ESI CASE LAW - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Contact ESI Production Expert
- Director of Litigation Services at Legal Information Technology, Inc
- Plaintiffs' Counsel
- Vice President of the ILS' EDiscovery Analytics Group
- Vice President, EDiscovery
As Vice President of the ILS' eDiscovery Analytics Group, Doug manages the teams of lawyers and consultants as well as the processes by which we train our AI-based document analytics systems to programmatically find issue relevant documents from defense productions. Doug also manages ILS data mining initiatives producing for our clients' analysis on missing custodians, potential discovery abuse, efficacy of search terms, and various other data analyses. In addition, Doug is heavily involved in negotiating protocols and validation methodology for defense-side use of predictive coding for their ESI production - in other words, keeping them honest.
In addition, Doug assists Plaintiffs' counsel with planning best strategies and practices to obtain and produce Plaintiff electronic discovery in conformance with current rules of civil procedure and case law.
As a lawyer and an information technology professional at our Plaintiff eDiscovery firm, Doug brings unique multidisciplinary experience to his practice, assisting counsel with surmounting technical challenges across the entire eDiscovery process, including:
Understanding the totality of Defendants' relevant discoverable data;
Drafting eDiscovery requests;
Negotiating e-production issues;
Conducting effective eDiscovery;
Preparing for technical deposition and finally providing expert support for presenting ESI production issues to courts and discovery referees.
Doug has been involved with legal technology in a wide variety of contexts for over 25 years, beginning with his experience as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore with Aquarius, which was the first large-scale implementation of computerized litigation support on the IBM antitrust cases.
As Director of Litigation Services at Legal Information Technology, Inc., Doug was instrumental in introducing imaging and coding to AmLaw at over 100 law firms and pioneered integrating imaging with legacy systems such as BRS.
Contact ESI production expert Douglas E. Forrest, Esq. for more information about his role in Plaintiff electronic discovery.
Job Titles:
- Senior Litigation Consultant
- Vice President of Consulting Services
Elizabeth leads consulting services at ILS, advising Plaintiffs' attorneys on all aspects of eDiscovery in high-profile mass tort and class action litigations, with notable recent cases including actions related to auto diesel emissions and airbag scandals, the opioid epidemic, aviation disasters, and e-cigarettes. Elizabeth is an ACEDS Certified E-Discovery Specialist, a member of Women in eDiscovery and the Alliance of Women Trial Lawyers, and frequently writes and presents on electronic discovery issues.
Before joining ILS, Elizabeth spent eight years practicing law at Milbank LLP in New York and Los Angeles, where she litigated complex business and securities disputes in state and federal courts. She draws on her defense attorney experience to further ILS' mission of leveling the eDiscovery playing field for the Plaintiffs' Bar.
Elizabeth holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law and a B.A. from Boston University, and is a member of the California, New York, and Massachusetts bars. She lives in the Greater Boston Area with her husband and two children.
George Swoyer brings a wealth of talent to ILS. An attorney since 2001 with a specialty focus on eDiscovery, he advises Plaintiffs on Best Practices, designs workflows to enhance document reviews and helps them navigate the challenges of discovery. George, an expert on multiple hosting platforms, benefits from his experience in many complex litigations that were peppered with foreign language, audio files, complicated redaction rules and diverse privilege categories.
Prior to joining ILS, George worked as a Team Lead and Project Manager for one of the largest defense-oriented vendors. Plaintiffs will benefit from his insights into the defense discovery processes and tactics that often work at cross purposes with Plaintiffs. He has deep experience managing large review teams as well as higher level reviews for privilege, sensitive document analysis and technology assisted review. At ILS, George works closely with counsel on multi-district litigation and class action matters, applying technology to find important evidence, leveraging supervised learning, predictive coding and various early data assessment, prioritized review and coding validation workflows.
George attended the Delaware School of Law and actively practiced in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for nearly a decade, ultimately deciding to focus his practice on eDiscovery consulting. He is a Relativity Certified Administrator, an Xera/Iconect Certified Project Manager, a Brainspace Certified Analyst and enjoys learning and mastering the latest technologies and tools that help to balance the scales in Plaintiff side discovery.
In addition to working with Plaintiff firms on eDiscovery matters, George actively volunteers with the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project to assist indigent clients, enjoys traveling globally, expanding his knowledge base and spending quality time with his wife and two children.
Job Titles:
- Manager of Linguistic Services
Hajime Sato worked as a full-time freelance translator and interpreter for 19 years before joining ILS as Manager of Linguistic Services. In this role, he provides and oversees various linguistic services for hundreds of languages, including machine translation, document review, interpretation for depositions and trials, and certified translation. He is certified by the American Translators Association in both Japanese to English and English to Japanese translation. He holds a bachelor's degree from Kyoto University, Faculty of Law, Japan and a master's degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
At ILS, Hajime has worked on important MDLs involving Toyota's unintended acceleration, Takata airbags, and Volkswagen diesel emissions, all involving millions of pages of foreign-language documents in the Defendants' productions. He is acutely aware how formidable language barriers can be for Plaintiffs in international litigations, and is dedicated to lowering these barriers through a mix of language services ranging from efficient and economical machine translation to high-quality certified human translation that can stand up to the scrutiny of the court and the defense.
Jason Meyers has been working in the eDiscovery field from nearly the time he became an attorney in 2005. Having worked on multiple complex litigations over the years, Jason possesses the experience and knowledge to advise Plaintiffs on methods to successfully navigate the discovery process and create innovative workflows that utilize the latest technologies to yield the best results for clients. Jason has practical experience in most every hosting platform and knows how to use these platforms to comply with the requirements of complex eDiscovery protocols involving extensive redactions and privilege categories.
Prior to joining ILS, Jason worked as the Manager of the eDiscovery division of a notable Illinois Plaintiff firm for five years. Here, he managed large review teams on multiple projects simultaneously, ensured litigating attorneys were provided the best evidence as they prepared for depositions, created processes for technology assisted review that prioritized the best evidence, designed detailed privilege logs to stand up to Defense scrutiny, and led research efforts using various hosting platforms and computer technologies to pull out the hidden gems of evidence from both Defense and Plaintiff productions.
Jason earned his JD from the Washington University School of Law and is a member of the Missouri State Bar. He gained extensive experience working with many of the leading complex litigation firms in the St. Louis area on both the Plaintiff and Defense sides before being hit with the revelation that Plaintiff work yields greater societal and personal rewards.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Sales
- Senior Case Director
For the last decade, Jennifer Hisel has worked exclusively with Plaintiff trial lawyers to level the playing field in high stake, multi-claimant, multi-defendant, complex litigation when it comes to uncovering, managing and understanding key evidence and telling the Plaintiff story.
Prior to assuming leadership of Sales at ILS, Jennifer was a Senior Case Director, at International Litigation Services (ILS), Jennifer assists trial lawyers by employing a multi-disciplinary methodology and coordinating a team of law technologists, science advisors, linguists, IT specialists and engineers to execute Plaintiff specific eDiscovery strategies and automated workflows. Currently she is focused on consulting and coordinating collection and production efforts for several local governments in state court opioid epidemic litigations.
Jennifer holds a B.A. from the College of William and Mary and a J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law. She is a member of the Ohio Bar and an ACEDS Certified E-Discovery Specialist.
Job Titles:
- Digital Forensics Consultant
- Vice President of Technical Operations and Digital Forensics
Michael Ciaramitaro leads our Technical Operations and Digital Forensics Department providing expert-level consultation to support our clients in the Identification, Preservation and Collection of evidence. A thought leader in the computer forensics sphere, he has been influencing trends and technologies in computer forensics and data collections for 20 years. Michael has been a pioneer in the evolution of remote collection techniques and supportable collection methods from emerging data types like hand-held devices, social media and cloud sources.
As an expert witness in Digital Forensics, he has provided testimony on many legal matters and will assist with 30(b)(6) depositions, crafting interrogatories, and administering custodial interviews. Clients find Michael's wealth of experience instrumental in gaining insights into defendants' digital architecture thereby improving the construction of plaintiff's discovery demands. Clients can draw on his expertise in evaluating defendant's proposed data collection methodology as they negotiate their ESI Protocol. And of course, Michael's team is fully prepared to facilitate whatever collection needs or computer forensics investigations you may have.
Michael has delivered CLE's and lectures on topics including emerging technologies, social media and web data, mobile device investigations, CCPA and other computer forensic and electronic discovery topics to audiences around the country.
Job Titles:
- Senior Litigation Consultant
Sri comes to ILS with a wealth of experience as a Plaintiffs' lawyer in mass torts and complex litigation. He has been involved in many large Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Products Liability MDLs, including MDL 2151 (In re: Toyota Motor Corp), MDL 2299 (In re: Actos), MDL 2333 (In re: MI Windows and Doors), MDL 2382 (In re: Emerson Electric Co), and MDL 2391 (In re: Biomet M2A Magnum Hip Implants). He was appointed chair of the Science Committee in MDL 2244 (In Re: DePuy Orthopaedics Pinnacle Hip Implants) and has also appeared and worked on state court proceedings in Louisiana, California, Missouri, New York and New Jersey.
Sri studied European Law at the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas and received his JD cum laude from Tulane University Law School, also earning an additional certificate in International and Comparative Law. He maintains an active license to practice law in Louisiana, and lives in Pensacola, Florida with his wife and two children.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Client Services
- Vice President, Technical Services
Takashi Koga brings a depth of experience and capabilities to ILS. As the leader of our Client Services, he is integrally involved in setting the standards of excellence for the teams that support our clients' needs. His oversight of ILS workflows, protocols, quality assurance standards and application of technology reflect his 20 years of experience and materially contribute to the high caliber performance that has earned ILS its reputation as the Plaintiff Bar's Go to source for competent discovery support.
Takashi leads several teams including technical services, linguistics, applied analytics and machine learning as well as foreign language translation - both certified human and ILS' proprietary AI Enhanced machine translation. Mr. Koga's background in software development, quality assurance methodologies and automation, as well as in mainline translation services (as founder and president of Fireball Translations) make him uniquely qualified to lead our strategically oriented team.
Takashi holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of California at Irvine.
Job Titles:
- Senior Litigation Consultant With International Litigation Services
Tony Chu is a Senior Litigation Consultant with International Litigation Services. Tony focuses on working with clients in uncover the truth behind the data through leveraging advanced analytics using the best-in-breed technologies and coordinating a team of science and medical advisors. Prior to joining ILS, Tony practiced as a litigator where he devoted his attention on representing Plaintiffs in lawsuits ranging from mass torts to consumer fraud to securities fraud. As a Senior Litigation Consultant with ILS, Tony continues his pursuit of ensuring that the aggrieved, whether it's a patient, consumer, or shareholder, obtain adequate relief and compensation, or holding the corporations accountable for their wrongdoings.
Tony earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University, his Juris Doctor degree from Temple University School of Law, and is a member of the bars of the State of California, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and District of Columbia. Tony is also an ACEDS Certified E-Discovery Specialist and a member of The Sedona Conference Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production.