Don't be a 'Burden': Arguments Around Proportionality

Rachael Lee Zichella practices both commercial litigation and labor and employment law at Taylor English, where she is a partner with experience representing corporations, boards of directors, and individuals in complex matters. She regularly appears nationwide in federal and state courts, and in arbitration, and litigates matters through trial, which she greatly enjoys. The Taylor English model allows Ms. Zichella to cultivate an efficient, pragmatic legal practice that encompasses a wide range of commercial disputes involving: the enforcement and invalidation of restrictive covenants agreements; theft of confidential information and trade secrets; the misuse of intellectual property; computer systems protection; fiduciary issues; breaches of commercial contracts; defamation; employee malfeasance, including fraud; shareholder derivative issues; subprime and credit markets; franchise disputes; the management and administration of construction contracts; and financial transactions. She also litigates traditional employment discrimination and wage and hour matters, and defends clients in charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and other administrative bodies. Skilled in the use of computer forensics evidence, Ms. Zichella’s cases typically require the use of outside vendors to assist in the collection, processing, review, and production of large amounts of electronically stored information (“ESI”) culled from various sources. Ms. Zichella also assists other Taylor English attorneys in working with clients and outside vendors to develop protocols for document review and production that leverage cutting edge technology to minimize client costs. In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Zichella collaborates with clients on key legal and business objectives. To that end, she helps clients develop data security initiatives to protect their intellectual property and proprietary information from bad actors inside and outside the workplace, and from cyber attacks. She also works with clients on preventive strategies for compliance with federal and state employment laws, including, without limitation, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and others. In a similar vein, she frequently conducts internal investigations, and has most recently probed allegations of harassment; fraud; antitrust laws; and the False Claims Act.

Ms. Zichella also regularly negotiates and drafts employment and restrictive covenants agreements for both executives and corporations, and works with the Taylor English corporate attorneys on executive compensation and employment and litigation-related aspects of major transactions, including due diligence.

Since she joined the State Bar of Georgia in 2004, Ms. Zichella has been an active participant in its educational and charitable endeavors. She presently serves as one of the founding co-chairs of the e-Discovery and the Use of Technology Section of the Georgia Bar, which develops programming to educate and train Georgia lawyers across practice areas about all facets of legal technology and e-discovery, including the tools and applications; best practices and procedures; applicable rules and laws; and ethical considerations. She is also a member of the Georgia Appleseed Young Professionals Council.

Prior to joining Taylor English, Ms. Zichella worked in the Labor and Employment and Complex Business Litigation groups at Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, a general practice firm, and at Fisher & Phillips LLP, a national management-side labor and employment firm.

As Director of Discovery and Information Governance at T-Mobile, Ms. Blanchard leads a team of experts who with the business to develop sound information governance best practices and respond to government inquiries and complex litigations. She uses her deep knowledge of the intersection of litigation, technology and discovery to work with all areas of the legal department on document retention and preservation, collection and review issues. She participates in several enterprise wide groups tasked with strategy decisions related to implementing new technologies and systems.

Prior to joining T-Mobile, Ms. Blanchard was a litigator at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, where she represented several Fortune 50 companies in a variety of complex litigation matters as national eDiscovery Counsel. She also spent 2 years as Associate General Counsel and Director, eDiscovery Consulting at Evolver Legal Services where she counseled core clients to develop litigation plans that included negotiating the scope of discovery as well as conducting early case assessment and understanding the options for review, including technology assisted review.

Ms. Blanchard earned her J.D. from American University, and Bachelor's degrees in International Business, Japanese Studies and Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University. She is admitted to the Washington State Bar and Virginia Bar. An active member of Sedona and Women in eDiscovery and a frequent speaker at eDiscovery conferences, Ms. Blanchard enjoys talking with others about Discovery Best Practices and sharing war stories.

Robert L. Levy is an attorney in the law department of Exxon Mobil Corporation. His duties include representing ExxonMobil on civil justice reform initiatives and advising on law technology, including electronic discovery issues and records management.

Previously, Mr. Levy was a partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP where he practiced in the Business Litigation Section, focusing on international arbitration and technology litigation as well as advising on records management and electronic discovery issues. He also served as a briefing attorney for the Honorable Judge Robert Parker of the Eastern District of Texas and practiced at Johnson & Gibbs and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Mr. Levy serves as president of the Civil Justice Reform Group and co-chair of the eDiscovery and Federal Rules Subcommittee. He is on the Executive Committee of Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ) and chairs its Federal Rules Committee where he was active in leading LCJ’s efforts in support of revisions to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including participation in the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee’s 2010 Duke Civil Litigation Conference and September 9, 2011 Mini-Conference on Preservation and Sanctions. Mr. Levy also is a member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee and is active in the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform and the American Tort Reform Association. He was a member of The Sedona Conference Working Group 1 on Electronic Discovery.

Mr. Levy received his JD from the University of Texas School of Law where he graduated with honors.