Maine Supreme Court Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley ’80 recently presented Peter J. Guffin, Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of Maine School of Law, with the Maine Judicial Branch’s Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award. This award is presented each year to “that person who, in a voluntary capacity, assists the Judicial Branch in fulfilling its mission of administering justice by providing an accessible, efficient and impartial system of dispute resolution.”
Guffin, who serves as Co-director of the Information Privacy Law Program at Maine Law, participated as a member of the Judicial Branch’s Task Force on Privacy and Transparency. The Task Force was convened to assist the Supreme Judicial Court in developing guidelines that balance the need for transparency in government with individual rights of privacy as the Judicial Branch shifts to digital court files. In honoring Guffin, the Maine Judicial Branch recognized his efforts while serving on the Task Force during which he “generously contributed his expertise, scholarship, and insights.”
Guffin also heads Pierce Atwood’s Privacy & Data Security practice, where he counsels clients on compliance with state, federal, and international laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection, including cross-border data transfers. He also provides advice and assistance to clients with respect to data security incidents, ranging from internal investigations, incident response, breach notification obligations, communications with regulators, risk mitigation, and litigation strategies.
