Data Management in an Investigation: Staying Ahead of the Curve from Forensics to Production

Florence is Vice President and Corporate Counsel in the Enterprise Litigation Group in Prudential Financial, Inc.’s Law Department, where she manages the Company’s global eDiscovery docket in litigation and regulatory matters. She is also lead counsel for the Company’s records management program, advising the company on domestic and international records and information governance issues and chairing a working group consisting of attorneys overseeing such issues in other practice groups and disciplines. Florence is an active speaker and participant in various eDiscovery industry professional groups, including serving as co-chair of Electronic Discovery Institute’s (EDI) Diversity Committee. She received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and B.A. from Cornell’s University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Francine French is the Assistant Manager. Under the direction of the eDiscovery leadership, she manages and directs the company's legal preservation obligations and systems while maintaining best practices.

Daniel Lee is an experienced eDiscovery Manager specializing in computer forensics, data analytics, data migration, and hosted review. His clients have included corporate legal departments and global law firms across various industries.

Tess Blair and her team offer full-cycle electronic discovery and information governance services to organizations across the globe. Tess is the founder and leader of Morgan Lewis’s eData practice, which seeks to combine great lawyering with technology and process to deliver real efficiency and value to clients. The team includes both lawyers and technologists who support a state-of-the-art data center and technology portfolio to deliver comprehensive counseling and technical services under one roof.

As the leader of the eData team, Tess works with lawyers and clients to develop and implement strategies to successfully manage complex litigation. A recognized thought leader in electronic discovery, she has developed industry-leading best practices that are designed to provide clients with sensible, defensible options for the discovery process. A Six Sigma Green Belt, Tess invests heavily in training the entire eData team in Legal Project Management and Legal Lean Sigma.

As a Morgan Lewis partner, Tess counsels and defends clients primarily in the areas of product liability, mass torts, and complex commercial litigation. A considerable portion of her practice involves the defense of clients in national serial litigation and class actions.

Tess lectures regularly on civil procedure and eDiscovery, and writes frequently on eDiscovery and information governance for legal publications. She is ranked by Chambers USA and Chambers Global in their listings of leading business attorneys. Bringing entrepreneurial experience to her clients, Tess started and operated a small business before entering law. She also holds a master of professional studies in law firm management.

Denise has more than two decades of experience in cost-effective discovery management in complex litigation, including the preservation, collection, organization, review and production of documents. She works closely with clients to formulate efficient and effective approaches for meeting discovery obligations and navigating technological innovations. Denise has represented business interests in the chemical, communications, insurance, pharmaceutical, retail, tobacco and transportation industries.

As co-chair of the firm’s Data and Discovery Strategies Practice Group, Denise oversees a team of approximately 60 attorneys, analysts, project managers and technology experts dedicated to efficiently managing litigation discovery obligations for Shook clients. The team has served as national eDiscovery counsel for a number of Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries, including pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer-product manufacturing. As chair, Denise has also directed the evolution of the group’s work beyond national eDiscovery counsel into significant roles supporting other firms’ case teams in a wide variety of discovery circumstances.

Denise is actively involved in the eDiscovery legal community and dedicates a portion of her time to tracking relevant market and technology changes to better serve her clients. She has published materials on eDiscovery law and routinely offers related CLE presentations, and she is a member of The Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production. As a member of The Sedona Conference eDiscovery Case Law Update Team, she regularly contributes case law summaries for publication by The Sedona Conference.

Before attending law school, Denise was a practicing accountant working in-house at multiple companies.