Judge Young B. Kim is a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. He was born in South Korea and his family emigrated to the United States when he was 11 years old. He began his legal career as an Assistant Cook County Public Defender in 1991. From 1993 to 1995, he clerked for District Judge Charles R. Norgle of the Northern District of Illinois. From 1995 to 2001, Judge Kim served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the Chicago office, prosecuting and litigating both civil and criminal cases. In 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission appointed him to serve as an Administrative Judge. Then in 2010, the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois appointed Judge Kim to a magistrate judge position. As a federal judge he particularly enjoys presiding over citizenship naturalization ceremonies in the ceremonial courtroom where he himself was naturalized as a United States citizen in 1986.
Angel D. Mitchell was appointed in 2019 to serve as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the District of Kansas. Before joining the bench, she was a partner at Shook Hardy & Bacon, LLP, where she practiced in intellectual property litigation. While there, she represented primarily Fortune 100 clients in patent, trademark, and copyright cases in federal district courts throughout the country. She also handled appellate litigation before the Federal Circuit and coordinated litigation efforts with parallel proceedings before the United States Patent & Trademark Office. Earlier in her career, she practiced as an associate at then-Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, LLP’s commercial litigation practice, and served as a law clerk to U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. O’Hara and U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum.
Judge Schlegel, a recent inductee into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame, was elected to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in 2023. During Judge Schlegel’s decade on the trial court, he “designed and managed what may be one of the most advanced courts in the country for delivering justice online,” according to one legal tech journalist.
Judge Schlegel currently serves on the ABA & LSBA Task Forces on the Law and Artificial Intelligence, among others. He is the immediate past Chair of the Louisiana Supreme Court Technology Commission and has served as President of the Louisiana District Judges Association. Judge Schlegel has received numerous awards including the National Center for State Courts’ 26th Annual William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, one of the highest judicial honors in the country. Judge Schlegel was also featured on the cover of the American Bar Association Journal and is a nationally recognized speaker on legal tech and the modernization of the justice system.
Judge Stephen R. Bough has served on the federal bench in the Western District of Missouri since 2014. He is a proud graduate of UMKC Law School. Judge Bough served as the chair of the ESI Discovery committee which crafted local principles and protocols.
United States Magistrate Judge William Matthewman was appointed to the federal bench in 2012. He retired from full time judicial service as Chief United States Magistrate Judge for the SDFL on July 31, 2026, although he remains available for judicial recall. As a United States Magistrate Judge, he has handled a myriad of civil and criminal cases, hearings and trials.
Prior to joining the federal bench in 2012, Judge Matthewman was a very active trial attorney who handled both criminal and civil cases, in both state and federal courts, including high profile cases which were covered on live in-session Court TV, Dateline, 48 Hours, and other programs. He was Board certified by The Florida Bar in criminal trial practice and is currently AV rated by Martindale Hubbell. He has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1983. He began his legal career as an attorney with Holland & Knight in Miami. He was an associate and partner in litigation firms, and he was also a sole practitioner during his career.
Before becoming an attorney, he was a police officer and sergeant in Miami, Florida, serving on road patrol, K-9, and SWAT.
Judge Matthewman received his B.S. degree in Criminal Justice from Florida International University in 1978, his Master of Public Administration degree from Florida International University in 1981, and his Juris Doctorate (Law Degree), with Honors, from the University of Florida School of Law. While at the University of Florida School of Law, he was Research Editor on the University of Florida Law Review.
Judge Matthewman is a prolific public speaker who has lectured and taught over the years on numerous panels, seminars, classes, and legal programs. He is also a speaker each year at the University of Florida School of Law e-Discovery Program, most recently held in February 2026. He speaks many times each year at universities, bar associations, and other legal and public events. He also has presided over moot court programs for students at all levels.
Maura R. Grossman, J.D., Ph.D., is a Research Professor and Director of Women in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. She also is Principal at Maura Grossman Law, an eDiscovery law and consulting firm in Buffalo, New York. Previously, Maura was Of Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where, for 17 years, she advised the firm’s lawyers and clients on legal, technical, and strategic issues involving eDiscovery and information governance, both domestically and abroad.
Maura’s scholarly work on TAR, most notably, Technology-Assisted Review in E-Discovery Can Be More Effective and More Efficient Than Exhaustive Manual Review, published in the RICHMOND JOURNAL OF LAW AND TECHNOLOGY in 2011, has been widely cited in the case law, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Her longstanding contributions to eDiscovery technology and process were featured in the February 2016 issue of THE AMERICAN LAWYER and the September 2016 issue of the ABA JOURNAL, where she was recognized as a “Legal Rebel.” Maura has served as a court-appointed special master, mediator, and eDiscovery expert to the court in many high-profile cases, and has also taught courses in eDiscovery at Columbia, Georgetown, Pace, and Rutgers–Newark law schools. In addition to her J.D. from Georgetown, Maura also holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from the Derner Institute at Adelphi University.
Robin Perkins is the founder and Chair of Kutak Rock's eDiscovery Practice Group and she maintains an active litigation practice where she regularly appears in state and federal courts across the country. The National eDiscovery Leadership Institute was the brainchild of Ms. Perkins, who sought to create a forum for the scholarly discussion and debate of electronic discovery issues and to foster cooperation among the bench and bar. Ms. Perkins is also an active member of the Sedona Conference Working Group 1, which is the leading "think-tank" on eDiscovery and she serves on the ESI Rules Committee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Ms. Perkins regularly counsels clients in all aspects of eDiscovery ranging from data retention to collection, review and production, including outsourcing options, early case assessment and vendor selection. In her capacity as eDiscovery counsel, Ms. Perkins manages projects for clients involving terabytes of data and she has a wealth of experience managing document review projects through the utilization of both onshore and offshore contract attorneys and through the use of cutting edge technologies, such as predictive coding. Ms. Perkins is widely known and respected in the national eDiscovery community as a thought leader through her numerous articles, alerts and speaking engagements on the all aspects of eDiscovery. Ms. Perkins’s greatest asset to clients, however, is her common sense approach to eDiscovery matters, which is derived from her thriving commercial litigation practice encompassing the financial services, life sciences and technology industries, including defense of product liability matters, ADA and TCPA litigation. In her own practice, Ms. Perkins "walks the walk" by implementing the very eDiscovery approaches about which she speaks and writes.
Lea Malani Bays is a partner at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd in San Diego. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd specializes in complex securities litigation on behalf of investors. Lea currently focuses on the firm’s electronic discovery issues from preservation through production and provides counsel to the firm’s multi-disciplinary e-discovery team. She is familiar with the various stages of electronic discovery, including identification of relevant electronically stored information, data culling, predictive coding protocols, privilege and responsiveness reviews. Lea also has has experience in post-production discovery through trial preparation for a wide range of litigation.
Lawyer and experienced e-discovery consultant and a former litigator and trial attorney, specializing in commercial litigation, products liability and warranty litigation, construction litigation, insurance casualty and coverage litigation, and all aspects of e-discovery including data collection, processing, and advanced search and analytics.
After eighteen years in the practice of law, John advises clients on e-discovery strategies, admissibility of electronic evidence, along with best-practices for understanding and reducing data volumes to ultimately lower discovery costs.
John is a member of the EDRM Global Advisory Council, a co-chair on the Seventh Circuit eDiscovery Pilot Program, a member of WG 1 of the Sedona Conference, and President of the ACEDS Chicago Chapter. He has presented at continuing legal education seminars across the Midwest on e-discovery and technology-assisted review topics.
John received a J.D. from the John Marshall Law School and a B.A. from Michigan State University. He is admitted to practice in Illinois.
Daniel is the Advisory Leader of the E-Discovery Managed Services practice group and the creator of BDO's Athenagy™, the only patent pending business intelligence solution in the world that created a Common Data Model and data driven insights fueled by both M365 E5 Compliance Suite’s Microsoft Advanced E-Discovery and RelativityOne.
Daniel has nearly 20 years of experience in the legal space. As a practicing lawyer, he identified that by harnessing new forms of legal technology, both lawyers and legal professionals could be vastly more productive. This realization led him to the legal service provider space and with it, came years of success at consulting with some of the largest corporate law departments and law firms across the country.
Daniel’s experience in e-discovery technical consulting, consultative selling, as well as leading a national operations team for an IT managed services company has enabled him to provide a comprehensive approach to how legal professionals can leverage technology to create a collaborative and dynamic approach to e-discovery. Daniel’s passion for managed services has made him a known thought leader in e-discovery. In addition to being published in several blog posts, articles, and white papers over the years, he is also a frequent CLE speaker.
Ed Rippey is a litigation partner at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. He leads two practices and handles complex cases worldwide. Ed is co-chair of the E-Discovery, Artificial Intelligence, and Information Governance practice. His work encompasses high-stakes litigations and investigations for multinational corporations as well as strategic advisory and policy work to best situate companies in the legal and business arenas. Ed has consistently been ranked for years by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Lexology, and other entities in Litigation E-Discovery. In addition, Ed is co-chair of the Gaming Industry practice, and he has represented integrated resorts and casinos, game manufacturers, and on-line entities worldwide for nearly two decades. Here, Ed leads not only complex litigations but also legislative work, government affairs, public relations, regulatory issues, federal and state agency communications, and numerous other legal and strategic efforts. Ed is ranked nationwide by Chambers USA and Lexology in Gaming.
John P. Collins, Managing Director, has over two decades of experience in the legal, regulatory, and technical consulting fields. John advises organizations on a range of information governance, litigation readiness, and records and information management challenges, including those involving the use and implementation of cloud technologies.
Recognizing the potential impact of cloud computing on eDiscovery and information governance, in 2013 John started focusing his consulting work on Office 365 (now Microsoft Office 365) and over the past 12 years has become a widely recognized leader in helping in-house legal, records, and compliance teams adopt and adapt Microsoft 365 (M365) technologies, with a particular focus on M365 Purview’s Risk & Compliance and Data Security Solutions.
Kelly Atherton is an eDiscovery practitioner serving as Counsel in Norton Rose Fulbright's Information Governance, Privacy, and Cybersecurity practice, where she advises clients on complex eDiscovery, data governance, cyber incident response, and data breach matters. Combining legal, technical, and operational expertise across the full eDiscovery lifecycle, Kelly helps organizations manage data-driven challenges efficiently, defensibly, and strategically.
Prior to joining Norton Rose Fulbright, Kelly served as a director at a leading discovery management company, where she led global analytics and review teams and advised clients on the use of technology-assisted review (TAR), advanced analytics, and defensible AI-driven workflows. Her background in both legal practice and discovery technology gives her a distinctive perspective on how organizations can operationalize defensible, data-driven processes at scale.
Kelly regularly writes and speaks on emerging issues in eDiscovery. She is an active member of The Sedona Conference Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG1) and serves on the WG1 Steering Committee.
Farhad Mahmoudi is a Strategic Solutions Advisor at Epiq. He has over two decades of experience in discovery management and consulting, both on the front lines and management, having spent the last 15 years at Epiq and working in-house at Qualcomm prior. He has deep expertise in discovery and legal process technologies with proven experience in developing and executing workflows that are strategic, efficient, defensible, and cost-effective. He is a frequent CLE speaker and eDiscovery and legal data management panelist at conferences and professional development events. Farhad received his M.A. in History from UC San Diego and his B.A. in History from UC Berkeley.
Michelle M. Newcomer is eDiscovery Counsel at Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. She focuses her practice on discovery issues, from preservation through production, and provides counsel to litigation teams across the Firm on matters arising in the Firm’s securities, consumer, antitrust, and other complex actions. Michelle is adept and experienced in managing all aspects and phases of the discovery process. She regularly leads discovery conferences and negotiates protocols governing electronically stored information, and helps litigation teams navigate complex issues regarding the preservation, collection, search and production of electronically stored information, including developing effective search and review protocols, briefing, and arguing discovery motions where necessary.
Michelle was appointed to the Steering Committee of Working Group 1 of The Sedona Conference, which focuses on developing principles, guidance, and best practice recommendations for information governance and electronic discovery in the context of litigation, dispute resolution, and investigations. She also has served as a Faculty Advisor for Sedona’s E-Discovery Negotiation & Training program. A thought leader at numerous e-discovery conferences, where she has helped shape the broader dialogue on e-discovery issues, and is an active member of the Complex Litigation e-Discovery Forum (CLEF), which provides educational and networking opportunities to practitioners in the plaintiffs’ bar who handle complex cases.
Prior to serving in this role, Michelle focused her practice in the area of securities litigation, where she represented individual and institutional investors and Sovereign Wealth Funds in class actions, direct actions, and non-U.S. collective actions asserting violations of U.S. and foreign securities laws. She has been involved in dozens of securities class actions in which the Firm has served as Lead or Co-Lead Counsel, through all aspects of pre-trial, trial, and appellate proceedings, and was part of the trial team in the Firm’s most recent securities fraud class action trial, which resulted in a jury verdict on liability and damages in favor of investors.
Barbara Glesner Fines is the Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law and Dean Emerita of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1986. She served as Executive Associate Dean from 2008 to 2016 and as Dean from 2017 to 2023. Glesner Fines received her master of law degree from Yale University and her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Professor Glesner Fines is an expert on professional ethics, legal education and the professional identity formation of law students. She has authored numerous articles and books on these subjects and is a fellow in the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership. She has created several innovative programs at the School of Law. She helped to found the UMKC School of Law Child and Family Law Program, which is currently ranked as one of the top four programs of its kind in the United States. She is also one of the founding faculty members of the School of Law’s Center for Law, Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Glesner Fines currently teaches Professional Responsibility, Client Interviewing, and Family Violence. She also directs the Self-Help Legal Clinic. Students in the clinic provide instruction, referral, brief advice, and limited scope representation to self-represented litigants in a variety of subject areas. Students learn technology skills to build self-help resources and community education skills in pro se classes.
Laura Hunt is Associate General Counsel, eDiscovery and Information Governance at Meta. She formerly served as counsel with Norton Rose Fulbright in the firm's eDiscovery and Information Governance group. In this role, she formulated creative strategies for the defensible and efficient preservation, identification, collection, review, and production of electronically stored information in response to requests in civil investigations and litigation. Laura also managed the document review and analysis required to ensure clients are in compliance with federal and state laws as a result of a cybersecurity breach. Previously, Laura served as Senior Litigation Counsel for eDiscovery at the United States Department of Justice’s Civil Division. Laura is also an Adjunct Professorial Lecturer at American University’s Washington College of Law as well as created a practical eDiscovery course for the school’s Master of Legal Studies’ program. Laura graduated magna cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Jennifer Cavner is a member of Husch Blackwell's eDiscovery Solutions team, where she guides clients through the electronic discovery challenges that arise in investigations and complex litigation. She assists clients with legal holds, data identification, preservation and collection, and the review and production of data, and she has extensive experience managing and guiding large data review teams through the massive data volumes these matters often require. Jennifer is skilled in early case assessment, search term development and strategy, and the use of technology and AI-supported document review to help save clients money and secure early favorable results. Her eDiscovery work is grounded in more than 25 years as a litigator, and defending clients during government investigations before numerous state and federal agencies, giving her a practical understanding of how discovery strategy shapes case outcomes. Jennifer's electronic data management experience provides clients with an added layer of support and continuity throughout the investigation and litigation process, and her work in this area has been recognized by The Legal 500 United States, which named her a Recommended Lawyer for E-discovery in 2025 and 2026.
Amy is a nationally recognized litigator who brings over a decade of in-house experience at Fortune 500 corporations, including management of discovery for the Opioid MDLs for two different companies. She has also served as Chief of Staff and Director of Legal Operations for two in-house legal departments. A former theater stage manager, producer, and teacher, Amy loves a good story. Lawsuits are full of good stories.
Amy has been an adjunct professor of eDiscovery and Legal Operations at three law schools, serves on the board of the Association of Certified eDiscovery Specialists, and teaches the course for professionals seeking ACEDs certification.
Lisa Kistler is currently the Executive Director of Litigation & Investigations at Astellas Pharma, Inc. Astellas is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, with The Americas headquartered in Illinois.
At Astellas, Lisa leads global complex litigations and investigations and e-discovery. She has a unique blend of legal, technical, business, and analytic skills. Lisa manages global attorneys and paralegals and directs cross-functional teams on a wide range of complex corporate efforts that involve changing technologies, identifying opportunities, reducing risk and exposure, and driving the business forward.
Prior to Astellas, Lisa directed in-house legal and e-discovery efforts in both the pharmaceutical and food industries. She started her career at a litigation boutique in Chicago, and then served as global litigation and investigations senior in-house counsel at Abbott Laboratories and litigation senior counsel at McDonald’s Corporation, respectively.
Amy Ambroson Reid is the Director of Litigation Solutions & GTM at UnitedLex focusing on strategic solutions that solve client legal challenges and bringing new solutions to market. With 16 years of experience in eDiscovery, Amy has expertise across the litigation lifecycle.
Specializing in creating customized centers of excellence for both corporate and law firm clients, Amy has led and coordinated processes from start to finish including ECA, protocol consulting, AI and analytics, supervising review teams, conducting focus groups, and ensuring quality of the finished product. Experienced on cases across a variety of industries including pharmaceutical, criminal, banking, real estate, insurance, trademark infringement, and environmental law, Amy is passionate about bringing efficiency and measurable value to her clients.
Amy received a J.D. from The University of Iowa College of Law and a B.B.A. in Management & Marketing from The University of Iowa. She is admitted to practice in Kansas and Missouri.
Mary Flexman is the Director of Strategic Partnerships & Solutions at UnitedLex and a legal services leader with nearly 20 years of experience helping Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 organizations navigate eDiscovery, litigation operations, and legal transformation. Known for combining strategic vision with practical execution, she brings a practitioner’s perspective to the future of eDiscovery, drawing on experience helping legal organizations transform how they manage data, risk, and implement new legal technology.
Partnering with global corporate litigation departments, Mary has managed complex, multinational discovery programs and implemented scalable governance frameworks that improve efficiency, reduce risk, and control costs. Her expertise spans global program management, litigation portfolio oversight, eDiscovery process improvement, and operational transformation.
Mary received her J.D. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and has a B.S. in both Sociology and Criminal Justice from Missouri State University. She is admitted to practice in Missouri.
Rose is dedicated to understanding and managing the intersection of legal and technical issues that now largely dominate American and global litigation, data breach response, and government investigations. She devotes her entire practice to crisis management, eData, and technology. Rose is ranked in Chambers USA and Chambers Global as one of the world’s top lawyers in e-discovery litigation practice. According to Chambers USA, Rose is a “seasoned counsellor to clients on diverse e-discovery concerns as they relate to government investigations” while Legal 500 notes “Rose Jones is particularly experienced in cross-functional collaboration, advising businesses on information governance, data privacy and security, and discovery.”
Sean Wiederkehr is an expert ediscovery practitioner with a record of success helping clients give and get the discovery they need. His current role on Everlaw's Solution Architect team assists law firms and corporations in validating their technical requirements and highlighting the value that our platform can bring to their organizations.
Sean has 18 years of experience in the ediscovery space and has worked for both boutique litigation shops and AmLaw 50 firms. He has experience at every stage of the EDRM cycle and has worked on matters covering a broad spectrum of practice area including regulatory investigations, complex litigation, and other disputes.
Sean holds a BA from UCLA. He lives in New York where he hosts a weekly pub trivia night and plays music in a band.
