a variety of high-profile matters, including the well-publicized Google books copyright litigation.
Mr. Pastore’s recent publications include “Cybersecurity: Evaluating Transactional Risk,” Transaction Advisors (July, 2015); “A Closer Look,” Best's Review (June, 2015); “New York State Department Of Financial Services Expands Its Cyber Focus To Insurers,” FC&S Legal (April, 2015) and “Debevoise & Plimpton On Cybersecurity: Reducing Threats To Private Equity Firms And Their Portfolio Companies,” The Newsletter of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council (March, 2015).
Mr. Pastore earned his J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School in 2004. He served as Co-President of the Stanford Law & Technology Association and was a member of the Stanford Technology Law Review. He received his B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Notre Dame in 2001, where he was a Notre Dame Scholar, the recipient of the James E. Robison Award for outstanding senior English major and one of 40 seniors selected for the College of Arts & Letters Honors Program.
