Reena R. Bajowala is a partner in Ice Miller’s Data Security & Privacy, Information Technology (IT) & Software Disputes and Benefit Disputes practices. Reena is a Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT) and a Certified Information Privacy Professional – US (CIPP/US). She is the Co-Recruiting Partner for the Chicago office and leads the Ice Miller Pro Bono program efforts in Illinois.
Reena represents buyers and providers of IT services embroiled in issues ranging from billing and performance disputes arising from Master Services Agreements and Service Level Agreements to copyright and licensing disputes pursuant to Software Licensing and SaaS agreements. Reena also protects the interests of companies during software licensing reviews or audits by software companies. While her goal is to resolve disputes pre-litigation, Reena has extensive litigation and trial experience from filing of complaint to settlement or verdict, including over 100 days of first-chair trial experience.
Reena also regularly advises on data privacy and security, with a focus on data breach, cybersecurity and InfoSec issues. She helps clients investigate, remediate and comply with legal obligations when faced with a data security incident, including in business email compromise, ransomware or wire transfer fraud scenarios. She is experienced with conducting risk assessments, developing privacy and security compliance programs, and doing proactive planning for potential data security incidents, including drafting incident response plans, communications plans and conducting tabletop exercises. She also advises on issues of cyber literacy on public and private boards of directors. In addition, Reena helps evaluate legal risks relating to emerging technologies, including Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and drones.
With a broad-based background in complex dispute resolution, Reena is adept at dealing with the intricacies of class, collective and plan-wide litigation in the employment and consumer fraud spaces. In particular, she has substantial experience representing employers and service providers in benefits and fiduciary lawsuits involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Reena is an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Law School. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Business Law Section, Cyberspace Law Subcommittee, the CBA Financial and Emerging Technologies Committee, the Chicago Electronic Crimes Task Force, the International Association of Privacy Professionals and the Private Directors Association’s Cybersecurity Initiative. She also co-chairs the Drone Interest Group regulatory & legal subcommittee and is an advisory board member for Hub88, a technology incubator powered by 1871 in the Chicagoland area. She served on the Firm’s Ideation Committee, and now is a member of the Firm’s IMagine idea incubator.
Reena is an advocate for racial equity and access to justice. She serves on Ice Miller’s Racial Justice Task Force. She was appointed by the Lawyer’s Trust Fund of Illinois to Co-Chair a Working Group on Diversity & Inclusion, serves on the Emerging Leaders Council of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), and serves on the Law Firm Anti-Racism Alliance’s Access to Justice Working Group. She also serves on the advisory board of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS), and as Vice President of the board of the Albany Park Theater Project (APTP). Her previous board service includes the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI), the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and Apna Ghar. While in law school, she founded the Origins Fellowship at the University of Michigan Law School, which has distributed almost $125,000 to dozens of students dedicated to careers in public interest.
Reena received the "Best Under 40" award from NAPABA, the POW! award from Womenetics and a "Most Powerful and Influential Woman" award from the Illinois Diversity Council. She is a 2013 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. She has also been recognized for her pro bono work on human trafficking, fair housing, civil rights and access to justice. In 2018, she received a Distinguished Alumni award from the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) and in 2014 she received the inaugural Corporate Partner Award from the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.
Reena joined the Firm in 2018 after spending almost 13 years as an associate and partner at an AmLaw 100 international law firm based in Chicago.
Reena lives downtown Chicago with her husband, pre-teen daughter and Labrador-Pitbull rescue, Annie.