About me
Joseph V. DeMarco is a founding partner of DeMarco Law, PLLC, where he specializes in litigation and counseling in complex matters involving data privacy and security, crypto-currency crimes and frauds, identity theft, hacking, and other forms of computer intrusions, surreptitious surveillance, and artificial intelligence (AI) law and policy. His years of experience in private practice and government handling the most difficult cybercrime investigations and disputes have made him one of the nation's leading lawyers on cybercrime, identity theft, and the law of data privacy and security. He has experience in both civil and criminal litigation and developing compliance policies and programs designed to avoid litigation
From 1997 to 2007, Mr. DeMarco served an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he founded and headed the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program (CHIPs), a group of prosecutors dedicated to investigating and prosecuting violations of federal cybercrime laws and intellectual property offenses. Under his leadership, cybercrime prosecutions grew from a trickle in 1997 to a top priority of the United States Attorney's Office, encompassing all forms of criminal activity affecting e-commerce and critical infrastructures including computer hacking crimes; large scale on-line frauds and identity theft schemes; and crypto-currency and fintech-related frauds. As a recognized expert in the field, Mr. DeMarco was also frequently asked to counsel prosecutors and law enforcement agents regarding novel investigative and surveillance techniques and electronic evidence collection methodologies. In 2001, Mr. DeMarco served as a visiting Trial Attorney at the Department of Justice Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section in Washington, D.C.
Since founding his Firm in 2007, Mr. DeMarco has represented corporations and organizations in various industries in litigation, investigation and counseling matters concerning AI, machine learning, hacking, financial crimes and frauds, theft, and embezzlement facilitated through the use of computers and the Internet. His clients come from a range of industries including media and entertainment (including new media) finance, technology, banking, transportation and logistics, and online and brick-and-mortar retail.
In addition to his counsel practice, Mr. DeMarco has an active practice as an independent arbitrator and monitor. He is on the National Roster of approved neutrals of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and of Federal Arbitration, Inc. (FedArb), and has significant experience as an Arbitrator including experience adjudicating disputes between businesses involving disputes involving computer hacking, data privacy and security, illegal content monitoring and related business torts. He has also served as a Court-appointed receiver in a contested federal criminal case turning on disputed computer evidence and has also served as an integrity monitor in criminal matters involving high-technology issues and digital evidence.
Since 2002, Mr. DeMarco has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, where he teaches the upper-class Internet and Computer Crimes seminar focusing on, among other things, federal criminal investigations and the novel challenges posed by electronic search and seizure issues. He has spoken throughout the world on electronic evidence preservation and collection in criminal cases, digital investigations, cybercrime, e-Commerce, and IP enforcement, including at the Practicing Law Institute (PLI), the National Advocacy Center, and the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He has also served as an instructor on cybercrime law to judges at the New York State Judicial Institute.
Prior to joining the United States Attorney's Office, Mr. DeMarco was a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he concentrated on intellectual property, antitrust, and securities litigation. Between law school and Cravath, Mr. DeMarco served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable J. Daniel Mahoney of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Mr. DeMarco holds a J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law where he was an Articles Editor of the NYU Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. He received his B.S.F.S. summa cum laude from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is currently a member of several bar and professional associations, including the:
o International Bar Association (Technology Committee)
o International Association of Korean Lawyers (Past Member, Board of Directors)
o Federal Bar Council
o New York State Bar Association, Commercial and Federal Litigation Section (Past Co-chair, Internet and IP Committee) and Dispute Resolution Section
o New York City Bar Association (past Chair, Information Technology Committee)
Mr. DeMarco is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated lawyer for Computers and Software, Litigation and Internet Law, and is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Privacy and Data Security law. He has been named as a “SuperLawyer” in Intellectual Property Litigation. He is a member of the Professional Editorial Board of the Computer Law & Security Review and serves on the Board of Advisors of the Center for Law and Information Policy at Fordham University School of Law. He was recently appointed by the Connecticut General Assembly to advise that body on data privacy law issues including those impacted by Connecticut’s recently enacted data privacy law.
Mr. DeMarco has received numerous professional awards, including the U.S. Department of Justice Director’s Award for Superior Performance and the Lawyer of Integrity Award from the Institute for Jewish Humanities.
