About Rikka

Alvaro Monroy is an accomplished Executive Assistant with over a decade of experience in digital marketing, virtual assistance, and operational management. At Rikka Law, he plays a pivotal role in supporting the CEO, Charlyn Ho, ensuring seamless coordination of day-to-day operations and strategic initiatives.

Alvaro excels in client relations, calendar management, invoicing coordination, and time-tracking oversight. His meticulous attention to detail and strong organizational skills enable him to manage complex tasks such as drafting client engagement letters, overseeing conflict checks, and maintaining the firm's administrative efficiency.

Before joining Rikka Law, Alvaro honed his expertise in e-commerce, Digital Marketing, and executive support across various industries, showcasing his adaptability and commitment to professional growth. He is passionate about leveraging his skills to enhance client experiences and optimize business processes.

Outside of work, Alvaro enjoys exploring innovative technologies, advancing his knowledge in artificial intelligence, and spending quality time with his family.

McLean is a seasoned commercial attorney with 20+ years of experience advising on complex technology transactional matters for clients predominantly in the IT, software, telecom, healthcare, and financial services sectors.

He regularly drafts and negotiates a broad range of commercial agreements, including cloud computing (SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS), professional services, reseller, asset transfer, confidentiality, data protection, and technology and IP licensing agreements.

As a recognized privacy and data security law expert, McLean also counsels clients on all aspects of data lifecycle management and related best practices in connection with technology deals, and assists with the development and implementation of comprehensive strategies to comply with the ever-growing universe of domestic and international privacy laws and regulations.

Before working with Rikka Law, McLean was a founding member of Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s Privacy, Cybersecurity & Data Strategy practice group and he served as Assistant General Counsel for Int’l Data Protection & Regulatory Compliance with Verizon

McLean is an honors graduate of the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he earned an Advanced Certificate in Communications Law from the Institute for Communications Law Studies, and he received a B.A. in Political Science from Gettysburg College.

McLean is a member of the Washington, DC and Minnesota bars.

Professional Experience:

Privacy and Data Security

• Managed more than 500 data breach remediations to ensure compliance with all applicable domestic and international laws, and to mitigate all risk factors.
• Counseled clients of all sizes regarding U.S. state/federal and international data privacy laws and regulations to determine the potential impact on clients’ ongoing and proposed business initiatives.  
• Advised numerous multi-national clients on various privacy and data protection issues, including cross-border data flows/storage and cyber incident preparedness and response, and coordinated regularly with Data Protection Authorities and other regulators worldwide on clients’ behalf.
• Managed all aspects of a Fortune 15 company’s international privacy and data security compliance and risk mitigation efforts; led global privacy team to ensure consistent and accurate advice across all global regions.
• Developed and conducted regular on-site data security and compliance/training programs for clients, in various industry sectors, based on the existing and evolving legal requirements and best practices applicable to them.

Commercial Transactions

• Drafted and led negotiations on hundreds of complex multi-national and local-to-local service provider/recipient and other commercial agreements, with a combined worth in excess of $1B, for clients in many different industry sectors to ensure the proper protection of customer and employee data.  
• Coordinated closely with clients’ business, IT, legal, compliance, and risk management personnel to ensure the unique expertise of all stakeholders informed and drove the necessary data privacy and security requirements.

Data Breach Response

• Developed and lead the Data Breach Response Unit for a Fortune 100 financial institution.   
• Managed more than 500 data security incident responses for clients in numerous industry sectors to ensure compliance with all applicable domestic/foreign laws, and to limit the potential for litigation, government enforcement actions, negative publicity, and further data loss.
• Led clients in responding to data privacy/security inquiries and enforcement actions (including allegations of FCPA violations) from the FTC, SEC, DOJ, FRB, FCC, and numerous states; drafted and coordinated the delivery of notifications to customers, employees, regulators, and law enforcement agencies

Product and Privacy Counseling

• Counseled industry-leading healthcare providers, business associates, and employers on compliance with the laws and regulations governing patient and employee health information under the HIPAA privacy and security rules, the HITECH Act, GINA, and the ADA.    
• Drafted and negotiated numerous vendor agreements and HIPAA-compliant policy documents.  
• Managed remediation and legal compliance for several large-scale health information security incidents.  

Workplace Privacy

• • Developed and conducted compliance reviews of numerous corporate policies and employee training manuals governing the use of the latest and emerging technologies impacting the workplace, such as social media, location tracking and the use of GPS-enabled devices, BYOD, data loss prevention software, etc.
  • Counseled clients on the requirements of international data protection regimes, including those in the EU, Asia, and Latin America, to ensure the lawful collection, use, and transfer of information about overseas employees.

Kira is an award-winning attorney and Certified Information Privacy Practitioner/United States (CIPP/US) with extensive experience successfully negotiating favorable terms in complex commercial agreements. She advises companies and non-profits alike on complying with state privacy laws and leads corporate trainings on information security best practices and compliance.  

Prior to practicing private sector law, Kira worked as a trial attorney in DOL's Office of the Solicitor, Division of Plan Benefits Security. Here, she practiced in federal courts across the US on a wide range of issues, from ensuring fiduciaries are held liable for breaching their duties to ensuring Plan's filed required annual reports.

Her business work includes reviewing, interpreting, and negotiating complex commercial agreements for clients ranging from start-ups to public companies, in a variety of industries including technology, telecommunications, fintech, and financial services. She also represents clients in registering trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and protecting their intellectual property rights.

Kira is a magna cum laude graduate of American University, Washington College of Law. 

Kira is a member of the California, Maryland, Virginia and DC bars.