Extract from George Socha’s article “eDiscovery Leaders Live featuring Diane Diaz of McDonald’s Corporation”
Diane Diaz, Director, eDiscovery Manager, Commercial Litigation Practice Group at McDonald’s Corporation, joins George Socha, Senior Vice President of Brand Awareness at Reveal, for ACEDS #eDiscoveryLeadersLive.
Diane Diaz is an eDiscovery Manager at McDonald’s Corporation. She has over 20 years of experience in the legal field, starting as a legal secretary and working through the ranks of paralegal and most recently realigning her paralegal responsibilities into her current eDiscovery Manager role. She supports the legal department and serves the Commercial Litigation Practice Group which handles, among other things, class action lawsuits, government inquiries, franchise disputes, real estate matters and third-party subpoena responses. On any given day, she manages over 60 matters that include issuing legal holds, interviewing custodians, identifying, and collecting data and sorting through boxes located in offsite storage. She also manages the eDiscovery and Legal Hold platforms for the litigation teams. Diane is a strategic thinker that ensures alignment amongst commercial, labor and tort litigation teams developing protocols that keep consistent and repeatable processes when collecting data. In addition, she partners with the Records and Information Management team on information governance ensuring that eDiscovery needs concerning incoming technology and data disposition projects are addressed. In her spare time, she enjoys taking HIIT classes and walking her dog, Kendall. Diane has been married to her husband Ed, for 21 years. She has two daughters, Maya, 19 and Marnie, 11.
Diane talked with us about her paths to and at McDonald’s. She discussed her job today, emphasizing the importance of delivering value internally. She talked about career development, including the significance of titles, looking beyond titles, and advocating for yourself. She discussed the benefits of involvement with industry organizations, focusing on EDRM, ACEDS, WiE, and the Illinois Paralegal Association. Diane ended with thoughts on the importance of family, at home and at work, and value of strong support systems.
