Biography
Ruth Hill Bro (Chicago) has focused her legal career on advising businesses on privacy and information management strategy, cybersecurity, global compliance, the electronic workplace, and e-business. She has been featured as a speaker over 190 times and has published over 90 works on these issues. These works include the first (2013), second (2018), and third (2022) editions of The ABA Cybersecurity Handbook: A Resource for Attorneys, Law Firms, and Business Professionals, 2018 ACLEA Best Publication Award winner (contributing author, ABA); The Internet of Things (IoT): Legal Issues, Policy, and Practical Strategies (chapter, 2019, ABA); Data Breach and Encryption Handbook (2 chapters, 2011, ABA); The E-Business Legal Arsenal: Practitioner Agreements and Checklists (Editor, 2004, ABA); Internet in the Workplace: Managing Organizational Access (designed/taught one-day course across U.S. and co-authored book, 1997, Software Publishers Ass’n); Online Law (5 chapters, 1996, Addison-Wesley); “Moving with Change: Electronic Signature Legislation as a Vehicle for Advancing E-Commerce” (lead article, J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L., Spring, 1999; excerpted in many cyber books); and her column CPO Corner: Interviews with Leading Chief Privacy Officers (2005-2015, in The SciTech Lawyer magazine).
Ruth is a longstanding leader in the American Bar Association (ABA), where she is a Special Advisor to and prior Co-Chair of the ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force. She is a member of the ABA's new Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence, where she serves as ABA Liaison Leader. A leader in the ABA Science & Technology Law Section (SciTech), she is a Senior Advisor for the Privacy, Security, and Emerging Technology Division and a Planning Committee member for the annual Artificial Intelligence and Robotics National Institute (2019-), Internet of Things (IoT) National Institute (2015-2023), and the 2024 Privacy and Emerging Technology Institute (Chair), in addition to serving as the Section’s Liaison to the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession (2018-). She also served as SciTech’s Section Chair (2008-2009), Membership and Diversity Committee Chair (2009-2016), and E-Privacy Law Committee Founder/Chair (2000-2005). Ruth currently serves as a member of the Council of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education (the ABA’s charitable arm) and on the ABA Standing Committee on Membership (as ABA Section Officer Conference Liaison). Ruth served two three-year terms (2009-2015) on the ABA Standing Committee on Technology and Information Systems (second term as Chair), as well as terms on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education (as Liaison, 2012-2015), Commission on the Future of Legal Services (2014-2016) (two-year presidential commission to improve access to, and delivery of, legal services in the U.S.), the E-Mail Stakeholder Committee (2017-2018), ABA Standing Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness (2016-2017), and Board of Governors Communications Task Force (2017).
Ruth has served on many of the top advisory or editorial boards in the privacy, data security, and technology field, including The SciTech Lawyer, DataGuidance (U.S. Panel of Experts), Internet Law & Strategy, The Privacy & Data Protection Legal Reporter (Executive Editor/Chairman of the Board of Editors), and BNA’s Privacy & Security Law Report). She also served on the boards of two arts organizations (visual arts, music) and the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. She has been recognized as a leader by numerous organizations, including for four consecutive years in Ethisphere Institute’s annual list of Attorneys Who Matter (data privacy/security). Her views have been noted by the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Economist Intelligence Unit, ABA Journal, National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, BNA Privacy & Security Law Report, CyberInsecurity News, Chicago Lawyer, FCW/Federal Computer Week, Legaltech News, Bloomberg Radio, and CNBC.
Now a consultant, Ruth started her legal career at McBride Baker & Coles (now Holland & Knight) and then spent nearly a decade at Baker & McKenzie, where she was a partner in the Chicago office and founding North American member of the firm’s Global Privacy Steering Committee. Before getting her J.D. from the University of Chicago, Ruth had a successful career in major gifts fundraising at Northwestern University (B.A. in English, Political Science). She won 1st place in NY Law Journal’s fiction contest (short story, “Privilege”) and 2nd place in Chicago Lawyer’s contest (short story, “Her Father’s Daughter”).