Miller Canfield Forms eDiscovery and Legal Tech Services Team
The law firm of Miller Canfield has formed an eDiscovery and Legal Tech Services (“eDLT”) team, expanding its longstanding electronic discovery practice and leveraging its 20 + years of experience as national discovery counsel for clients.
Miller Canfield’s eDLT professionals provide clients with legal and practical advice and support across the entire litigation information management life-cycle, from early identification and preservation of potentially-relevant information through production and presentation. The team also assists clients with regulatory reporting, responses to government inquiries and internal investigations. In addition, eDLT can arm clients with efficient and economical systems for consistent and timely responses to written discovery.
Three senior attorneys with more than 20 years of combined ediscovery experience from the firm’s Kalamazoo, Michigan office are members of the team: Kenneth J. Treece, Phillip M. Shane, and Nathan D. Cortright.
Three principals round out the core eDLT team: Robert J. Haddad and Brian S. Westenberg from the firm’s Troy, Michigan office, and Kimberly L. Scott from the firm’s Ann Arbor office.
Miller Canfield formed the new eDLT team in response to clients’ changing needs. “We continue to look for ways to improve client service,” said Westenberg. “The volume of electronic information that businesses create and store on a daily basis is increasing exponentially, and isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. By bringing together a team of experienced people and arming them with the best tools available, we can add value and be cost-effective in an area where antiquated methods can quickly bust the budget.”
On the tech side, Miller Canfield has made considerable investments, bringing kCura’s industry-leading Relativity review platform in-house in 2012. Since then, the firm’s Relativity environment has grown to house more than 150 robust workspaces for more than 120 different clients. Shane, a Relativity Certified Administrator, and other eDLT team members use Relativity’s suite of analytics tools to identify trends and patterns in data populations, giving clients greater insight into facts and circumstances surrounding their cases during the early stages of litigation.
“It used to be that you didn’t get the full picture of case until the close of discovery or later,” said Westenberg. “And, in complex cases, you’d have to hire an army of lawyers to get there. By investing in the right people and products, we feel we’ve given clients a force multiplier to combat the challenges and expenses that Big Data presents during litigation and investigations.”
And the team’s services extend beyond discovery. Westenberg noted, “Our work doesn’t end with the close of discovery. We use technology to assist our lawyers with the effective presentation of evidence to judges, juries and other tribunals.”
Shane, Treece and Cortright will host a special “Cappuccino with Counsel” breakfast meeting on Thursday, October 30 at the Radisson Hotel in Kalamazoo to discuss, among other things, recently proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure affecting ediscovery.