Consilio In Action: Mark Walker, Jennifer Schaefer, Bradley Crandall, Paul Featherly

Consilio In Action: Partnering with AmLaw 100 Law Firm to Take on High-Profile Defamation Cases

Consilio’s client is an AmLaw 100 litigation firm that represents parties in high-stakes commercial litigation. With a track record of securing billions in verdicts and settlements for Fortune 50 clients, it is the go-to firm when the stakes are high and losing is not an option.

When the law firm took on a client to file high profile defamation lawsuits against media outlets, they knew they needed an eDiscovery partner who could keep pace with the rapid developments in these cases. Having relied on Consilio for eDiscovery services for almost ten years, this firm once again turned to the Consilio team to take on the monumental task of collecting, processing, reviewing, and producing millions of documents on tight deadlines set by the judge, who fast-tracked the cases.

The law firm litigation team knew of Consilio's ability to provide specialized service as one of the world's largest eDiscovery providers. As Consilio’s project management leader, Jennifer Schaefer, explained, "With this client, they entrust most of their matters with Consilio. It is important that they know that they’re working with one of the world’s most sophisticated eDiscovery providers, but still getting high-touch, white-glove service."

Having access to Consilio's vast resources and expertise was invaluable. Yet the firm still expected and received customized, dedicated support as if Consilio was a boutique vendor. No request was too big or small for the Consilio team. Whether navigating massive datasets or tracking down a single custodian's files, they provided meticulous services tailored to the firm’s specific needs.

According to Consilio’s senior solutions architect, Mark Walker, this specialized approach is integral to Consilio's partnership with the firm: "The team at Consilio has a wide range of expertise, which allowed us to adapt swiftly to the changing demands of the case. Each of our project managers has different strengths and different backgrounds...this really helps because we can be just as nimble as the firm."

The combination of Consilio's scale and boutique-style service allowed the litigation team to have it both ways -- leveraging the capabilities of one of the industry’s largest eDiscovery providers while getting the personalized attention of a small, focused team. This dual benefit enabled optimal efficiency and agility in taking on high-stakes litigation against well-resourced opponents.

For Consilio’s project manager, Bradley Crandall, meeting the client’s expectations every step of the way as well as practicing nimbleness during the collections process was extremely important to him. Bradley states, “The international collections process added to the complexity and challenges of this project because we had to deal with the constantly evolving speed at which we had to operate. I believe our client appreciated our professionalism and collaborative relationship. We achieved the best results by working together.”

The case presented immense eDiscovery challenges. A thousand custodians were initially identified, with emails alone totaling more than 50 million documents and multiple terabytes of data. Working closely with the litigation team, the Consilio team helped narrow the scope to a set of key custodians and honed in on relevant date ranges and search terms. Still, the volume of data was massive. Making matters more difficult was the incredibly fast pace of the litigation. Deadlines were constantly being moved up, requiring the Consilio team to work evenings and weekends to meet compressed timelines. As an attorney from the firm noted, “I cannot thank you enough” for Consilio’s “tireless support.”

Throughout the two years working on these cases, the Consilio team, led by Jennifer, Paul Featherly, Bradley and Maggie Vacek, operated as an integrated extension of the litigation team. This level of integration enabled seamless collaboration and responsiveness to the rapidly shifting demands of the cases. According to another attorney at the firm, they worked Consilio “to the bone” but the team always had an “incredible” level of commitment and positive spirit.

A critical component of Consilio’s service delivery was the extensive expertise across multiple domains. The core service team of Paul, Jennifer, Bradley, and Maggie brought expertise across the spectrum of eDiscovery capabilities: collecting data, processing and culling data, conducting searches, managing databases, producing documents, and managing document review. Beyond the core team, Consilio provided backup support from technical experts in forensics, engineering, and analytics. Their technical teams extracted data from devices, ensured optimal hosting performance, and ran analytics to prioritize document collections.

Having this range of expertise in-house allowed Consilio to adapt swiftly to the changing demands of the case. Whether implementing new searches, transferring data across review platforms, or managing terabytes of data, Consilio had the knowledge base to move quickly. According to Mark Walker, “Having a consistent team throughout the project makes the cases run much smoother because the client does not have to train the vendor.”

The depth of Consilio’s expertise also enabled them to operate at the pace required for fast-moving litigation. The client understood how to implement processes in parallel to accelerate timelines. Their familiarity with the firm’s approach meant they could ramp up rapidly. By leveraging Consilio’s institutional knowledge and expertise across eDiscovery domains, the firm could move nimbly without needing to train new team members at each phase. As Mark noted, Consilio’s capabilities “gave the client the ability to move at light speed. Which is what they had to do for these cases.”

Bradley includes, “I can’t say enough about the Consilio forensics department and its members who had to constantly face collections challenges and meet deadlines. Their reassurance in data privacy and collections protocol and ensuring that the data was as secure as possible every step of the way brought peace of mind to everyone involved. It was paramount, and in many ways, it was a lynchpin to our success.”

In the end, the firm achieved a historic result for its client. When the news broke, the law firm attorneys emailed the Consilio team from the courthouse steps thanking them for their “endless nights” and “tireless support” without which the victory would not have been possible.

The extraordinary result reflects the power of partnership. By seamlessly integrating into the firm’s litigation team and harnessing the full capabilities of Consilio's platform and experts, the two organizations formed a formidable unity. Consilio is proud to stand alongside its law firm client in taking on some of the most consequential cases of our times.

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