Amy E. Keller

The Number That Cannot Be Reset

A password can be replaced within minutes. A Social Security number may follow its owner for life. Amy E. Keller’s privacy practice starts with that difference. In breach litigation, the useful questions begin with what was taken and continue into how long the exposure can be exploited, which services can limit the damage, and what security obligations will reduce the chance of a repeat. Those questions also guide her work when a device behaves in ways its owner cannot readily inspect.

Keller is a partner at DiCello Levitt, managing partner of its Chicago office, and chair of the firm’s Privacy, Technology, and Cybersecurity practice. She earned her B.A. at the University of Michigan and her J.D. at the John Marshall Law School, now the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. Her appointment as co-lead counsel in the Equifax data-breach litigation made her the youngest woman to serve as co-lead class counsel in a nationwide class action.

A Settlement Built for Long Risk

The 2017 Equifax breach exposed personal information belonging to approximately 147 million people. Keller served as co-lead counsel in the consolidated consumer litigation. The class settlement established a $380.5 million fund and allowed up to another $125 million if needed. The broader resolution with the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and states was announced at a minimum of $575 million and a potential total of $700 million.

The settlement paired monetary claims with credit monitoring, identity-restoration services, and security requirements. That combination recognized the unusual duration of identity theft risk: misuse may surface well after a conventional claims period ends. The FTC’s continuing administration of the settlement includes free identity-restoration assistance through January 2029, keeping a practical form of relief available years after the breach.

A separate Equifax case reached a new stage in August 2026. Keller serves as co-lead counsel in In re Equifax Fair Credit Reporting Act Litigation, brought for consumers who allege that Equifax miscalculated credit scores for approximately four million people applying for mortgages, auto loans, or credit cards during part of 2022. On August 17, the court preliminarily approved a $100 million non-reversionary settlement providing direct cash payments to class members. A final fairness hearing is scheduled for January 22, 2027.

Pricing a Hidden Software Change

In In re Apple Inc. Device Performance Litigation, Keller was named Co-Chair of Law and Briefing on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee. The case concerned software that managed the performance of certain iPhones as their batteries aged. Its settlement required Apple to pay at least $310 million and permitted a total of up to $500 million, depending on the number of valid claims.

The record joined operating-system behavior, battery condition, consumer disclosures, and purchase decisions in a single class case. Keller’s briefing role placed her at the point where those technical facts had to support a legal theory common to millions of devices. The eventual payment range translated an unseen software decision into defined compensation for eligible owners.

The Right to Reach the Merits

Keller also serves as co-lead counsel in In re Blackbaud, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation. At the pleading stage, the district court rejected Blackbaud’s challenge to subject-matter jurisdiction, finding that the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged traceability for Article III standing. The ruling allowed claims arising from the breach to proceed and addressed a threshold question that often decides whether people whose data was exposed can reach the merits of their case.

Her other appointments carry the same concern into different settings. On the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the T-Mobile data-breach litigation, she was assigned to oppose efforts to compel customers into individual arbitration. Keller also serves as OnStar Track Co-Lead Counsel in multidistrict litigation alleging that General Motors, OnStar, LexisNexis, and Verisk collected, shared, and monetized consumers’ driving data without proper consent. In April 2026, the court allowed claims under the Federal Wiretap Act and Stored Communications Act to proceed, along with unjust-enrichment claims and portions of the plaintiffs’ invasion-of-privacy, civil-conspiracy, and Fair Credit Reporting Act claims. In litigation involving allegedly defective Electrolux dryers, she served as co-lead settlement class counsel in a $35 million resolution. These matters move from access to court, to behavioral data gathered by a connected car, to a physical product with a visible defect. Each requires a workable remedy for a dispersed consumer class.

Rules With Consequences

Keller’s work outside individual cases centers on the institutions that shape privacy and class-action law. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, secretary of Public Justice, chair of the American Association for Justice’s Data Breach and Cybersecurity Practice Group Committee, and a member of the steering committee for The Sedona Conference’s Working Group 11 on data security and privacy liability. She also served on Law360’s 2025 Cybersecurity & Privacy Editorial Board and, in May 2026, published an argument against federal privacy legislation that failed to provide genuine consumer protection. Each role deals with the rules that determine whether consumer rights can be used in practice.

Her summary of the public mood is direct: “Consumers are sick and tired of data breaches.” The cases supply a legal response to that frustration. They identify the injury, preserve access to a forum, connect technical conduct to common proof, and set out relief that matches the life of the risk. For data that cannot simply be reissued, the remedy has to remain useful after the headlines are gone.