It is a known fact that there is a huge talent shortage in eDiscovery, especially in the Australia and New Zealand markets. In 2018, the Royal Commission into the Financial services industry created huge demand for legal technology specialists. Many of the specialists rose to the challenge to deliver the highly demanding time sensitive deliverables. This resulted in law firms growing their in house capability and expanding their legal technology teams. But did these experiences give the teams the breadth and depth of expertise they are looking for? How is this qualified?

What do experts and newcomers to our industry in the region need to progress their career? Is it experience, qualifications, other? What challenges do we have specifically in this region?

We invite you to join us for this special event, where our panellists share their experience and perspective on how eDiscovery has evolved in the ANZ region, what eDiscovery firms and eDiscovery professionals are looking for and also a look at the current state of talent and technology in the Australia & New Zealand eDiscovery industry.

We’d also love to hear from you, the audience, about what you’d like to see in terms of education, experience and opportunities as our new Australia and New Zealand Chapter of the Association of Certified eDiscovery Specialists look to grow our local community and provide resources, education and worthwhile experiences for its members. Our Q&A will be open and we invite you to pose questions to our panel as we go along.

Panellists

• Emma Young, Head of eDiscovery Training at Sky Discovery (Moderator)
• Stan Gallo, Partner – Forensic Services at BDO in Australia
• Gina O’Neill, Senior Manager eDiscovery and Legal Technology at Herbert Smith Freehills
• Sherri Hodson, Partner – Victoria and National Projects – Alternative Legal Technology at Empire Group
• Margaret Duggan, Strategic Consultant – Training Specialist

Margaret Duggan

As an instructional designer and software trainer Margaret has a passion for developing user confidence through blended learning opportunities. A recognised expert, she has presented at Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase and was a guest panel speaker at the Information Development World (IDW) Conference. While working as Relativity’s Manager of Educational Content, her team was instrumental in rolling out the online learning and certification programs along with developing hands-on labs to showcase their products at legal events. Since returning to NZ, she assisted the eDiscovery community consulting with Sky Discovery and EDT to help design, develop and implement materials to assist their clients.

Stan Gallo

Stan Gallo is a Partner, Forensic Lead of the BDO East Coast Practices and National Lead of BDO Australia’s Forensic Technology practice.

Stan Gallo is an experienced former Detective and recognised court expert in the application of forensic technology and data analysis techniques. As a Partner and National Lead of BDO Australia’s Forensic Technology practice, he regularly taps into a global talent pool to stay at the forefront of the technology evolution and its application in the corporate litigation and regulatory environments. He has been involved in some notable public matters including the role of independent expert and data management appointments for Micro Focus (US) Inc. v State of New South Wales (New South Wales Police Force) and the Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Floods. Stan also oversaw the development and application of a customised Discovery and TAR methodology to process, filter, identify and count ‘red tape requirements’ across 50,000 pages of Acts, Regulations and Codes across a range of Government Departments.

A highly regarded risk management specialist, Stan combines his unique insights, traditional investigative skills and forensic technology expertise to bring a different perspective providing advice and insights to clients looking to minimise risk and align Governance, Risk and Compliance programs with strategic objectives.

Gina O’Neill

Gina is a Relativity Certified Master and a Senior Manager in eDiscovery and Legal Technology. She has over 25 years experience in managing eDiscovery specialist teams, workflows and technology across jurisdictions and global regions.

Her focus for the future is to forge a culture that embraces the advancements in eDiscovery practices and to ensure training and development are at the forefront.

Sherri Hodson

Sherri is well networked across APAC in the Legal Technology space having consulted and recruited in the industry for 20 years +. Recruiting across the Legal Technology, eDiscovery, Digital Forensics, Legal Review and Innovation space, Sherri has worked with some of the most reputable and well-regarded teams in the industry assisting in the building of their teams by providing strong talent from Analyst to Senior Director level.

Currently leading the Empire Melbourne team, Sherri also works nationally focusing on business development and large-scale projects including but not limited to document review, eDiscovery, compliance, class actions as well as graduate recruitment.

With close to 20 years’ invaluable experience in the provision of legal and legal technology staff (support and professional), Sherri is well known within the industry for providing the highest calibre of candidates, professionalism and service delivery standards. Her knowledge of legal recruitment is second to none and her networks national.

Emma Young

Emma is an eDiscovery Subject Matter Expert, who believes that providing outstanding customer service, communicating clearly and being efficient is the key to simplifying eDiscovery; resulting in happy, repeat clients. She was an early pioneer of the CEDS (Certified eDiscovery Specialist) Certification, having received her qualification from ACEDS in 2015.

Emma combines her technical expertise as a Relativity Expert, with over 15 years’ hands on experience in eDiscovery matter management and organisational leadership at law firms and eDiscovery firms in Australia and the UK.

She was the winner of the global innovation award “Litigation Support All-Star” in 2018 and the winner of the UK “Technology Superstar” award in 2020.