Erik Adams is a Research Analyst at Sidley Austin LLP and Chief of Technology at Golden Arrow Publishing. He has more than 20 years' experience working law firms and high technology startups. He is a dot com boom survivor, having worked for several years at the kinds of companies that have a foosball table in the break room. He received his Master of Library and Information Science from UCLA way back when gopher was more popular than www.
Vishal Agnihotri is the Chief Knowledge Officer at Hinshaw and Culbertson LLP, where she oversees knowledge management, legal project management and research services in support of the practice. She has held operational, consulting and leadership roles for over two decades in enterprise Knowledge Management spanning business research, knowledge technology implementation, training and adoption, knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and social learning. Vishal has spent her career in professional service firms, leading Knowledge Management groups at two law firms (Hinshaw & Culbertson and Akerman) and two Big 4 accounting firms (EY and KPMG). Vishal holds an MBA from the University of Leicester (UK) and frequently speaks on Knowledge Management in the professional services.
Abdi Aidid is the VP of Legal Research at Blue J Legal and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law. Previously, Abdi was an attorney at Covington & Burling LLP in New York City, where he advised a variety of corporations and litigated complex commercial disputes. At Blue J Legal, Abdi oversees the development of machine learning-enabled research tools, including Tax Foresight and Employment Foresight.
There are five guiding values at Eversheds Sutherland, and Scott is building a service that resonates with them. Collaborative, Creative, Professional, Inclusive and Open. As a champion of success through authentic intelligence and building knowledge community, Scott is one of those people who works collaboratively with a variety of professionals within and beyond the legal industry. He believes in creatively fostering situations where aligning the right people, data and resources leads to multiplied value for everyone involved.
Andrew serves as a senior director in the Legal Transformation + Innovation practice within the Advisory business at HBR Consulting (HBR), specializing in digital services and analytics. He has over 10 years of experience delivering strategic, operational and technology advice and solutions to law firms and corporate law departments. Andrew specializes in working with clients to reimagine and modernize legal services to increase efficiency, improve predictability, enhance customer experience and reduce risk. His areas of expertise include: digital services, data analytics, knowledge management, service design, and process improvement as applied to legal practice.
Prior to joining HBR, Andrew led one of the first innovation programs at an Am Law 100 law firm. Andrew has designed, managed and delivered programs and projects that have been recognized by leading industry organizations and publications and is a frequent industry speaker on innovation, analytics, process redesign and improvement, and knowledge management.
Andrew holds bachelor’s degrees in Management Information Systems and Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a J.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law. Andrew is currently pursuing a master of science in analytics part time at the University of Chicago.
Outside of work, Andrew enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. Andrew is an avid collector of vintage comic books and pulp magazines, and he is an ardent (and frustrated) fan of the University of Illinois’ basketball and football teams.
Lee Bernstein is currently the Library Manager for Haynes and Boone, LLP in Dallas, TX. He has held similar positions at two other AmLaw 100 firms. Lee is a Past President of the Dallas Association of Law Librarians and previously served on the LexisNexis Librarian Advisory Board. Lee received his B.A. from Northeastern University and his M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons University.
As Littler's Director of Research Services, Cynthia Brown leads a team of research librarians, assistant librarians and interns to provide the firm’s lawyers and clients with the research resources they need to succeed.
Cynthia is part of the firm’s knowledge management leadership team and is involved daily in the Knowledge Management Department’s efforts to develop innovative systems, procedures and work flows. She reports directly to the firm’s Chief Knowledge Officer.
She manages and creates roadmaps for the collection of critical data, sifting of data for relevance and preparing that data to be pushed out to the right people at the right time. She also oversees all of the firm’s research-vendor relationships, utilizes analytics to determine which tools are needed to maintain the relationships and gathers important data for negotiations. In addition, Cynthia investigates new research and technology tools to ensure that the firm has cutting-edge resources.
Cynthia started Littler’s legislative tracking team in 2010. The team feeds Littler GPS, the firm’s client-based flagship service. Thousands of bills are reviewed daily via a custom built system to provide Littler’s attorneys and clients with insights about pending and enacted labor and employment legislations on federal, state and local levels.
Cynthia leads the team that created the Knowledge Desk, a resource that enables Littler’s attorneys to connect to subject matter experts and a vast collection of databases, print materials, practice group information, internal work product and proprietary data collections. The Knowledge Desk team efficiently searches to locate the exact nugget of knowledge that attorneys need.
Via the Knowledge Desk, attorneys are connected to law firm librarians who are perfectly suited to liaise between attorneys and a legal KM department. With adept archival, research, organization, analysis and synthesis skills, Cynthia’s team takes the guesswork out of determining who to contact, where information resides and determining which external or internal resource best addresses an attorney’s need. During its first year the Knowledge Desk proved to be extraordinarily successful taking in over 18,000 requests, with 26,000 requests expected in its second year.
Cynthia is a member of the Utah State Bar, the American Association of Law Librarians, the Mid-American Association of Law Libraries, the Kansas City Association of Law Libraries and Private Law Librarians and Information Professionals. Prior to joining Littler Cynthia served as head librarian at a full-service regional law firm and as General Counsel at a privately held company.
Publications and Speaking Engagements
Author, “Developing the Law-Firm Library Professional”
Mid-America Association of Law Libraries (MAALL) Markings, Vol 26, Issue 3, September 2017
Author, “What is Knowledge Management?”
MAALL Markings, Vol 26, Issue 2, March 2017
Panel Member, "Traditional Librarianship Transitioning into Other Management"
ARK Best Practices and Management Strategies Conference for Law-Firm Library, Research and Information Services, February 2017
Author, “A Law Librarian’s Journey from San Francisco to Kansas City, and What I Learned along the Way”
Thomson Reuters Legal-SolutionsBlog, April 2016
Author, “What is a Librarian?”
Thomson Reuters Legal-Solutions Blog, March 2016
Speaker, “Service-Delivery Transformation: Are Firms Having Success On-Shoring Back-Office Operations?”
ARK Best-Practices Conference for Law Libraries and Legal-Information Centers, February 2016
Speaker, "Littler’s Collaboration with Courtroom Insight”
PLLSummit Innovation Showcase, July 2015
Education
J.D., Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School, 1995
Colleen serves as a director in the Strategic Sourcing + Business Optimization practice within the Advisory business at HBR Consulting (HBR). She supports clients by bridging the gap between libraries and law firms and develops cutting edge solutions that satisfy both groups. Colleen has been working in the legal library space for over 20 years in a career that has spanned the small and Am Law 50 law firm market.
Prior to joining HBR, Colleen worked at Thomson Reuters as well as serving in two previous consulting roles. Most recently she was the Director of Research & Information Services at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP.
Outside of work, Colleen enjoys spending time with her husband, drinking fine wine and enjoying the great restaurant scene in Kansas City (including BBQ!).
Emily Cunningham Rushing Director of Competitive Intelligence
Haynes & Boone, LLP
As the Director of Competitive Intelligence (CI) for Haynes and Boone, LLP, Emily leads the intelligence, database, research, and technology teams in supporting client service, competitor and market analysis, lateral recruitment, and strategic growth. Emily and the intelligence team supports the creation, deployment, and administration of new technologies and innovation resources.
Emily has contributed to several publications, including the International Bar Association (IBA), American Bar Association (ABA), bar journals, blogs, and other legal industry periodicals. Recent speaking engagements include: AALL, Ark, SLA, ILTA, LMA, SCIP, and regional and international professional associations.
Emily holds a Juris Doctorate (JD) from the University of Houston Law Center and a Master of Information Sciences from the University of North Texas (UNT). She has served on several boards, including the 2019-2020 UNT College of Information Leadership Board. Emily was honoured by the NAACP Houston Branch with an Award for Legal Excellence for her work with the legal aid clinic.
Areas of Experience include: Research; Databases; Instruction; Competitive Intelligence (CI); AI; Business of Law; OSINT; Knowledge Management (KM); Technology; Strategy and Vision; Business Intelligence (BI); Market Intelligence (MI); Law Library; Legal Research; Business Development; CRM; Lexis InterAction; Salesforce; Einstein Analytics; Tableau; Westlaw; Lexis; Survey; Data Science; Statistical Analysis; Law Firms; Project Management (LPM); Process Improvement; Workflow Automation; Change Management
Anusia Gillespie is the Director of Innovation at Eversheds Sutherland, where she works to combine the right mix of talent, methodology, and technology to build new value for clients. Anusia was brought into Eversheds Sutherland in early 2018 to build and formalize the firm’s innovation function. Now a robust mechanism, the Innovation as a Service (IaaS) function serves as a client value research & development capability, using the best available tools and talent to design and implement creative approaches and solutions for clients. Recent projects span from a joint Innovation Preparedness program with Harvard Law School (no tech), and digital compliance products (tech-enabled), to building a proprietary AI-powered risk analysis tool (high tech). Anusia brings to her work the wealth of experience gained in both the practice and business of law, and in developing business of law programs for lawyers from around the world at Harvard Law School Executive Education. Anusia earned her Bachelor of Science in Management (BSM) from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business, Juris Doctor (JD) from Boston College Law School, and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management. She was awarded a seat on BC Law’s academic law journal, the Uniform Commercial Code Reporter Digest, and inducted into the Beta Gamma Honors Society, recognizing honors in her graduate business studies.
Joanne Kiley Research and Information Services Director
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Joanne works on assignment through HBR Consulting as the Director of Research and Information Services at Kilpatrick Townsend. Joanne leads a team of research and technical services librarians who support and anticipate the information needs of the firm’s internal and external clients. She collaborates across firm departments to develop new tools that provide curated information and drive efficiency. She has an extensive background in library acquisitions, electronic resource management, staff management, vendor negotiations and cross-departmental collaboration.
Previously, Joanne was a library manager at Locke Lord and Michael Best & Friedrich. She also worked as a content curator at the International Legal Technology Association.
Joanne graduated from the University of Iowa with bachelor's degrees in English, secondary education and theatre arts. She received her master's degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois.
Joanne enjoys spending her free time exploring Chicago with her family. She also enjoys running, dancing, volunteering and seeing live music.
Elyssa Kroski
Director of Information Technology/Director of Marketing
Elyssa Kroski Director of Information Technology/Director of Marketing
The New York Law Institute
Ellyssa Kroski is the Director of Information Technology and Marketing at the New York Law Institute as well as an award-winning editor and author of 60 books including Law Librarianship in the Digital Age for which she won the AALL's 2014 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award. She is a librarian, an adjunct faculty member at Drexel and San Jose State University, and an international conference speaker. She has won the 2017 Library Hi Tech Award from the ALA/LITA for her long-term contributions in the area of Library and Information Science technology and its application.
Steven A. Lastres Director of Knowledge Management Services
Debevoise & Plimpton
Steve Lastres is Director of Knowledge Management Services for Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (www.debevoise.com). He manages the firm's information and knowledge management initiatives with the assistance of a dedicated team of research, knowledge management ("KM"), and technical services analysts. Steve works with a KM Task Force in charge of the firm’s KM effort to develop and implement an effective KM strategy for the firm. He joined the firm in May 2005. Steve received a J.D. degree from New York Law School in 2003 where he received the Daniel Finkelstein Writing Award. He is a member of the Bars of New Jersey and New York. He received a Masters in Library Science with a Distinguished Achievement Award in Information and Library Science from Pratt Institute in 1996, and a undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Pace University. Prior to joining the firm, he was previously employed by the law firms of Arnold & Porter LLP and Fulbright & Jaworski LLP as a Librarian and Information and Knowledge Management professional.
Steve is active professionally having served as President of the Law Library Association of Greater NY (LLAGNY) and ARMA Metropolitan NY Chapter. He is Past Chair of the Private Law Libraries Special Interest Section (PLL SIS), member of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Leadership and Nominations Committee and the ILTA Education Planning Committee, and Former Manager of the ARMA Northeast Region. Steve is also a prolific writer and speaker on the topics of KM and law librarianship. He was recognized as a FastCase 50 award winner which recognizes the top 50 innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders. He was also awarded the ILTA 2013Publication Award Winner for Best Member-Contributed White Paper entitled“Knowledge Management: A Strategic Role Change for Legal Information Professionals (http://epubs.iltanet.org/i/87421/32) and the ILTA 2014 Knowledge Management Professional of the Year Award. Most recently, he was awarded the AALL Distinguished Librarian Award in July, 2018.
Ann Lee is a Senior Knowledge Management Analyst at Debevoise & Plimpton. She has spent the larger part of the past decade implementing and managing a number of KM efforts, including current awareness curation and delivery, platform pilot testing and execution, and support around business development tools. She works closely with the KM team to regularly identify more efficient technologies and solutions for the firm. She sees this as an especially exciting time to be in the field, as more sophisticated products are coming into the market to not only improve what librarians can offer their users, but to also diversify the range of skills librarians can gain in an evolving profession.
Saskia Mehlhorn is the US Director of Knowledge Services at Norton Rose Fulbright, US LLP. Based in Houston, she is a trained lawyer who is responsible for the US knowledge sharing framework, overseeing the implementation of a national knowledge management strategy and action plan, and identifying opportunities to use knowledge products to add value to Norton Rose Fulbright clients. Saskia has extensive experience in designing and delivering legal training courses on a variety of topics, particularly energy law and international arbitration.
Prior to joining Norton Rose Fulbright, Saskia worked for the University of Houston O’Quinn Law Library as the foreign and international law librarian supporting the international research areas, specifically NAFTA and international arbitration. She has presented on a national and local level on topics like artificial intelligence, knowledge management, and international arbitration.
Saskia received her law degree from the University of Hamburg, Germany, and practiced law in Hannover, Germany, before accepting a position in the QHSE department of a major oilfield service company. Saskia also holds a LL.M. from the University of Houston and an MLIS from the University of North Texas.
Huu Nguyen is a deal lawyer with a strong technical background. He focuses his practice on commercial and corporate transactions in the technology and venture space, and counsels and assists clients with fintech and payment systems transactions, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicle (AV) matters, licensing, outsourcing, complex commercial arrangements, strategic relationships, financial regulatory matters, privacy and security matters, cyber law and intellectual property (IP) rights matters. He also helps his clients with accelerator and foundry formations and associated fund formations, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, corporate formation and other related matters.
Jean O'Grady Senior Director of Research & Knowledge
DLA Piper
Jean P. O'Grady is currently Sr. Director of Research & Knowledge at DLA Piper US, LLP. She has over 30 years of experience developing strategic information initiatives for Amlaw 100 law firms. She holds a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, an M.L.S. from St. John's University and a B.A. in History from Fordham University She is a member of the NY State Bar. She has previously held Director positions at WilmerHale in DC and Shea & Gould in NY. She began her career as a reference librarian at the Pace University School of Law. She has been an adjunct faculty member at the graduate schools of Library and Information Science at St. John's University and Long Island University where she taught legal research courses.
Professional Activities: Chair of the Private Law Libraries Section of the American Association of Law Libraries (2013-2014) and a past President of the Law Library Association of Greater New York (1991-1992); Board Member of the American Association of Law Libraries ( 2017- 2019). Board Member, New York Law Institute (2015-2018.)
She is a frequent author and speaker on the transformation of libraries and information centers, digital contract licensing , knowledge management, legal analytics and the legal publishing industry. She has spoken at programs sponsored by the Information Industry Association, the Association of Newsletter Publishers, Practicing Law Institute, International Legal Technology Association , West Publishing, Price Waterhouse, LegalTech, Lexis-Nexis. Janders Dean Knowledge Management Conference, American Association of Law Schools, as well as the American Association of Law Libraries, Canadian Association of Law Libraries, Australian Law Libraries Association and the Special Libraries Association.
In 2011 she launched "Dewey B Strategic" to promote awareness of the strategic importance of librarians, libraries and knowledge managers as change agents and innovators in the organizations they support. She has written provocative pieces on a variety of law firm management, publishing and technology issues which have sparked important debates in the industry.
Honor's Include: 2011 named to the FastCase 50 top legal innovators. Dewey B Strategic named to the ABA Magazine Blawg 100 in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. 2016. Inducted in the Blawg 100 Hall of Fame 2016 2013 Elected to the Board of Directors of the New York Law Institute 2104 Inducted as a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management. Fellows of the College are distinguished law practice management professionals who represent law firms, educational institutions, professional associations and other organizations that contribute to excellence in law practice management. Co-Chair of the ABA, Law Practice Management, Knowledge Strategy Committee 2015-16 2016: Named an ABA Magazine "Legal Rebel" 2016: AALL Presidential Certificate of Appreciation 2017-2020: Elected Board Member American Association of Law Libraries
Stacy develops and manages user centered business solutions to improve access to knowledge for practice groups and clients. She oversees and supports the firm’s practice and client-facing innovation initiatives using creative thinking, process improvement methodologies and legal technology applications. She partners with firm attorneys to further innovation initiatives, particularly those involving advanced technologies, such as document assembly, expert systems, workflow solutions, and machine learning contract analysis. She holds degrees from Northern Arizona University (B.A.), Arizona State University (J.D.), and University of Arizona (MLIS).
Tawnya Plumb
Head of Electronic & Digital Services
George W. Hopper Law Library, University of Wyoming College of Law
Tawnya Plumb Head of Electronic & Digital Services
George W. Hopper Law Library, University of Wyoming College of Law
Tawnya Plumb is the Head of Collections at the George William Hopper Law Library at the University of Wyoming College of Law. Prior to joining the college 15 years ago, she worked as a law librarian at Hughes & Luce, LLP and at the Texas State Law Library. Tawnya is an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries, a past Chair of its Computing Services Special Interest Section, a former Secretary of its regional chapter WestPac, and a member of the Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction Community Authoring Project. She earned her B.A. degree from the University of Wyoming and her MLIS degree from The University of Texas at Austin.
Michael Sander is the Founder and Managing Director of Docket Alarm, a legal research and analytics company based in New York City. Docket Alarm’s mission is to bring order to unstructured legal information to support legal decision making. Docket Alarm currently collects data on over 350M court cases and filings, providing analytics in Federal court, state court, and agencies. Docket Alarm has grown to include AMLaw100 firms, universities, and fortune 500 companies as customers, and is aggressively expanding. It has won ALM’s Legal Innovation awards in 2015 and 2019 and was nominated in 2020. In 2018, Docket Alarm was acquired by Fastcase, a leading legal research provider.
Prior to founding Docket Alarm, Michael was a litigator at a large firm specializing in intellectual property. His practice focused on high-tech patent, trademark, and copyright disputes. Michael, a native New Yorker, worked as a software systems engineer before moving to law.
Michael has a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University, a Master of Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara and a J.D. from Cardozo Law School. He currently resides in New York City.
Julie Savarino
Chief Client Experience, Value & Development Officer
Julie Savarino Chief Client Experience, Value & Development Officer
Business Development Inc.
Julie Savarino is a leading expert in business and client development, and client experience, value, and service. During her thirty-year career, she has helped many law firms, lawyers, and other professional services firms and providers develop significant new business and measurably enhance client satisfaction and value. Julie is a top-100 thought leader on LinkedIn, holds a JD and MBA, and devotes pro bono time to support diversity, inclusion, veteran-related, charitable, and community causes. She currently serves as Chief Client Experience & Value Officer at Business Development Inc., https://busdevinc.com/
Ed Walters is the CEO and co-founder of Fastcase. Under Ed’s leadership, Fastcase has grown to one of the world’s largest legal publishers, currently serving more than 900,000 subscribers from around the world. Before founding Fastcase, Ed worked at Covington & Burling, in Washington D.C. and Brussels. He worked in the White House from 1991-1993, first in the Office of Media Affairs and then in the Office of Presidential Speechwriting.
Ed is a member of the Virginia State Bar, and the District of Columbia Bar, and he has been admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Fifth Circuit. He serves on the boards of Pro Bono Net, Friends of Telecom Without Borders, and Public.Resource.org. He is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches The Law of Robots, a class about the frontiers of law and technology.
