By Ari Kaplan and Eric Mandel
Ari Kaplan interviews Eric Mandel, Director of Global Advisory Services at KLDiscovery
Ari Kaplan
Tell us about your background and your role at KL Discovery.
Eric Mandel
I am a lawyer and entered the e-discovery sector in 2006, just before the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure changed. My focus has expanded to include information governance and privacy as well. As a director in the Global Advisory Services practice, my focus is on information governance and helping to expand the company’s service offerings in that area.
Ari Kaplan
How has the need for global advisory services changed throughout your career?
Eric Mandel
We did not have global advisory services when I came into this part of the industry in 2006. Everything was reactive. In 2007, we began to develop strategies for helping serial litigants to become litigation-ready by organizing their data on the back end to save money moving forward. This process of litigation readiness planning was initially designed to support US matters, but it expanded globally by 2010 given the universal attention to information governance and privacy. KLDiscovery has a presence in 26 locations throughout 17 countries so it provides advisory services on a global scale to its clients.
Ari Kaplan
How important is information governance as a strategy for managing the proliferation of data in modern litigation?
Eric Mandel
We often underestimate the value that could be extracted from proper information governance programs because professionals still think of them as ROT (Redundant, Obsolete, Trivial) disposition, data management, or RIM (Records and Information Management). Rather, information governance is the holistic examination of how an enterprise is leveraging its information assets, controlling its information liabilities, and engaging its different stakeholders who have competing demands on information. If you can implement an information governance program that considers and defines an optimal balance, you can use your archive of information as an advantage instead of a disadvantage.
Ari Kaplan
What are some best practices that legal teams should incorporate to improve their information governance?
Eric Mandel
Most importantly, take information governance seriously by creating an information governance team or committee to formally assemble the organization’s key stakeholders. It is essential to assemble the appropriate voices at the table to help build and integrate programs, policies, and protocols for meaningful information management. Teams need to harmonize and find the optimal balance, which is why an outside perspective is increasingly valuable to properly highlight the risks and opportunities.
Ari Kaplan
Where is the appropriate equilibrium between talent and technology and e-discovery?
Eric Mandel
Technology alone is worth much less than when it is combined with a capable practitioner. A carpenter, for example, can maximize the use of a tool to fine-tune a project and work much more efficiently than simply working by hand. There is a level of art to the work that information governance professionals do, as they understand and can act with purpose and intent beyond the capabilities of the technology. Deploying technology without investing in those who can leverage it most effectively can be problematic as there is no ‘easy button’ for information management. When a legal team buys technology, it should also have or hire the personnel with the requisite knowledge, skill, and talent to use it.
Ari Kaplan
How do you see e-discovery evolving in light of the rapid developments in generative AI?
Eric Mandel
The evolution of e-discovery will be lightning-fast while facing meaningful challenges. We are at the beginning of the hype cycle with an expectation of massive growth, but we are in an early learning stage. That said, generative AI is not pure hype. It is going to fundamentally shift the way we engage in e-discovery and the broader practice of law. We are likely to see amazing developments in terms of identifying information sources and patterns in that data.
About the Author
Ari Kaplan (http://www.AriKaplanAdvisors.com) regularly interviews leaders in the legal industry and in the broader professional services community to share perspectives, highlight transformative change, and introduce new technology at http://www.ReinventingProfessionals.com. Click here to listen to the conversation.
Listen to his conversation with Eric Mandel here:
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