Jill has a broad background in e-discovery and has focused exclusively on e-discovery since 2005. She co-directs the firm’s discovery counsel services group and manages a team of discovery attorneys at the firm’s Charlotte e-discovery site.
Jill consults with clients on preservation, collection and production issues; serves as National Discovery Counsel for a number of large institutions, including large financial institutions; serves as record Discovery Counsel in large litigation matters where other firms serve as merits counsel; and consults clients on e-discovery protocols and playbooks. Prior to her e-discovery work, she handled business and financial institution litigation matters for eight years.
Her clients depend on her extensive knowledge of various electronic review platforms and tools; defensible and efficient procedures to preserve, identify and collect electronic and hard copy information; best practices in handling e-discovery and the design of electronic filters and searches, as well as her ability to manage personnel and resources to ensure cost-effectiveness. She is also an experienced courtroom lawyer familiar with the emerging case law and the e-discovery requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and she frequently handles e-discovery-related motions practice in federal and state courts.
Jill’s engagements typically involve assessing the volume of data related to the matter; identifying the best process for preservation, collection and document review; serving as the client’s discovery counsel in large matters; negotiating e-discovery issues with the opposing party; establishing review protocols and a quality control processes for the document review; preparing a budget or flat fee for the document reviews; creating a robust and defensible privilege log; and handling all other aspects of the discovery process. McGuireWoods often teams with co-counsel and the client to determine how best to handle the discovery aspects of a matter, leveraging the specific experience of Jill and her colleagues on the firm’s Discovery Counsel Services team to manage e-discovery challenges while also developing facts and legal theories needed to defend each case.
As National Discovery Counsel for a number of clients, she has helped clients institute defensible discovery guidelines and practices and has trained the client on the processes and best practices and assisted in the implementation of the processes.
Experience
- Serves as National Discovery Counsel for Fortune 50 financial institution and a Fortune Global 500 financial institution.
- Represented Fortune 20 financial institution in multi-district class action litigation and managed all aspects of discovery in the case; appointed by the defense group, which included numerous financial institutions, to represent defense group in ESI negotiations with plaintiff’s committee.
- Represented Fortune 20 financial institution in numerous patent litigation and other financial services litigation as record Discovery Counsel, handling all discovery in a cost-effective defensible manner.
- Drafted and implemented discovery guidelines and best practices for non-financial institution clients, including large health care organization.
- University of Virginia School of LawJD1997
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel HillBA
Phi Beta Kappa
1993
Member, North Carolina Bar Association
Member, North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys
- Drafting Team Member of Sedona Working Group 1, The Sedona Conference Primer on Crafting eDiscovery Requests with “Reasonable Particularity”, November 2021
- Co-presenter, "Ediscovery Behind the Scenes: An E-discovery Primer: The Technical and Practical," 2017 North Carolina Superior Court Judges Summer Conference, June 2017
- Speaker, The Evolution of eDiscovery and Upcoming Changes to the Federal Rules, McGuireWoods Webinar, October 2015
- Panelist, "E-discovery," Mecklenburg County Bar, February 2015
- Panelist, "E-discovery Challenges in Government Investigations and Regulatory Inquiries," Legaltech, New York, February 2015
- Speaker, "E-discovery: Review Through Production: The Basics," E-discovery: Review Through Production, November 2014
- Panelist, "E-discovery," Association of Corporate Counsel Risk Management and Legal Symposium, October 2014
- Panelist, "E-discovery Trends and Developments," Compliance& Legal Society Charlotte Regional Seminar, September 2014
- Speaker, "Information Governance," Operations & Technology Conference, Virginia Bankers Association, May 2014
- Speaker, UNC Charlotte: eDiscovery Meet and Confer, January 18, 2012
- Panelist, "E-Discovery Judges in Charlotte," CLE with Judges Facciola, Grimm, Peck, Keesler and Hodges, January 2012
- Presenter, "Advanced E-Discovery," NCBF’s 2011 NC Practical Skills Course, October 2011
- Presenter, "Reducing Litigation Budgets through Effective Intelligent E-discovery Practices," Baltimore Chapter, Women in E-Discovery, September 2011
- Presenter, "Emerging Trends in E-discovery and Leveraging Cutting Edge Technology to Reduce Costs," North Carolina Bar Association Corporate Counsel Fundamentals, September 2011
- Co-presenter, "Keys to Developing a Reasonable Defensible E-discovery Plan: How Plaintiffs and Defendants can Both Get What they Want," NCAWA Annual Conference, September 2011
- Co-presenter, "Reducing Litigation Budgets Through Effective Document Management and Intelligent Ediscovery Practices," Research Triangle Chapter, Association of Corporate Counsel, May 2011
- Speaker, "The Looming Dangers of eDiscovery," 2nd Annual eDiscovery Canada, March 30, 2011
- Presenter, "The Looming Dangers of E-discovery," 2nd Annual eDiscovery Canada Summit, March 2011
- Presenter, "Emerging Trends in E-Discovery," Charlotte Chapter, Women in E-Discovery, May 2010
- Panelist, "Achieving a Litigation Strategy of Proportionality," New Media and E-discovery Conference, May 2010
- Co-presenter, "Litigation Budgets: Slip Sliding Away," Charlotte Chapter, Association of Corporate Counsel on “E-discovery Pitfalls that can Lead to Higher Costs”, May 2010
- Presenter, "The Top 5 E-Discovery Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them," Western District of North Carolina Chapter, Federal Bar Association, April 2010
- Speaker, Life Sciences Firms E-Discovery Playbook, February 23, 2010
- Presenter, "Life Sciences E-Discovery Playbook: How to Reduce Legal Budgets and Manage Discovery the Right Way," Webinar to Life Sciences Industry Companies, February 2010
- Presenter, "A Step-By-Step Guide to Handling E-Discovery," North Carolina Bar Association Practical Skills Course, September 2008
- Presenter, "A Step-By-Step Guide to Reducing Your E-Discovery Costs," Webinar to In-house Counsel, March 2008
- North Carolina
Named a Client Service “All-Star,” 2022, BTI Consulting
Recognized in “Readers Choice Awards”, Top Author, E-Discovery, JD Supra, 2016
Recognized in “Readers Choice Awards”, Top Read Article, E-Discovery, Defense and Space Industry, “E-discovery Update: To Globally Dedupe or Not…That is the Question,” JD Supra, 2016
- Co-author, "Agreement Among Litigants Key To Using E-Discovery Tech," Law360, July 11, 2022
- Author, Agreement Remains Key to Using eDiscovery Technology to Control Costs, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, April 14, 2022
- Author, California Dreaming? New Discovery Rule May Be a Nightmare for Litigants, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, September 18, 2019
- Author, Data Preservation: Don’t Treat Discovery Like It’s 1999, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, April 22, 2019
- Author, Using Search Terms and TAR: Validation Is the Key to Success, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, September 26, 2018
- Author, Discovery: Reasonableness Reigns, Not Perfection, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, March 9, 2018
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Look Before You Post: Beware the Dangers of File-Sharing Sites, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, March 5, 2018
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Seriously Folks, the Federal Rules Have Changed, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, April 17, 2017
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Get Your Metadata Straight, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, February 6, 2017
- Author, E-Discovery Update: To TAR or Not to TAR, That Is the Question, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, January 4, 2017
- Author, E-Discovery Update: No More Fishing Allowed!, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, September 6, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Does Authority Always Win?, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, August 2, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Producing Search-Term Hit Reports: Another Form of Discovery on Discovery, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, July 8, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Working 9 to 5 and Proving It, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, June 6, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Proportionality for Lawyers, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, May 11, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Changes to Rule 37’s Failure-to-Preserve-ESI Sanctions Impact Recent Rulings, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, March 1, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Jury Still Out on Whether New Federal Rules Will Significantly Impact Discovery, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, February 1, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Discovery on Discovery Frowned Upon, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, January 4, 2016
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Amendments Go into Effect, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, December 1, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Nonparty Subpoenas: Shifting Costs Back to the Requesting Party, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, November 3, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Email Threading Cuts Costs, Reduces Production of Irrelevant, Potentially Privileged Documents, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, October 6, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Balancing Costs with Desire to Not Produce Irrelevant and Potentially Privileged Documents, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, September 1, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Nonresponsive Attachments – In or Out?, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, August 3, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Know Your Court’s Local E-Discovery Rules, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, July 1, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: To Globally Dedupe or Not … That is the Question, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, June 1, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: When Personal and Work Data Collide, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, May 1, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: Proposed Rule Changes Reflect Trend Toward “Reasonableness” in Preservation, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, April 1, 2015
- Author, E-Discovery Update: “Discovery on Discovery”, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, March 2, 2015
- Co-author, E-Discovery: Review through Production, 2014 E-Discovery Program, North Carolina Bar Foundation, November 14, 2014
- Author, "Predictive Coding," The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation, February 6, 2013
- Co-author, Navigating a Case Through E-discovery, October 2012
- Co-author, "E-Discovery Under the Federal and North Carolina Rules," September 2008
- Author, “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda:” Keyword Search for Privileged Documents Insufficient By Itself to Maintain Protection After Inadvertent Production, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, June 11, 2008
- Author, E-Discovery Newsletter (February 2008), McGuireWoods Legal Alert, February 19, 2008
- Author, E-Discovery Newsletter (January 2008), McGuireWoods Legal Alert, January 29, 2008