2024 Schedule
March 5-6, 2024
March 5, 2024
8 – 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast and Registration
8:30 – 8:45 a.m.
Opening Remarks with Michael Arkfeld
Using AI in Your Legal Practice and Abusive AI Cases
Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) fundamentally transform the legal profession? Has AI changed writing and research tasks such as drafting motions and other basic legal documents, analysis of documents and witness’s testimony. Will the technology replace lawyers? Will AI increase participation in our legal system to those that are currently priced out? What are the downside’s to this transformative technology? Will frivolous lawsuits become the norm? What happens when AI causes abusive results in our society? What will happen to the attorney’s critical role of human judgment, empathy, and strategic insight in this brave new world?
8:45 – 9:30 a.m.
Keynote with Attorney General Kris Mayes
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Hold Everything (or at least what you should be!) – ESI Preservation 20 Years After Zubulake: New Rules, New Data, New Challenges
Moderated by Mark Sidoti
Speakers: Elizabeth Carrera, Andrea D’Ambra, Kate Baxter-Kauf and Brian Morrison
Now some 20 years since the seminal Zubulake decisions, most practitioners and companies are aware of the obligation to preserve electronically stored information when litigation arises. Despite this general awareness – and Federal rule changes that were designed to better define the parameters of this obligation and the penalties for failing to abide it – pitfalls in the preservation process abound. This panel will illustrate some of these pitfalls through real world situations derived from recent court decisions and their own extensive experience in this area, and will discuss how to address and, ultimately, avoid these challenging situations. The panel will offer guidance on issues to discuss with clients about preservation, including the appropriate selection of legal hold processes, how amended FRCPs 26 and 37 have impacted the preservation process and challenges presented by preservation of newer data sources like mobile devices, instant messaging/chats and collaboration platforms.
10:30 – 11 a.m.
Networking break
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
eDiscovery’s Changing Face: Adapting to New Collection Challenges
Moderated by Tom Morrissey
Speakers: Jon Rowe, Rebekah Bailey and Tessa Jacob
We will explore the recent eDiscovery collection evolution as well as address the unique challenges posed by the proliferation of data across cloud platforms, mobile devices, and various messaging apps. Participants will gain insights into developing effective strategies for navigating these complexities, ensuring compliance, and maintaining the integrity of the collection process in a constantly evolving digital environment.
12 – 1 p.m.
Lunch
1 – 2 p.m.
Is it Time to Refresh your ESI Toolkit?
Moderated by Alex Goth
Speakers: Rebekah Bailey, Terry Reeves and Maria Salacuse
Many companies, law firms, and service providers have created “toolkits,” which include template ESI Protocols and Protective Orders. But how many clients and lawyers understand what these documents mean and are prepared to follow them in litigation, and after? Do these tool kits adequately address current technology and privacy concerns? This panel will look at current best practices and practical implications of ESI Protocols and Protective Orders and will discuss tips for negotiating and implementing those documents in real matters.
2 – 3 p.m.
AI / GenAI 360 — Addressing Lawyers’, Clients’ and Judges’ Concerns in this Brave New World
Moderated by Robert Brownstone
Speakers: Whitney Stefko Dover, John Pavolotsky and Hon. Xavier Rodriguez
The ever-growing set of AI and Generative AI (GenAI) models and tools can be overwhelming. Lawyers in particular – both in-house and outside counsel – have multiple obligations in this context, including to their clients, colleagues and the courts. This dynamic session will address a number of key AI rewards and risks from the various perspectives of client, lawyer and judge. The covered topics are anticipated to include (Gen)AI’s ramifications for: intellectual property protections; cybersecurity/data-privacy; employment/labor issues; and legal-ethics.
3 – 3:30 p.m.
Networking break
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Privilege Determinations and Logs: The Elusive Search for an “Easy Button”
Moderated by Jeannine Kenney
Speakers: Brian Morrison, Maria Salacuse and Joy Woller
Disagreements over the form and content of privilege logs, the burdens of privilege review and logging, and problems with over-withholding of unprotected documents remain among today’s most controversial discovery policy issues. Our panelists will discuss challenges modern day communications methods may pose in identifying and assessing privilege, how certain practices can lead to over-withholding and how to avoid them, and whether emerging technologies offer opportunities to streamline and improve the accuracy of privilege review and logging while reducing its burdens without compromising the quality of the review and logs. Finally, the panel will discuss the implications of the use of new technologies for counsels’ professional and rules-based obligations.
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Under Pressure: Adapt Your Ethics Mindset to the Adapting Workplace … or Bite the (Sanctions) Dust
Moderated by Niloy Ray
Speakers: Hon. Noelle Collins, Jeannine Kenney and Tessa Jacob
Five years ago, for most of us zoom meant a camera function, teams came with jerseys, and A.I. was science fiction. Since then, society has levelled up with respect to workplace technology. As the legal community hastens into this age of remote work, asynchronous collaboration, and computer-generated work product, lawyers cannot assume that their ethical obligations remain unchanged. Rather, the emerging workplace paradigm creates new ethical questions that require shifts in time-worn lawyering practices across the board, affecting everything from basic attorney competence and client confidentiality to fairness and supervision in e-discovery (and beyond). Against the backdrop of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, this session will lay out, in rapid-fire fashion, the primary tech-driven ethical concerns and considerations that we must all get comfortable with right now.
5:45 – 7 p.m.
Reception hosted by Lewis Roca
Location: Lewis Roca office
201 E Washington St #1200, Phoenix, AZ 85004
March 6, 2024
8 – 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast
8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
All Rise!
Moderated by Robert Singleton
Speakers: Hon. Xavier Rodriguez, Hon. Allison Goddard, Hon. Noelle Collins and Hon. Kent E. Cattani
Ok, you may be seated…listen as judges from across the country discuss the latest decisions and case law impacting your practice and trends they are seeing from the bench.
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Privacy Laws in the Age of eDiscovery
Moderated by Andrea D’Ambra
Speakers: John Pavolotsky, Robert Brownstone and Kate Baxter-Kauf
This panel features law, technology, and data privacy experts who will explore the delicate balance between privacy rights and electronic discovery demands. Experts will discuss a wide range of topics, including an overview of global privacy laws (like GDPR and PIPL), eDiscovery challenges posed by these laws, technological solutions for compliant data handling, practical solutions for navigating these challenges in the midst of litigation, and future trends in the field. Attendees will gain insights into compliance strategies and predictions for the evolving impact of data protection laws on US litigation.
10:30 – 11 a.m.
Networking break
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Rolling in the Deep: How Special Masters and Tech Experts Help Navigate Discovery Tides
Moderated by Niloy Ray
Speakers: Hon. Allison Goddard, Mark Sidoti and Hon. Michael Yarnell (Ret.)
It’s been twenty years since the Federal Rules first endorsed the growing practice of using Special Masters outside of trial, by expanding Rule 53 to promote their appointment in discovery and other pre-trial contexts with party consent alone. Today, as we wade through seas of complex technology and bottomless data, the ground growing ever more unstable underfoot, reliance on Masters and other experts may be critical to buoy our litigation strategies and reliably guide us to shore. Join our panelists as they explain the Special Master process, discuss effective strategies for employing tech-savvy discovery experts at key stages of a litigation, and contemplate the future of technologically complex e-discovery.
12 – 1 p.m.
This is eDiscovery (Jeopardy)!
Moderated by Robert Singleton
Speakers: Lea Bays
An annual tradition, join us in a Jeopardy-style test of your knowledge of all things eDiscovery – including tidbits directly from the Conference.
