The Potential Promise of Proportionality: Platitude or Progress?

Mandi Ross is the founder and CEO of Prism Litigation Technology, an eDiscovery advisory firm started in 1997. During her 32-year career, she has managed a multitude of successful engagements for corporate legal teams and outside counsel, as well as working as a court-appointed eDiscovery expert. She has also served as a strategic advisor for some of the largest, most complex lawsuits and investigations in the last three decades. Most recently, Mandi started Insight Optix, which developed a technology-assisted workflow that operationalizes proportionality. The patent-pending SAAS-based software, Evidence Optix®, allows legal teams to dramatically decrease spend while creating a repeatable, defensible process for discovery.

Judge Yates was appointed to Michigan’s 17th Circuit Court on April 22, 2008, serving first in both the civil/criminal and family divisions. On March 1, 2012, he was assigned to the specialized business docket for the court. Judge Yates received a BA from Kalamazoo College in 1983, and a JD and MBA from the University of Illinois in 1987. As an attorney, Judge Yates served as a law clerk to Chief Judge James P. Churchill of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and to Judge Ralph B. Guy, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Yates also has worked as an Assistant US Attorney in Detroit, an attorney-advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, as the Chief Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Michigan, and as a partner in two private law firms.

Judge Yates is a past president of the Grand Rapids Bar Association and the Gerald Ford American Inns of Court chapter, the 2019 recipient of the Hilda Gage Judicial Excellence Award from the Michigan Judges Association, the 2020 recipient of the Judicial Award of Excellence from the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, a four-time inductee in the Kalamazoo College Athletic Hall of Fame, and the proud father of identical twins.

Jonathan Wilan is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Baker & McKenzie LLP, where he focuses his practice on digital risk. In particular, he advises companies on legal requirements, processes, and technology for managing legal risk arising from digital information proactively and in the context of complex litigation, internal investigations, and regulatory responses. Mr. Wilan earned a B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Maryland at College Park and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Martin T. Tully is a founding partner of Actuate Law, LLC in Chicago. He is a veteran trial lawyer with over 25 years of national experience representing companies and individuals in complex commercial litigation concerning a broad array of fields and industries. Empowered by his commercial litigation practice, Martin is nationally recognized for his knowledge and experience in the fields of electronic discovery, information governance, and data security/data privacy. His expertise helps clients to stay ahead of the curve in each of these fields with respect to developing law, technology, and best practices, whether in the context of active litigation and regulatory matters, or in seeking to avoid them. Martin is also adept at leveraging both technology and strategic partnerships with technologists to achieve client objectives.

Martin advances thought-leadership in data law as the Vice Chair of the Steering Committee of the Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG-1), as an active member of the Sedona Conference Working Group on Data Security and Privacy Liability (WG-11), the 7th Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital Information, the ABA Section of Litigation, Privacy and Data Security Committee, and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), as well as a director-at-large of the Chicago Chapter of the Association of Certified E-Discovery Professionals (ACEDS). In addition, Martin has published and presented extensively on the topics of e-discovery, information governance, cybersecurity, data privacy, and legal technology; is among a select group of lawyers in the world ranked for Litigation: E-Discovery & Information Governance by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers® and Chambers & Partners Global®; and he has been acknowledged by Who’s Who Legal® as being “steps ahead of his competitors” and “widely regarded for his ‘superior knowledge’ of electronic discovery and information governance.”

Martin is also a founder and the Managing Member of Quointec LLC, a legal tech subsidiary powered by Actuate Law.