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David C. Shonka is a partner at Redgrave LLP in Washington, DC. With his outstanding record as a trial and appellate litigator and legal strategist, David is considered a thought leader in the broader legal community. His practice focuses on all things Information Law including privacy, security, eDiscovery, cross border data transfers, government civil law enforcement investigations, and information governance. Prior to joining Redgrave LLP, David served three terms as the Acting General Counsel at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and ten years as the agency’s Principal Deputy General Counsel. In both roles, he oversaw the Office’s Litigation, Legal Counsel, and Opinions and Analysis Groups, as well as FOIA, Employment Law, and Energy Counsel Staff. David is currently a member of the Sedona Conference® Working Group on Data Security and Privacy Liability (WG11), serves on the Steering Committee for International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure (WG6), and is a former member of the Steering Committee for Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG1).
“Working for consumers and investors who have suffered a financial loss or wrong has been very appealing to me. Doing what I can to rectify some of the inequities in the lives of individuals or groups of people is gratifying, particularly in very large, complex cases. . . . I also enjoy cases that are not just about the recovery of monies lost but that also play a role in changing practices that companies engage in that are unfair to consumers and investors.” —Ariana J. Tadler, Lawdragon 500
In the often opaque and self-interested world of corporate decision-making, Ariana J. Tadler is an antidote—a “leading light” helping individual consumers and institutional investors expose corporate misconduct and secure multimillion- and multibillion-dollar recoveries. A nationally recognized member of the plaintiffs’ bar, Ariana has 20+ years of experience litigating and managing the full spectrum of complex securities and consumer class actions, including high-profile, fast–paced cases.
Ariana is also renowned for being one of the nation’s leading authorities on electronic discovery in plaintiffs’ litigation—an area she and Milberg helped pioneer. She chairs Milberg’s E-Discovery Practice Group, has authored numerous publications on E-Discovery, and is regularly invited to speak on a variety of litigation- and discovery–related topics to educate the bench and bar. Ariana is actively involved in the development of the law and best practices, including amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and various pilot programs.
An AV® Preeminent rated (Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating) lawyer, Ariana has been recognized by several prominent legal industry rating organizations, including 2014 Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as “a leading light in the plaintiffs’ Bar” and a “fearless and tenacious” advocate who wins praise for her in-depth e-discovery knowledge and efficient approach. Clients also praise her ability to “navigate all the e-discovery issues.” For four years in a row, Lawdragon included her in its select list of 500 Leading Lawyers in America, describing her as “one of the nation’s most talented plaintiff-side securities litigators” and crediting her with building Milberg’s “team of lawyers and technologists armed with the necessary hardware and software to provide a solid and reliable service.” Benchmark Litigation has also included her in its 2014 Top 250 Women Litigators in the U.S. and she was named in Super Lawyers 2014 “Top 50: Women Lawyers” in the New York Metro-area.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
HONORS & RECOGNITIONS
PROFESSIONAL & CIVIC ENGAGEMENTS
Education:
B.A., Hamilton College, 1989
J.D., Fordham University School of Law, 1992
Admitted:
New Jersey, 1992
New York, 1993
“A leading light in the plaintiff’s Bar”
—Chambers USA 2014
Hon. Jed S. Rakoff
Senior United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. Entered on duty, March 1, 1996. Born August 1, 1943 in Philadelphia, PA. B.A., Swarthmore College, 1964. M.Phil., Oxford Univ.,1966. J.D., Harvard Law School, 1969. LL.D. (Hon.), Swarthmore College, 2003. LL.D. (Hon.), St. Francis University, 2005.
Law Clerk to Hon. Abraham L. Freedman, U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, 1969-70.
Associate, Debevoise, Plimpton, et al., 1970-72. Asst. U.S. Attorney, S.D.N.Y. 1973-80 (Chief, Business & Securities Fraud Prosecutions, 1978-80). Litigation Partner, Mudge, Rose, et al., 1980-90; Litigation Partner, Fried, Frank, et al., 1990-96.
Co-author of five books; author of over 150 published articles, over 600 speeches, and over 1500 judicial opinions. Co-editor, Sand, et al., Modern Federal Jury Instructions. Adjunct Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, 1988-present, teaching courses on white collar crime, class actions, interplay of civil and criminal litigation, and science and the courts.
Commissioner, National Commission on Forensic Science, 2014-present. Co-chair, National Academy of Sciences Committee on Scientific Approaches to Eyewitness Identification, 2013-present. Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2013-present. Member, American Law Institute, 2011-present. Executive Committee, New York City Bar Assn., 2013-present (Chair, Honors Comm., 2006-09; Chair, Criminal Law Comm., 1986-89). Trustee, William Nelson Cromwell Foundation, 2009-present.
Board of Managers, Swarthmore College, 2004-2008. Governance Board, MacArthur Foundation Initiative on Law and Neuroscience, 2007-2010. Chair, Criminal Justice Advisory Board, SDNY, 1998-2011. Member, Committee on the Development of the Third Edition of the [Federal Judges’] Manual on Scientific Evidence, 2009=2011. Member, National Research Council Committee on Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI’s Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters, 2009-2011.
Chair, SDNY Grievance Committee 2001-2012. Chair, Second Circuit Bankruptcy Committee, 2003-2011. Fellow (now Judicial Fellow), American College of Trial Lawyers, 1987-present (Chair, Downstate New York Chapter, 1993-94). Fellow (now Judicial Fellow), American Board of Criminal Lawyers, 1995-present.
Ignatius Grande is Senior Discovery Attorney at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP. In his role at Hughes Hubbard, Mr. Grande advises case teams and clients on how to best leverage the latest technologies and e-discovery practices to efficiently guide matters from initial document preservation and collection through to review and production. By putting strategic processes in place, he helps clients manage their e-discovery obligations in the most efficient and cost effective manner. Mr. Grande also advises clients on the management of their social media presence and in the preservation and collection of social media information. Mr. Grande has represented companies in all areas of electronic discovery and information management, including advising clients on document retention policies, methods of collection, and representing clients at 26(f) conferences and in e-discovery court hearings.
Mr. Grande graduated from Yale College in 1996 and Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He previously served as in-house counsel for a commodities company and as an e-discovery consultant for a national e-discovery vendor. Mr. Grande also worked for several years with another major international law firm. He began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable James M. Munley of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Grande is a frequent writer and speaker on topics relating to e-discovery and social media. He is an adjunct professor at St. John’s Law School, where he teaches a course on e-discovery. He serves as co-chair of the Social Media Law Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section and serves on the Executive Committee of NYSBA’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section. He also is a member of The Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production and a member of the Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association Compliance & Legal Society.
Jeane A. Thomas is chair of the firm's E-Discovery & Information Management Group and a partner in Crowell & Moring's Antitrust Group.
In her role with the E-Discovery practice, Ms. Thomas has managed many types of E-Discovery matters in both government investigations and civil litigation. She regularly counsels clients on Information Governance, including the development and application of effective information management policies, legal hold practices, and E-Discovery response plans. Ms. Thomas is a participating member of The Sedona Conference Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production and Working Group 6 on International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure. She is also a member of the Advisory Board and Faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center Advanced Institute for E-Discovery. She regularly speaks and writes on U.S. and transnational E-Discovery issues, and is a certified Information Privacy Professional, with a focus on European regulation (CIPP/E).
Ms. Thomas is engaged in all types of antitrust representations, including mergers and joint ventures, class and other civil litigation, and civil and criminal government investigations. She also counsels clients on a broad range of antitrust issues, including intellectual property and licensing issues, trade association law, the Hart Scott Rodino Act, and pricing and distribution issues. She has focused extensively on the agricultural, telecommunications, technology, chemicals and healthcare/pharmaceuticals industries.
Currently, Ms. Thomas is involved in counseling clients on a broad range of merger control and joint venture issues. These representations include major transactions in the agricultural, biotechnology, telecommunications and chemicals, industries. She recently advised DuPont in the proposed acquisition of Pannar Seed by Pioneer in South Africa, which was ultimately approved by South Africa's Competition Appeal Court and the Supreme Court of South Africa.She played a principal role in Cingular Wireless' acquisition of AT&T Wireless, SBC's acquisition of AT&T, and AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth.
Throughout her career, Ms. Thomas has always maintained an active docket of pro bonorepresentations. In the past, she has litigated post-conviction death penalty cases in Texas and Virginia in state and federal courts, and she currently represents individuals in post-conviction proceedings in Mississippi and Florida.
Ms. Thomas has been recognized by clients and peers as a top lawyer in Chambers USA in Antitrust, and in Chambers USA and Chambers Global in E-Discovery.
Manfred Gabriel is an attorney in Holland & Knight's New York office who leads the firm's Legal Support Services organization. In this role, Mr. Gabriel oversees Holland & Knight's comprehensive and integrated eDiscovery and fact-finding unit, which assists clients in managing the risks and costs of eDiscovery by leveraging advanced technology and workflows. In addition, he provides clients with a wide range of services from enterprise-level eDiscovery management to delivery on large, complex eDiscovery projects. He has assisted clients in:
As an antitrust attorney, Mr. Gabriel has successfully assisted clients in responding to large, fast-paced regulatory requests. He has worked with Fortune 1000 companies in several industries, including high-tech, transportation, pharmaceuticals and financial services. Mr. Gabriel has testified as a 30(b)(6) witness on eDiscovery process and data spoliation issues.
In addition, Mr. Gabriel teaches eDiscovery at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Gabriel led the managed-review offering for a multinational professional services network. In addition, he led global engagements (including time in India to lead a team of 70) in eDiscovery, contract intelligence and litigation readiness. Mr. Gabriel also consulted on data privacy and cross-border discovery, including GDPR and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
Valerie A. Szczepanik is Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation and an Associate Director for the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Before that, she served as Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit. She is Head of the SEC’s Distributed Ledger Technology Working Group, Co-Head of its Dark Web Working Group, and a member of its FinTech Working Group. Ms. Szczepanik served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She clerked for federal judges on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and, prior to clerking, practiced patent law. Ms. Szczepanik received her JD from Georgetown University and her Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Christine Ryall is a Chief Trial Attorney with the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, D.C. Since joining the CFTC in March 2000, Ms. Ryall has conducted and supervised numerous investigations of violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission Regulations and represents the CFTC in enforcement actions in federal district courts throughout the U.S. Prior to joining the CFTC, Ms. Ryall served as a Senior Counsel with the Florida Real Estate Commission in Orlando, Florida, handling administrative evidentiary hearings and proceedings before state appellate courts. Ms. Ryall also served as an Assistant Public Defender with the Second Judicial Circuit of Florida in Tallahassee, Florida, as first-chair in numerous jury and bench trials, hearings, and appeals in a variety of criminal cases. Ms. Ryall holds a J.D. from the University of Florida and an M.B.A. from Clemson University.
Deborah Morris serves as Deputy Enforcement Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau where she oversees attorneys handling investigations, litigation, and exam support. Prior to joining the Bureau in June 2011, she served as Counsel to the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics, where she led high-profile congressional investigations and disciplinary proceedings. She previously served in the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, where she worked primarily on civil tax and bankruptcy cases, including complex tax shelter litigation and Chapter 11 reorganizations. She also served as a judicial law clerk following her graduation from Notre Dame Law School.
Ronald J. Hedges, J.D., is a Senior Counsel with Dentons US LLP. He served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the District of New Jersey from 1986 to 2017. Mr. Hedges is a frequent writer and speaker on various topics related to electronic information and is the principal author of Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges, Third Edition (Federal Judicial Center: 2017). His full biography is available at https://www.dentons.com/en/ronald-hedges.
Maura R. Grossman is a Research Professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, as well as an eDiscovery attorney and consultant in New York. Previously, Maura was of counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where for 17 years, she represented Fortune 100 companies and major financial services institutions in corporate and securities litigation, including civil actions and white collar criminal and regulatory investigations, and advised lawyers and clients on legal, technical, and strategic issues involving eDiscovery and information governance, both domestically and abroad.
Maura is a well-known and influential eDiscovery lawyer. She is described in Who’s Who Litigation 2015 E-Discovery Analysis as “‘sensational’ according to her peers and . . . a ‘go-to’ in the area.” Chambers & Partners USA 2015 Litigation: E-Discovery described her as “the best-known person in the area of technology-assisted review; a superstar among superstars.” Maura’s scholarly work on TAR, most notably, Technology-Assisted Review in E-Discovery Can Be More Effective and More Efficient Than Exhaustive Manual Review, published in the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology in 2011, has been widely cited in case law, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Her longstanding contributions to eDiscovery technology and process, including her multiple patents relating to TAR, were featured in the February 2016 issue of The American Lawyer.
Since 2010, Maura has served as co-chair of the eDiscovery Working Group advising the New York State Unified Court System. She has been a court-appointed special master, neutral/mediator, and eDiscovery expert to the court in multiple high-profile federal cases. Maura has provided eDiscovery training to federal and state court judges, by invitation of the court, and has testified, on several occasions, before the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules, at their invitation. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School and the Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches courses on eDiscovery. Previously, Maura taught at Rutgers Law School–Newark and Pace Law School.
Since 2012, Maura has been a member of the Steering Committee of The Sedona Conference® Working Group 1 on Best Practices for Electronic Document Retention and Production. Since 2008, she has been involved in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Text Retrieval Conference (“TREC”); in 2010 and 2011, as coordinator of the Legal Track, and since 2015, as coordinator of the Total Recall Track. Maura serves on the Advisory Boards of Bloomberg BNA’s Digital Discovery & e-Evidence Report, the Georgetown University Law Center’s Advanced eDiscovery Institute, the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law’s Cardozo Data Law Initiative, and the Annual Arizona State University (“ASU”)-Arkfeld eDiscovery and Digital Evidence Conference.
Maura graduated with an A.B., magna cum laude, from Brown University. She earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Clinical/School Psychology from the Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the Georgetown University Law Center. While at Georgetown, Maura served as Executive Notes and Comments Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.