Our Insights on eDiscovery

A dead finger, that is. Believe it or not, cops are now opening iPhones with dead people’s fingerprints.

Today’s thought leader is Maura R. Grossman. Maura is a Research Professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo and principal of Maura Grossman Law. Previously, she was Of Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where she pioneered the use of technology-assisted review (TAR) for electronic discovery. Maura’s research with Gordon V. Cormack has been cited in cases of first impression in the United States, Ireland, and (by reference) in the United Kingdom and Australia, approving the use of TAR in civil litigation. Maura has served as a special master in the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Illinois to assist with issues involving search methodology. In 2015 and 2016, Maura served as a coordinator of the Total Recall Track at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Text Retrieval Conference (TREC); in 2010 and 2011, she served as a coordinator of the TREC Legal Track. Maura is also an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University and at the Georgetown University Law Center. Previously, she taught at Columbia Law School, Rutgers Law School—Newark, and Pace Law School.

Today’s thought leader is Jason R. Baron. Jason is a member of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP’s Information Governance and eDiscovery practice and co-chair of the Information Governance Initiative. An internationally recognized speaker and author on the preservation of electronic documents, Jason previously served as the first Director of Litigation for the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and as trial lawyer and senior counsel at the Department of Justice. He also was a founding co-coordinator of the National Institute of Standards and Technology TREC Legal Track, a multi-year international information retrieval project devoted to evaluating search issues in a legal context. He served as lead editor of the recently published ABA book, Perspectives on Predictive Coding and Other Advanced Search Methods for the Legal Practitioner.

The University of Florida E-Discovery Conference is being held today! And, for the first time, I’m going to be there! Regardless of where you are, it’s not too late to attend!

Today’s thought leader is Kelly Twigger. Kelly is a Discovery Strategist and the Principal of ESI Attorneys, one of the first law firms in the country dedicated to advising clients on the risks and challenges in ESI, including eDiscovery. ESI Attorneys works differently than a traditional law firm – they partner with businesses, law firms and municipalities that do not have discovery counsel knowledgeable to both advise on planning and preparing for eDiscovery and act as discovery counsel across litigation matters to achieve consistency and predictability. Kelly also has a passion for ensuring that lawyers and legal professionals have the tools they need to understand and leverage the power of ESI in discovery, and has developed a SaaS based platform to provide the ability for lawyers to get up to speed and stay there with eDiscovery Assistant. eDiscovery Assistant is a web based curated eDiscovery research tool and learning center that allows users to conduct eDiscovery specific case law research, use curated discovery rules, forms and checklists together with a Learning Center that rethinks the delivery of legal education. CloudNine uses eDiscovery Assistant to identify and provide case law on this blog. In 2014, the Wisconsin State Bar recognized Kelly as a Legal Innovator for her development of eDiscovery Assistant. Kelly is a regular speaker at national and local events, blogger and the eDiscovery columnist for Above the Law.

OK, it’s not exactly “breaking” news since we announced it yesterday, but it’s still exciting! If you didn’t see our press release, let me “break” the news now: CloudNine has acquired the LexisNexis eDiscovery product suite, which includes LAW PreDiscovery, Early Discovery Analyzer (EDA) and Concordance!

Today’s thought leader is George Socha of BDO. George is Managing Director at BDO. Co-founder of EDRM and named an “E-Discovery Trailblazer” by The American Lawyer, George has nearly 30 years’ experience assisting a broad range of organizations with all facets of electronic discovery as well as information governance, domestically and globally. Prior to joining BDO, George spent 16 years as a litigation attorney in private practice and then 13 years running his own consulting firm. He received his law degree from Cornell Law School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.