Joseph V. DeMarco is a partner at DeVore & DeMarco LLP where he specializes in counseling clients on complex issues involving information privacy and security, theft of intellectual property, computer intrusions, on-line fraud, Internet gambling, and the lawful use of new technology. His years of experience in private practice and in government handling the most difficult cybercrime investigations handled by the United States Attorney's Office have made him one of the nation's leading experts on Internet crime and the law relating to emerging technologies.
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 (CHIPs) Program, a group of five prosecutors dedicated to investigating and prosecuting violations of federal cybercrime laws and intellectual property offenses. Under his leadership, CHIPs 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; transmission of Internet worms and viruses; electronic theft of trade secrets; illegal use of "spyware"; web-based frauds; unlawful Internet gambling; and criminal copyright and trademark infringement offenses. As a recognized expert in the field, Mr. DeMarco was frequently asked to counsel prosecutors and law enforcement agents regarding novel investigative and surveillance techniques and methodologies, and regularly provided advice to the United States Attorney concerning the Office's most sensitive computer-related investigations. In 2001, Mr. DeMarco also served as a visiting Trial Attorney at the Department of Justice Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section in Washington, D.C., where he focused on Internet privacy, gaming, and theft of intellectual property.
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. He has spoken throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Asia and the Middle East on cybercrime, e-commerce, and copyright and trademark infringement. He has also lectured on the subject of cybercrime at Harvard Law School, the Practicing Law Institute, the National Advocacy Center, and at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and has served as an instructor on cybercrime to judges attending 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 in New York City, where he concentrated on intellectual property, antitrust, and securities law issues for various high-technology clients. Prior to that, Mr. DeMarco served as law clerk to the Honorable J. Daniel Mahoney, United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. DeMarco holds a J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law. At NYU he was a member of the NYU Law Review. He received his B.S.F.S. summa cum laude from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Mr. DeMarco is active in numerous professional associations including the:
- International Bar Association (Technology and Litigation Sections);
- American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Committee (Co-Chair, Cybercrime Committee, 2010-2011);
- New York State Bar Association, Commercial and Federal Litigation Section (Co-chair, Internet and IP Committee, 2009-present); and
- New York City Bar Association (Member, Copyright Committee; Past Member, Information Technology Committee).
Mr. DeMarco is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated lawyer for Computers and Software, Litigation and Internet Law, and is also listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide as a leading lawyer nationwide in Privacy and Data Security. He has also been named as a "SuperLawyer" for his expertise and work in the area of Intellectual Property Litigation. He has published numerous articles and appeared on major news programs in his practice areas, and is a member of the Professional Editorial Board of the prestigious Computer Law and Security Review (Elsevier).
Mr. DeMarco has received numerous professional awards, including the U.S. Department of Justice Director's Award for Superior Performance, as well as the Lawyer of Integrity Award from the Institute for Jewish Humanities. In his spare time he enjoys parenting, golf, and listening to classical piano.