Friday, September 20, 2013

Perspective on the 2013 Masters Conference in DC





Article by Ann Snyder



On September 19th, the 2013 Masters Conference for Legal Professionals was held in Washington, DC.  According to the conference’s website, the program “brings together leading experts and professionals from law firms, corporations and the bench to develop strategies, practices and resources for managing the information life cycle.”  Both kudos and thanks are warranted for Robert Childress, President & CEO, and Lisa Lehman, Conference Director, for creating a forum at which individuals from across the legal tech industry can fruitfully exchange ideas for effectively addressing the recurrent and emerging issues they face. 


Frank Canterino, Empire Discovery’s CTO and Co-Founder, participated in the panel, “E-Discovery Introduction: Best Practices & Key Cases.”  Click here for the panel abstract.  The speakers offered an introductory-level discussion of the basic issues which should be considered by those new to e-discovery and those interested in improving their approach.  Topics included the importance of establishing clear and open channels of communication and defining areas of responsibility within e-discovery teams, ensuring that established procedures are followed, and providing training for those new to the team and field.  Mr. Canterino’s remarks focused on the importance of proactively addressing e-discovery issues rather than facing down the road the problems and expenses of not doing so.  Canterino was joined on the panel by John Kapp (Shearman & Sterling LLP),  Kara Buzga (Mayer Brown LLP), Barb Hanahan (Lockheed Martin), and  Ignatius Grande (Hughes, Hubbard, & Reed, LLP).  Bruce Malter (D4, LLC) moderated.

The Masters Conference included programing appropriate for a range of experience levels, offering basic, intermediate, and advanced tracks.  The topics covered ranged from e-discovery project management and building a litigation support department to issues raised by international e-discovery and discovery in the cloud to more advanced topics like addressing security breaches and utilizing predictive coding.  One intermediate session, “Update from the Bench,” offered a judicial perspective of best-practices in e-discovery.
The Masters Conference will continue in 2014, offering programs in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, London, and Washington, DC.