Age Verification Programs: Compliance in Design and Class Action Defense

Tatyana Ruderman, Partner | InfoLawGroup LLP

Tatyana Ruderman is a Partner at InfoLawGroup LLP, a national boutique law firm focused on privacy and data security, advertising and marketing, and technology that is ranked by Chambers both globally and in the U.S. She counsels and advises clients on privacy, technology, data security, marketing, and other consumer protection compliance, with a particular gift for deconstructing complex, fast evolving technology issues so clients can make informed business decisions. Drawing on a “privacy by design” philosophy and a media honed business mindset, Tatyana guides companies through some of the most novel questions in the field—from cryptocurrency and blockchain to biometrics, AI/ML, and online tracking.

• Education & Credentials

Tatyana earned her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2014, where she also received a Labor and Employment Law Certificate. She holds a B.A. in Mass Media Communication and Industrial/Organizational Psychology from DePaul University (2011). She has been admitted to the Illinois bar since 2014. Tatyana is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and holds both the CIPP/US certification and the Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional (AIGP) credential.

• Recognition & Leadership

Tatyana has been named among The Top 50 Women Leaders in Law by Women We Admire in 2023, 2024, and 2025. She holds a leadership role with the Illinois State Bar Association’s Privacy and Information Security Section Council, having served as its Chairperson and currently serving in an ex officio capacity. Her thought leadership is reflected in a steady stream of speaking engagements and publications on emerging privacy and advertising issues.

• Professional Involvement

Tatyana is an active member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She is a frequent CLE speaker and author, with recent presentations on online tracking litigation in Illinois, data protection addenda, and federal and state privacy laws for the ISBA, and bylined articles for outlets including Lexology and American Legal Blogger covering topics such as TCPA compliance, vendor data access in an AI world, NFTs and blockchain in brand protection, and privacy in the alcohol industry.

• Experience

Tatyana’s day-to-day practice involves drafting carefully curated consumer policies, disclosures, and public-facing statements designed around the end-user experience; steering online advertising and cookie management strategy, including customizing cookie tool functionality and design; leading data governance efforts such as data mapping and inventory, minimization, and retention; guiding internal
compliance with expanding consumer rights; and managing vendor relationships, including evaluating and negotiating third-party contracts and integrations. Her work frequently requires navigating novel legal issues involving cryptocurrency and blockchain, online advertising and analytics, precise geolocation, biometrics and other sensitive data, AI/ML, recording, and the handling of minor and student data—often auditing and advising in real time on the design of beta pilots and the policies and contracts behind e-commerce and connected products and platforms. She advises on compliance with the full landscape of U.S. state privacy laws (including the CCPA/CPRA, VCDPA, CPA, and others) as well as the GDPR, the VPPA, and consumer messaging regimes such as CAN-SPAM and the TCPA and its state analogues.

She also regularly counsels clients on marketing, advertising, and intellectual property matters, including consumer sweepstakes, contests, and promotions, social media, user-generated content, and email, call, and text message campaigns. Before joining InfoLawGroup, Tatyana practiced as a litigator, representing local and international clients in matters spanning internet, privacy, entertainment, intellectual property, startup, employment, contract, and tort law. In that role she managed speech- and privacy-related cases from inception to disposition—including First Amendment matters involving anonymous blogging and online commenting, claims for defamation and false light, and cases under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and the Illinois Eavesdropping Act—as well as copyright and trademark disputes.

Daniel A. Cotter, Member | Aronberg Goldgehn Davis & Garmisa

Daniel A. Cotter is a seasoned corporate, transactional, and regulatory lawyer whose practice is grounded in building compliant and resilient organizations. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Dan has advised clients through complex business arrangements, entity formation and restructuring, strategic transactions, and risk-sensitive corporate governance. He brings concentrated expertise across three intersecting areas—privacy and cybersecurity, insurance regulation and coverage, and corporate governance—which allows him to serve as a strategic legal partner to companies navigating operational, regulatory, and reputational risk. Whether acting as outside counsel, an arbitrator, a nonprofit board advisor, or a risk consultant, Dan is known for a pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach that builds trust and long-term sustainability.

• Education & Credentials

Dan earned his J.D. summa cum laude from The John Marshall Law School (now University of Chicago) in 1994 and his B.A. in Accounting magna cum laude from Monmouth College in 1988. He is admitted to practice in Illinois (1995) and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1995), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1996), and the U.S. Supreme Court (2011). He has held the CIPP/US privacy certification since 2016 and is a member of the American Law Institute.

• Recognition & Leadership

Dan’s contributions to the profession have been widely recognized. He received the 2026 NCBP/LexisNexis Rule of Law Award, the Chicago Bar Association’s President’s Award of Excellence (2025) and John Paul Stevens Award (2024), and the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals’ President’s Award (2023), among many earlier honors including Monmouth College’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and Law Bulletin Publishing’s “40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch.” He has been named to the Illinois Super Lawyers listand was recently appointed to the Illinois Judicial Conference Civics Education Task Force and the Federation of Regulatory Counsel Board of Directors. A past president of the Chicago Bar Association (2014–2015), Dan currently serves as President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and chairs several committees of the ABA’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), including its Insurance Regulation and Cyber and Privacy Committees.

• Professional Involvement

Dan is deeply engaged in bar leadership, regulatory organizations, and community service. He serves as General Counsel of the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals, sits in the American Bar Association House of Delegates as a CBA delegate, and is a member of the American Law Institute. His community and board roles include the Monmouth College Board of Trustees, the Acme Continental Credit Union Board, and his co-founding of the Monmouth College Moot Court competition; he has also raised more than $350,000 for youth mentoring and tutoring programs. A prolific speaker and author, Dan presents and publishes extensively on the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), cybersecurity and insurance, artificial intelligence, the Corporate Transparency Act, and the rule of law, contributing to outlets and organizations ranging from the American Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association to NAMIC, the AICP, and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

• Experience

Dan has extensive experience in insurance and reinsurance law, handling transactional, regulatory, and insolvency matters for local, regional, and national clients—including life, accident and health, and property and casualty insurers, and health maintenance organizations. He has counseled on mergers and acquisitions, corporate formations, dissolutions and reorganizations, redomestications, icensing, and business structuring, including advising the Illinois Department of Insurance on the first two demutualizations approved under the Illinois Insurance Code and helping clients obtain certificates of authority across more than forty jurisdictions. On the privacy side, he guides organizations through the ever-changing patchwork of privacy laws, advising on BIPA and GIPA compliance and defense, biometric identification protocols for gaming  nd other online vendors, data breach response and investigations, and third-party vendor risk.

His broader corporate practice includes serving as outside counsel to a pre-IPO company preparing to go public, negotiating complex multi-state transactions, conducting internal investigations, and advising nonprofit entities on dissolutions, mergers, and conversions. Over his career, Dan has held senior legal and leadership roles at organizations including CNA, Unitrin, Argo Group, and Fidelity Life Association, and practiced at firms such as Butler Rubin Santarelli & Boyd and Howard & Howard before joining Aronberg Goldgehn as a Member in 2025.

SESSION 1 – Designing Age-Verification Programs to Survive Biometric Statutes | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session shows attorneys how to design age-assurance programs that withstand state biometric statutes. It covers when verification is legally required, which laws apply, how to evaluate architectures, and how to build privacy-by-design defenses against class-action exposure.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Defending BIPA-Style Class Actions Against Age Verification Defendants | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session delivers a defense-counsel playbook for BIPA-style class actions targeting age-verification technology. The session runs from intake through resolution, covering damages, class certification, consent, threshold defenses, arbitration, and the multi-state exposure facing nationwide defendants.