When the second edition of Privacy Law Fundamentals, authored by George Washington University Law School John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law Daniel J. Solove and U.C. Berkeley School of Law Professor and Berkeley Center for Law & Technology Director Paul M. Schwartz, was released, it was hailed by privacy luminaries.

The Future of Privacy Forum's Jules Polonetsky, CIPP/US, called it "an essential guide for a broad range of the privacy community." Hogan Lovells' Christopher Wolf said "there is no better compact privacy law resource than Privacy Law Fundamentals.” Intel's David Hoffman, CIPP/US, called it "the essential primer for all privacy practitioners." And Covington & Burling's Kurt Wimmer said, “In our fast-paced practice, there’s nothing better than a compact and accessible work that is curated by two of the great thinkers of the field.”

The third edition of Privacy Law Fundamentals debuts at the Global Privacy Summit

The third edition of Privacy Law Fundamentals is being released at the Global Privacy Summit, incorporating developments in privacy law, an introductory chapter summarizing key new laws, cases and enforcement actions and answers to such FAQs as "What are the top 10 things you need to know about the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act?" and "Which federal laws preempt state laws and which don't?"

In this Q&A, Solove and Schwartz discuss the third edition and its value for privacy pros.

The Privacy Advisor: What is new in the 2015 edition of Privacy Law Fundamentals (PLF)?

Solove and Schwartz: PLF 2015 is the best edition yet.  We've added tables with details about HHS HIPAA Resolution Agreements, PII definitions in state data security data breach notification laws, theories of privacy harm used in tort cases, federal privacy statutes with a preemption clause and much more.

The Privacy Advisor: What makes PLF an important resource for privacy practitioners?

Solove and Schwartz: PLF is a concise and authoritative privacy treatise. It's the book to grab when you need to refresh your memory on whether a statute has preemption or the name of the key FTC case you want to mention. It’s the book for whenever you want background in an area of law and need to know the essentials in just a few minutes.

PLF also provides charts about areas such as data breach notification laws, the federal statutes that provide opt-in and opt-out rights, and the OCR HIPAA resolution agreements. We have sought to balance "overviews" through brief call-out sections and "deep dives" through detailed charts.

The Privacy Advisor: Could you share a bit about the process you employ to keep the book current in each new edition?

Solove and Schwartz: One big help is the synergy with updating our casebook, Information Privacy Law, now in its fifth edition. Between PLF and the casebook, we are constantly tracking developments in privacy and security law; as soon as an edition of one book goes to press, it’s time to start a file for the next edition.

The Privacy Advisor: What do you hope privacy pros will take away from this book?

Solove and Schwartz: We hope this book provides both a sense of the "big picture" of privacy law as well as the necessary practical details to help busy privacy professionals.

 The Privacy Advisor:Anything else you’d like to share?

Solove and Schwartz: After decades of writing and thinking about information privacy law and data security, we remain fascinated by these areas of law. Yet, as closely as we have followed privacy and security, we have also been amazed by the nonstop growth in importance of these fields.  

Want to order the new edition? Visit the IAPP website store here.