Jan. 12, 2021 – EAGAN, Minn. – The Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), the world’s premier e-discovery training and certification professional association and part of The BARBRI Group, has added three esteemed industry professionals to its Global Advisory Board.
With a diverse and deep breadth of legal operations, e-discovery, and information governance experience, William Hamilton, Susan Jackson, and Amy Sellars will lend their leadership and experiences with other industry veterans to help ACEDS continue to fulfill its mission. The association is committed to educating the legal community, promoting a unifying influence in the development and use of technology in the law, and improving and certifying the technical competence of legal professionals.
“We continue to build on the strength of our advisory board with professionals committed to e-discovery, legal operations and academia. The caliber of professionals on our board reflects our thriving e-discovery community and the very best of disciplines across our industry,” said Mike Quartararo, president of ACEDS. “The addition of these exceptionally talented and distinguished members to the ACEDS Global Advisory Board positions ACEDS to make further strides in continuing to improve the educational resources, training and certifications our community needs and has asked of us.”
“We are honored to have such distinguished professionals joining the board,” said Ari Kaplan, principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors, who chairs the ACEDS advisory board. “I look forward to learning from and collaborating with each of them.”
Hamilton, Jackson and Sellars join an ACEDS Global Advisory Board composed of experts in e-discovery, legal technology, software, services and academia who provide guidance, educational and product input, and thought leadership on industry trends, policy and program development to ACEDS. Board members offer unique areas of expertise and perspectives reflecting the dynamic, growing e-discovery community. They serve as ambassadors of ACEDS as it expands professional development offerings and resources to anticipate and meet the needs of the legal community.
About the New Board Members
William Hamilton is the Senior Legal Skills Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law (UF Law). Hamilton, who teaches electronic discovery, complex litigation and civil procedure at UF Law, helped develop the original CEDS exam in 2010 and was the chairperson of the original ACEDS Advisory Board. He has taught electronic discovery for the past 10 years and is an author of the LexisNexis Practice Guide Florida e-Discovery and Evidence and A Student Electronic Discovery Primer: An Essential Companion for Civil Procedure Courses. He is also the General Editor of the LexisNexis Practice Guide: Florida Contract Litigation. Hamilton is a neutral arbitrator and mediator for the World Intellectual Property Organization and the author of more than 100 domain name dispute decisions. Prior to academia, Hamilton served as the electronic discovery partner for a national law firm. During his 30-year litigation career, he has been recognized in Chambers USA, Florida Legal Elite, Best Lawyers in America, and Florida Super Lawyers.
Susan Jackson is Legal Counsel, Commercial, Trade & Information Governance at Novelis Corporation. Jackson is a certified computer forensic examiner and has worked for the company for the past 18 years. Her focus is on corporate governance, international trade, commercial contracts, information governance and e-discovery. Among her responsibilities, she works on U.S. anti-dumping/counter-veiling duties cases, responding to government investigations. She is also responsible for both the global records retention and e-discovery programs at Novelis. Jackson operates a forensic lab for all human resources and information systems, cybersecurity investigations, e-discovery requests, compliance with electronic information internal policies and international data privacy regulations. She is also an adjunct professor at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School teaching e-discovery and computer forensics, cybersecurity and data privacy.
Amy Sellars is Associate General Counsel of Cardinal Health’s Discovery Center of Excellence and director of that organization. Previously, she led Walmart Legal’s Discovery Operations Group, she worked for the country’s largest midstream oil and gas company and was an associate at the law firm of Crowe & Dunlevy. Sellars focuses exclusively on electronic discovery across a large docket of litigation and investigations. She serves as Secretary for the ACEDS Ohio Chapter Board and is a Steering Committee member for The Sedona Conference’s Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production. Sellars has taught electronic discovery and legal operations at the University of Tulsa College of Law, the University of Arkansas School of Law, and Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
About ACEDS
The Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), part of leading legal education provider The BARBRI Group, is a global association for professionals working in e-discovery, information governance, compliance, and the broader legal community. ACEDS provides training and certification in e-discovery and related disciplines to corporate legal departments, law firms, the government, service providers and institutions of higher learning. The CEDS certification is recognized around the world and used to verify skills and competence in electronic discovery for organizations and individuals through training, certification, and ongoing education. The CEDS credential is held by legal professionals at the largest Fortune 500 companies, Am Law 200 firms and government agencies. ACEDS has 26 chapters, with locations in major U.S. cities, the UK, Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands, and South Africa. Our goal is to help professionals and organizations reduce the costs and risks associated with e-discovery while helping to improve and verify their skills and advance their careers and overall technology competence in e-discovery and related fields. https://www.aceds.org/
