Bethany Christa Lobo

Prior to joining Kirkland, Bethany was involved in the following representative matters:

Artificial intelligence

• Defended OpenAI, a technology company at the forefront of the burgeoning AI industry, in a landmark privacy class action alleging more than 10 causes of action dealing with legacy statutes and common law claims applied to novel generative AI technology. Obtained complete dismissal of all claims following pleading-stage motion practice.
• Represented an AI technology developer in a prelitigation dispute in which the claimant challenged the developer’s alleged scraping of data on the claimant's platform to train the developer's generative AI models.

Data tracking

• Defended a large national nonprofit in a consumer class action alleging improper disclosure of information to Meta about website users’ viewing of video content, by way of the Meta Pixel code installed on the nonprofit’s website, in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act and state unfair competition and deceptive trade practices statutes.
• Defended multiple companies in arbitrations under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), based on their use of chatbot or Meta Pixel technology.
• Defended a company in a class action alleging CIPA violations due to integration of third-party chatbot functionality on the company’s website, followed by allegedly improper transfers of users' personal information and communications to that third party.
• Represented an online custom printing company against a prospective plaintiff threatening a class action alleging that the company’s use of a TikTok-developed web beacon, or tracking pixel, on its website violated CIPA’s prohibition on installation of a “trap and trace” device without first obtaining a court order or user consent.

Biometrics

• Defended a short-term rental company in a class action under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), alleging improper use of facial recognition technology without user consent.
• Defended a leading videoconferencing platform in a mass arbitration with 40,000+ claimants alleging BIPA violations.
• Defended an identity verification platform in a consumer class action under BIPA alleging improper use of facial recognition technology without user consent.

Other Privacy and Data Security Disputes

• Defended two companies in litigation under New Jersey’s Daniel’s Law, a statute requiring prompt deletion or suppression of certain personal information of enumerated categories of public servants that the legislature has deemed to be at heightened risk of violence.
• Defended an investor in a company offering cryptocurrency transmission bridge in a consumer class action alleging RICO and tort violations based on the hack of that bridge by third-party threat actors and obtained complete dismissal of all claims against client following pleading-stage briefing.
• Defended a large online auction company in a class action arising from a breach of its systems, which resulted in the theft of millions of users’ names, encrypted passwords, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth. Obtained complete dismissal of all claims following pleading-stage motion practice.

Complex Commercial Litigation

• Represented Turo, an online platform for peer-to-peer car-sharing, in multiple cases against government entities that operate airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tampa, Boston, Nashville and Dallas/Fort Worth. Each airport claimed that without a rental car company permit, Turo users’ car-sharing activities constituted a violation of airport regulations, trespass and/or unfair competition laws. These cases also presented issues of immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and various federal and state constitutional defenses and counterclaims based on unequal treatment of various business entities.

Other

• Served as a prosecutor in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office as part of a law firm-sponsored program, obtaining jury verdicts for the prosecution in each of three assigned trials.

Partner, Cooley LLP, 2013–2025

Habeas Corpus Counsel, Habeas Corpus Resource Center, 2011–2013

Associate, Morrison & Foerster, 2007–2009

Bethany’s pro bono practice focuses on asylum and immigration law. Outside of work, Bethany is an animal rescuer who is dedicated to rescuing Siberian huskies and Alaskan malamutes from high-kill shelters in California.