eDiscovery Leaders Live: Adam Cares of Godfrey & Kahn
Adam Cares, E-Discovery Manager at Godfrey & Kahn, joins George Socha, Senior Vice President of Brand Awareness at Reveal, for ACEDS #eDiscoveryLeadersLive.
Adam Cares is an E-Discovery Manager at Godfrey & Kahn. He has extensive legal experience and is well-versed in ESI. Adam provides analysis of complex data to support attorneys and clients on topics and issues across the EDRM spectrum, from data collection through production and presentation. Adam works closely with attorneys and review teams, and directly with clients to customize and expedite cost-effective document review and production, both in-house and in conjunction with eDiscovery vendors. He also manages and oversees vendor relationships and individual case engagements.
Adam discussed what it is like to deliver litigation support and eDiscovery services in a mid-tier, mid-sized, geographically focused law firm.
Key Highlights
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- [1:12] Introducing Adam.
- [1:26] About Godfrey & Kahn, focused on being the premiere Wisconsin law firm.
- [3:24] Where they fit as a mid-tier, mid-sized firm.
- [4:39] Adam’s two-decade history with the firm and how he got to his current role.
- [6:11] The transition from paralegal and trial support activities to litigation support and eDiscovery.
- [7:47] Currently a litigation support and eDiscovery team of two serving the entire firm.
- [8:34] Their model: mostly in-house with external support as needed.
- [10:04] Why they have chosen to handle so much internally.
- [11:02] How his team interacts with the lawyers, paralegals, and others at the firm: a collaborative approach.
- [12:15] Involved in matters as soon as they come in.
- [13:17] The advantages to the law firm of a more collaborative approach: better able to support the team.
- [14:32] Advantages to the client.
- [16:13] Disadvantages to their approach: few and far between.
- [17:27] Whether to charge clients for eDiscovery costs: a preference not to charge separate fees and the benefits that accrue from that approach.
- [20:45] The ability to offer guidance through the life of a matter because they are involved all along and know the facts.
- [24:11] Daily open and consultative dialog with their attorneys.
- [25:42] Advice on how to develop a positive rapport with a firm’s lawyers.
- [27:54] Potential rapport-building pitfalls and how to avoid them.
Key Quotes
- “As far as the processing, review, production side of things, we do I would say 80% in-house and about 20% through our partners.”
- “It really goes back to cost-savings to the client. We’re able to offer what the vendors are doing in-house and really do it without charging them much up-front.”
- “We are very involved in the process…. When a case comes in, we are one of the first calls that the partner or lead associate makes.”
- “Having that legal background that we have [as paralegals] is a very nice fit. We are able to understand what’s the best way to go about this particular case because it’s never a one-size-fits-all solution…. It’s really guiding them along the way to the best solution for their case.”
- “One thing that’s really nice is that we have constant contact with the client. Since we are brought in early on, for the data collection stage, we know the IT staff up front … and we know the GC or whoever the lead lawyer is on this particular matter.”
- “The value add that we have is that we know enough about the case – we know that facts, kind of know the issues – that when a request comes across our desk we are not ticket takers. We ask why we are doing this, what is the end game, what is this for.”
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