Legal Implications of New Technologies, Part One: Ethical Duty of Competence When Dealing With New Technologies

Lisa Margaret Smith is a federal magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was first appointed to this position on March 20, 1995, and her current term expired on March 19, 2019. She served as chief magistrate judge from 2006 to 2008.

Judge Smith received his B.A. degree in political science from Earlham College in 1977 and her J.D. degree from Duke University School of Law in 1980.

Gail Gottehrer's practice focuses on technology-related litigation and counseling, including autonomous vehicle regulation, connected vehicle regulation, data privacy, biometrics, cybersecurity, facial recognition, and the IoT. She is one of the few defense lawyers to have been involved in the trial of a class action to verdict before a jury.

Gail is a frequent speaker on the implications of technology for the law and business operations, including eDiscovery and electronic evidence. She teaches Law for Knowledge Innovation at Columbia University, is a member of the Advisory Board for Rutgers University’s Leading Disruptive Innovation Program, and is a Fellow at the Center for Legal Innovation at Vermont Law School.

Gail was appointed as a Co-Chair of the State of Connecticut’s Task Force to Study Fully Autonomous Vehicles, the New York State Bar Association’s Transportation Committee, Law360’s Transportation Editorial Advisory Board, and the New York State Bar Association's Technology and the Legal Profession Committee. She is the New York Regional Co-Chair for the ABA’s Judicial Intern Opportunity Program, Co-Chair of the Programming Committee of the ABA’s Woman Advocate Committee, Vice-chair of the ABA-TIPS Automobile Litigation Committee, Co-Chair of the National Association of Women Lawyers’ IP & Technology Affinity Group, and a member of the Sedona Conference Working Group on eDiscovery Cooperation and Training (WG-1). She was selected as one the Profiles in Diversity Journal’s 2017 Women Worth Watching in STEM and one of the Connecticut Technology Council’s 2016 Women of Innovation.

Gail is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Murray C. Goldman, in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. She is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Ronald is a member of Dentons' Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice group. He has extensive experience in e-discovery and in the management of complex litigation and has served as a special master, arbitrator and mediator. He also consults on management and discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”).

Ron Hedges was a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey from 1986 to 2007. While a magistrate judge, he was the Compliance Judge for the Court Mediation Program, a member of the Lawyers Advisory Committee, and both a member of, and reporter for, the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee. From 2001 to 2005 he was a member of the Advisory Group of Magistrate Judges.

Ron was an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School, where he taught mediation skills. He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and remains an adjunct professor at Rutgers School of Law—Newark. He taught courses on electronic discovery and evidence at both these schools. Ron was a Fellow at the Center for Information Technology of Princeton University for 2010-11 and 2011-12. He is also a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas.