Emerging Litigation Podcast Tom Hagy

Our Legal Tech Host Sara Lord speaks with data scientist and eDiscovery expert Lenora Gray of Redgrave Data. 

Discovery is a staple in any litigation practice, and it has been transformed by technology assisted review tools – or TAR. eDiscovery has developed into its own specialty – with eDiscovery experts on staff who know all there is to know about the technology, standards, processes, and practices.

But every litigator needs to understand how eDiscovery tools work. They should be able to answer questions around the approach being used, why that approach was chosen, reliability of the assisted review, human oversight implemented, and more.

This, like many areas of law, is filled with acronyms, specialized terminology, and a changing landscape – from technology developments to evolving legal standards to ethics competency issues. But because so much of the work is done by a technology vendor that has specialized tools, it can feel like your review is based on blind faith and that finding the pieces to support your case requires you to rely on dumb luck.

Can we do more than pray to the document gods? Listen as Sara Lord interviews Lenora Gray, Data Scientist at Redgrave Data.

Lenora Gray is an eDiscovery expert and data scientist who is skilled in auditing and evaluating eDiscovery systems. In her role as data scientist at Redgrave Data, she designs and analyzes structured and unstructured data sets, builds predictive models for use in TAR workflows, implements automation solutions, and develops custom software. Prior to joining Redgrave, she spent 12 years as a paralegal, a role in which she managed discovery teams. Lenora is currently pursuing her M.S. in data science from John Hopkins University and earned a B.S. in computer science from Florida Atlantic University.

I welcome back Sara Lord as legal tech guest host for the Emerging Litigation Podcast. A former practicing attorney with a decade of experience in data analytics, Sara applies her time at law firms and companies to explore and address the cultural and practical barriers to diversity in law, supporting value-creation through legal operations and client-first business-oriented practices. In her recent work as Managing Director of Legal Metrics, she led a team of experts focused on providing the tools to support data-driven decision making in legal operations and closer collaboration between law firms and their clients through automation and standardization of industry metrics. Sara earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law.

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This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal of Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the vLex Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm.

If you have comments, ideas, or wish to participate, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
Home Page

Tom Hagy interviews jury and trial expert Tara Trask about picking juries in an age of misinformation, general distrust, tribalism, unleashed social media warriors, flamers, and propagandists, and unorthodox legal strategies that seem to unfold on a daily basis. All of these conditions began to accelerate in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election in which Donald Trump prevailed over Hillary Clinton, continued to heat up in Trump's race against then-candidate Joe Biden, culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capital, and continues to blot out the sun amid civil and criminal actions against the former president and some of his supporters and colleagues as the 2024 election roars at us like a freight train.  In this episode we ask: How does what some have called a Cold Civil War affect our ability to listen and decide objectively when presented with arguments and evidence in court? How much increased bias, skepticism, and hostility for institutions -- from courts to corporations to witnesses -- do people carry into the jury box? 

Tara Trask is a nationally recognized author and lecturer on juror psychology and other trial science topics. As President of Trask Consulting, a boutique litigation strategy, jury research and trial consulting firm with offices in San Francisco, Houston and New York, Tara focuses on civil litigation with an emphasis on complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property, antitrust, securities, breach of contract, and fraud. She has assisted plaintiffs and defendants in products liability, insurance, and oil and gas matters, and has extensive experience assisting institutions and individuals in matters involving regulatory enforcement and white-collar defense.

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This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal of Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the vLex Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm.

If you have comments, ideas, or wish to participate, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
Home Page

“Of all the opportunities legal operations teams might identify to save time, money, and resources while potentially improving quality, Robotic Process Automation may currently offer the biggest and most immediate opportunities.”


That is from the forthcoming book, "Legal Operations in the Age of AI and Data," specifically the “Automation in Legal Departments” chapter written by Tara Emory, Wilzette Louis and Adam Poeppelmeier of Redgrave Data, and Kassie Burns of King & Spalding.  (Available for pre-order now from Globe Law & Business.)


Automating repetitive tasks and workflows required to effectively advance litigation frees litigators and support teams to focus on “strategic, analytical, and high-value work,” say the authors. Boosted by AI technology, like natural language processing, these tools can conduct data extraction and analysis from volumes of documents, create new documents, summarize documents, or initiate document drafting.


How can litigators best leverage these capabilities? 


Listen as our first-time guest host Sara Lord interviews Redgrave Data's Tara Emory, SVP, Legal AI Strategy, and Wilzette Louis, Director of Client Solutions. 


Tara is a highly regarded legal industry executive and recognized expert in legal AI, ediscovery,  information governance operations, and consulting. She plays a leadership role in The Sedona Conference and was contracted to serve as eDiscovery Lead on the House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Tara holds a JD and LLM in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law.


Wilzette is an ediscovery expert and advisor focused on approaches for using technology and workflows to  maximize effectiveness, efficiency, and overall client satisfaction. Wilzette has a BS in computer science from the New York Institute of Technology.

I welcome as guest host for the podcast Sara Lord, a former practicing attorney with a decade of experience in data analytics. Sara applies her talents in large and small law firms and businesses to explore and address the cultural and practical barriers to diversity in law, and client-first business-oriented practices. As Managing Director of Legal Metrics, she leads a team of experts focused on providing the tools to support data-driven decision making in legal operations and closer collaboration between law firms and their clients through automation and standardization of industry metrics. Sara earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law. 


Listen as Sara speaks with Tara and Wilzette about the game-changing potential of robotic process automation and AI, and how these are not just futuristic concepts but practical solutions to today's legal challenges.


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This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal of Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the vLex Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm.


If you have comments, ideas, or wish to participate, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.


Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
Home Page

Surveys abound on artificial intelligence and the law – many of them by companies bringing the technology into their products for attorneys. 

One survey says three quarters of lawyers expect AI to be integrated into their legal practices in the near term. Half say they expect it will boost productivity, half feel it will be transformative, while  nine out of ten attorneys expressed concerns about artificial intelligence applications and attendant ethical issues.  


In an article she wrote for Above the Law, you’re going to hear even more about generative artificial intelligence in the coming months, “especially” she says, “as legal technology companies ramp up their generative ai releases.” She forecasts “a rapid, exponential uptick in the number of new GAI tools for legal professionals.” And, as she reminded me, litigators have an ethical duty of technology competence.  


Nicole "Niki" Black is a Rochester, New York-based attorney, author and journalist, and is senior director of subject matter expertise and external education at MyCase, a company that offers legal practice management software for small firms. She is the nationally recognized author of cloud computing for lawyers and is co-author of social media for lawyers: the next frontier, both published by the American Bar Association. She writes regular columns for abajournal.com and Above the Law; has authored hundreds of articles for other publications; and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersection of law and emerging technologies. Nicole earned her J.D. from Albany Law School.


Listen as I interview, first, Google Gemini fka Bard, for fun, then our real-life human attorney guest, about the current state and future of generative artificial intelligence and the practice of law.
 

Tom Hagy
Host
Emerging Litigation Podcast

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This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal of Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the vLex Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm.

If you have comments, ideas, or wish to participate, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
Home Page
LinkedIn

Laundering money generated in the drug trade. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that between $800 billion to $2 trillion is laundered annually. Laundering money intended to support terrorism. The International Monetary Fund is concerned about terrorism financing, and proliferation financing, providing funds for nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. Money that is embezzled or other schemes also must be laundered, that is, if you're a criminal or criminal enterprise. 
As of Jan. 1, 2024, domestic and foreign entities registered to do business in the United States must comply with new “beneficial ownership reporting requirements” imposed under the Corporate Transparency Act.

Listen to what veteran attorney Lori Smith of Stradley Ronon has to say about the Act, something 30 million companies will have to follow during the Act's first year. Lori provides insights for business executives and attorneys on key facets of the requirements, potential penalties, and chances for litigation.

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This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal of Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the vLex Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm.

If you have comments, ideas, or wish to participate, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
Home Page
LinkedIn

Litigators who do other things besides litigate -- you know them. 

Some perform comedy, act on stage or in film, or they are gifted musicians. Some are even drummers. (Drummer joke, if that’s not too edgy.)  One highly acclaimed San Francisco class action litigator is talented on the kit and owns her own drum company. Another Los Angeles-based litigator started his own record label. Another San Francisco litigator left the profession, moved to South Africa, and led people on safari. Others write books, or develop technology solutions to common problems. Still others launch businesses, teach, and back causes.
The point is: Litigators do many things. One job closer to home is when he or she moves from private practice to a corporate legal department. But what about when the company is on the smaller size, with a modest legal department whose members are expected to handle an assortment of matters?  Hiring is an important decision for any company, but when it’s a smaller organization selecting in-house counsel is arguably even more critical. When companies like this aren’t engaged in litigation, one might think a litigator wouldn’t be the first choice.


In this episode we talk about all the things one litigator has done, and the advantages she feels a litigator can bring to a small company – one that isn’t embroiled in litigation and would like to keep it that way.   


 She is Somya Kaushik, in-house counsel, entrepreneur, adjunct law professor, writer, leader, a children’s book author (“You, YES You! Yolki's Journey Within," illustrated by Annie Hagy* and available on Amazon and other fine platforms), and a former litigator. She is senior corporate counsel for Mineral, an HR and corporate compliance company which was recently acquired by Miratech, a tech solutions company for legal, HR, and governance, risk and compliance. Before Mineral she was an intellectual property litigator representing large and small companies, including SaaS and tech firms. In 2013 she founded EsqMe, Inc., a sharing platform where lawyers can exchange legal documents, templates, motions, and forms, where she served as general counsel. She is also an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. Now located in Chicago, for nearly five years Somya was president of the South Asian Bar Association of Oregon. Somya is on the Fastcase 50 list honoring innovators and leaders in the legal industry.  Education: New York Law School, J.D.; George Washington University, B.A., Psychology and Political Science; London School of Economics; and Harvard Business School. 

*Ms. Hagy is the younger daughter of the host of this podcast, which, now that I think about it, could use some illustrations to brighten up the place.

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This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal of Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the vLex Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm.

If you have comments, ideas, or wish to participate, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
Home Page
LinkedIn