LeanDiscovery Applied

In this episode, we're joined by Mandi Ross, the CEO of both Prism Litigation Technology and Insight Optix. During our discussion, Mandi covers a broad range of topics relevant to modern litigation, specifically proportionality, remote work during the pandemic, and staying up to date on technology. Mandi has nearly 35 years of experience in the eDiscovery space. She started as a paralegal, and has worked as an expert and consultant. She previously served as the Vice President of Ciara Inc. and Jurist Systems Group.Mandi founded Prism Litigation Technology in 1997. Prism is an eDiscovery advisory firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Mandi said that Prism has been “operating in the trenches with legal teams for the last two decades” to deal with the complexities of eDiscovery. Insight Optix owns proprietary technology called Evidence Optix, which is a technology company offering workflows that operationalizes proportionality and provides roadmap frameworks for lawyers. Mandi said that it “enables us to build hypothetical scenarios” and determine the likely cost to better “align” to the merits of the case.If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

In this episode, we are joined by Mark Hawn, the CEO of Trustpoint.One. Mark covers how one size does not always fit all in eDiscovery, embracing remote technology and opportunities in the market. Mark is an experienced entrepreneur, having founded and served as the CEO for Legal Copies International for eight years before it was acquired by Ikon. He also founded DocForce/Onsite Sourcing in 2002, which was later acquired by a private equity firm. Mark has served as the CEO of Trustpoint.One since 2010.Trustpoint.One specializes in legal services technology following the EDRM model – from data collection and processing, to hosting and review. Trustpoint.One also provides court reporting, translation, and staffing services.If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

This week, we're joined by Alma Asay, an Evangelist at Litera Microsystems. Alma offers her advice for legal technology entrepreneurs, discusses the future of legal technology, and suggests key questions to ask law firms about technology. Alma  began her career as an associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP in the litigation department.  She founded Allegory, a cloud-based litigation management platform, in 2012, serving as the CEO from its inception until 2017, when Allegory was acquired by Integreon.  She is now an Evangelist for Litera, having joined the company in 2020.  Litera recently acquired Allegory from Integreon, and has rebranded the platform as Litera Litigate.Alma describes Litera Microsystems is an “enormous legal technology company” that uses its “significant presence in the legal community” to “create products that help attorneys focus on what matters,” including improving workflows and workspaces.If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

Andy MacDonald, CEO of Consilio, joins the show to discuss the need for, and challenges of, accessing capital for the legal services industry, Consilio’s growth model and service mindset, and managing a corporate litigation spend in a time of uncertainty.Andy has a long history of executive leadership, having grown his previous company, First Advantage, through a series of 60 acquisitions in five years. First Advantage Litigation Consulting was rebranded to Consilio in February 2013. Since then, Andy has grown Consilio into one of the largest providers of managed services in the world, overseeing a series of significant acquisitions.Consilio is a global legal and eDiscovery services provider operating in 11 countries across the globe; Andy reports that “we provide these services across multiple jurisdictions and time zones, but our view is that we deliver the same service and the same product wherever you happen to be with us.” Consilio provides services from consulting to forensic collections, processing, document review, and production services; Andy also reports a “full suite of data scientists dig in on an analytic standpoint.” Consilio also offers a proprietary platform, Sightline, which is a tool that is geared toward self-service eDiscovery.If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

This week, we're joined by Ian Campbell, the President and CEO of iCONECT. We'll cover a variety of issues surrounding iCONECT’s proprietary Xera review application, including its applicability to non-eDiscovery business problems, key issues with Information Governance, and how to overcome transition concerns when considering a change of eDiscovery technology.Ian has a design background and, prior to founding iCONECT, he worked in advertising and founded his own agency. In 2012 iCONECT launched its flagship review product, Xera, which Ian reported was designed from the ground up for the end users of the product.  He took over as CEO in 2014 and has focused on innovation and growth in other sectors outside of legal.iCONECT is an eDiscovery technology company founded in 1999.  According to Ian, “it’s really quite simple for us.  You put all the information in one spot, build a big dictionary of every word in every document, and then hand over usernames and passwords to all the people who can access that data.  And so it really becomes multiparty access to confidential information.”  iCONECT can be deployed in several ways, including behind a company’s firewall.If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at [email protected].  We would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

This week, we are joined by Hal Blackman, the founder and CEO of IST Management Services, via WebEx.  IST calls itself the “Company with Passion,” and during this episode, Hal covers lessons learned in technology adoption, electronic records retention, and considerations for outsourcing eDiscovery.Hal has a business background and was hired by Marriott in 1981, where he learned the importance of employee empowerment.  Hal founded IST in 1997, and states that the company is “obsessed in everything we do, from technology and process management, to people programs, and we will stop at nothing to make sure that we exceed the expectations of our clients.”During our discussion, Hal shared that IST Management Services started out as a facilities management (FM) company in 1997.  IST grew over time to a national company, starting with two employees and expanding to the 1,800 employees that it has today.  IST provides services ranging from FM and eDiscovery to forensics collections and court reporting, with a client mix that is equally split between law firms and corporate legal departments.If you have any questions, please feel free to email the team at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

We are joined by Dean Gonsowski, the Chief Revenue Officer of ActiveNav. In part one of a two-part interview with Dean, we cover his extensive background in the eDiscovery industry, how the industry grew and developed, and how eDiscovery today compares with its roots. This is a great time to stop and reflect on where eDiscovery has been, and use that context to help consider where it is likely going.Dean is a lawyer who has an almost 20-year history in the eDiscovery space, starting with the founding of S3 Partners in 2001. Dean’s experience spans from time at Fios, to Clearwell/Veritas, to Recommind/Opentext, to Relativity/kCura. Since 2018, Dean has been the Chief Revenue Officer of ActiveNav.ActiveNav, founded in 2008, is a company providing file analysis software for the discovery, transformation and ongoing control of unstructured data wherever it lies in the enterprise. Looking forward, in part two of the interview, we are going to look closely at ActiveNav, its focus, and many information governance questions. That will be posted later this year.If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

In this episode, we are joined by Bob Rowe, the CEO of Integreon. Bob discusses his background in document review in antitrust litigation in the 1990s, which fueled his desire to drive efficiencies. The conversation moves on to today’s legal marketplace, and how COVID-19 has accelerated change that was already happening. Bob is a must-listen for his perspective on how managed service vendors integrate with outside and inside legal counsel to bring greater value and reduce waste.Bob is a lawyer by training and started his career in Big Law after a clerking for a federal court.  After his ten years of experience in private practice, he founded Nextra Litigation Solutions, which focused on handling document review projects and using metrics to drive better results.  Nextra was sold to Huron Consulting Group in 2006, where Bob spent a decade in leadership before becoming the CEO of Integreon in March 2017.Integreon is a global outsourcing managed services company, which Bob described as primarily, but not exclusively, providing services to law departments and law firms.  Integreon has over 3,000 employees and operates data centers on three continents and in four countries.  Bob noted that Integreon has “one of the broadest portfolios of services in the industry, ranging from document services, presentation graphics, to litigation- and cyber-related activities, and then on over to contract lifecycle management and compliance.”If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

We are joined by Joan Davison, the CEO of Hire Counsel and Mestel & Company. Joan discusses the business of document review and staffing, including how she views the role of CEO, how to use human capital strategies in the legal setting, and how to measure the effectiveness of the staffing solutions being implemented.Joan has more than twenty years of expertise in operations management as well as business development, marketing, recruiting, and staffing. For fifteen years, Joan was in a leadership position at Staff Management, which did business as Seton Corp., ultimately being named the President as well as the Chief Operating Officer of Staff Management.Hire Counsel and Mestel & Company are two brands of HCMC Legal that Joan emphasizes are “focusing on human capital.” Hire Counsel provides outsourced legal solutions for managed review, contract attorneys, and temporary legal staffing projects. Mestel & Company performs comprehensive talent scouting for executive-level recruiting and talent placements. Joan reported that the companies have a thirty-year history that spans “all the way from the East coast to the West coast.”If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

Our guest is AJ Shankar, the chief executive officer of Everlaw. AJ covers variety of topics relevant to both in-house counsel and outside counsel using eDiscovery and litigation support software, including the essence of Everlaw’s vision; creating a virtual war room that facilitates collaboration even while remaining socially distant; and the company’s pro bono program, “Everlaw for Good.”Prior to founding Everlaw, AJ graduated from Harvard with an A.B. in Mathematics and Computer Science, and received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 2009.  AJ co-founded Everlaw in 2011, seeing eDiscovery as a “fascinating, rich, [and] interesting problem that needed solving.” He wrote more about his history and the founding of Everlaw in his own blog post from June 28, 2016, available here.AJ describes Everlaw as “a cloud-based, eDiscovery and litigation platform.” Founded over nine years ago, Everlaw handles everything within the eDiscovery lifecycle, from processing all the way through the discovery process to production. It also includes features that support the “story telling aspect of litigation.”If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].