ACEDS Roundtable Series: Transitions, Transformations, and Triumphs in 2020

Join advisory board chair Ari Kaplan and ACEDS president Mike Quartararo for a three-part all-star panel series starting on July 15 with Maura Grossman, Joy Murao, Patricia LeBel-Lasse, and George Socha.

About this Event

The legal market has changed dramatically and many professionals are experiencing significant uncertainty. To support the ACEDS community, the organization’s advisory board is producing a three-part summer series called Transitions, Transformations, and Triumphs in 2020. This roundtable Q&A will feature some of the e-discovery sector’s most recognized leaders in a candid conversation about managing change and moving forward. Advisory board chair Ari Kaplan will moderate each discussion and ACEDS president Mike Quartararo will lead each all-star panel.

Panel: 

Maura R. Grossman, Research Professor, University of Waterloo

Maura is a Research Professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, as well as an e-discovery attorney and consultant in New York City. Previously, Grossman was of counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where for 17 years, she represented Fortune 100 companies and major financial services institutions in corporate and securities litigation and white-collar criminal and regulatory investigations, and advised the firm’s lawyers and clients on legal, technical, and strategic issues involving e-discovery and information governance, both domestically and abroad. Grossman is a well-known and influential e-discovery lawyer and a pioneer in the use and evaluation of technology-assisted review.

Joy Murao, Founder and CEO, Practice Aligned Resources (PAR)

Joy is a recognized industry-wide leader in the litigation support industry. Since its inception in 2013, PAR has excelled at providing legal technology training, eDiscovery consulting, legal staffing, project management, and law practice technology development. Before embarking on her journey as an entrepreneur, Joy’s twenty-four years of Big Law & In-house Corporate legal department experience has given her ample opportunity to develop new strategies, technologies, and services in various practice areas for some of the largest global clients and projects in the world. Joy continues to share her knowledge and experiences as the founder of the ACEDS Los Angeles Chapter, her appointment to the executive committee of the California Lawyers Association Law Practice Management and Technology Section, and her previous role as the Southwest regional director of Women in eDiscovery.

George Socha, President, Socha Consulting LLC

An award-winning attorney, expert witness, and consultant and co-founder of EDRM, George Socha has worked with corporate, law firm,governmental,and service and software provider clients on e-discovery and litigation support challenges and opportunities for over three decades.As a practicing lawyer, an independent consultant, and at a large service provider, he has been active in just about every aspect of e-discovery: directing activities from early identification of potentially pertinent ESI through analyses of produced materials; designing and supervising implementation of TAR and other protocols; presenting content at depositions,hearings,arbitrations, and trials; and testifying on issues ranging from spoliation to pricing to state of the practice.From 2003 to 2009, George and Tom Gelbmann conducted the Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey. In 2005, they founded EDRM, which creates practical global resources to improve e-discovery, privacy, security,and information governance.

Patricia LeBel-Lasse, CEDS, Litigation Paralegal and Litigation Support, Pullman & Comley, LLC

Patricia LeBel-Lasse is a paralegal in the firm’s Litigation Department with more than thirty years of legal and business experience. She assists counsel with complex commercial and business disputes in a variety ofareas in both federal and state courts. She has extensive trial and litigation support experience. In addition,as a member of the firm’s Internal Investigations practice, she conducts fact gathering interviews with clientsand relevant parties and helps to manage the fact gathering process. In her role, Patricia implements newbusiness processes in the areas of electronic data discovery, litigation support and trial technology.Patricia served as a public member of the State of Connecticut’s Judicial Review Council for a term of fouryears (2013-2017). She currently serves as a member of the firm’s Technology Committee and is a CertifiedE-Discovery Specialist (CEDS).