Michael Quartararo

Biographies

James C. Francis, IV

US Magistrate Judge (Ret.)
Mediator, Arbitrator, Special Master

James Francis is an arbitrator, mediator, and special master with JAMS. From 2017 through 2019, he was a Distinguished Lecturer at the CUNY School of Law, where he taught Electronic Discovery, Civil Procedure, Evidence, Federal Courts, and Constitutional Torts. From 1985 until 2017, he served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of New York. Judge Francis received his B.A. from Yale College in 1974, his juris doctor degree from the Yale Law School in 1978, and a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, also in 1978. For more than a decade, Judge Francis taught Constitutional Torts as an Adjunct Professor at the Fordham University School of Law. He has authored more than a dozen court opinions and articles on electronic data. He speaks frequently on electronic discovery and is a member of the Steering Committee of Sedona Conference Working Group 6 on International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure; the Advisory Committee of the Georgetown Advanced E-Discovery Institute; the Advisory Board of the Cardozo Data Law Initiative; and the Global Advisory Board of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM).

 

Christine Payne, Esq.
Partner
Redgrave LL

Christine Payne is a nationally-recognized advocate specializing in eDiscovery and litigation strategy. She handles all aspects of case strategy and discovery for complex commercial litigation, restructuring-related litigation, products-liability litigation, antitrust matters, Section 220 requests, and ongoing or anticipated investigations. Before joining Redgrave in May 2019, Christine was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, where she led the Firmwide Electronic Discovery Committee. At Redgrave, Christine leads the Restructuring Discovery group and is the chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. Christine lives in Austin, TX and is the mom of two cool kids, Ty and Addie.

 

Michelle Six
Partner
Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Michelle Six is a partner in Kirkland’s New York office, where she focuses exclusively on electronic discovery law, concentrating on creating, monitoring, and implementing best practices and strategies for e-discovery. As Vice-Chair of the Firmwide Electronic Discovery Committee, she leads the Firm’s eDiscovery efforts and counsels clients on litigation readiness, developing eDiscovery strategy, and data privacy considerations and compliance. She frequently speaks at conferences and CLE programs on issues and solutions related to electronic discovery. Michelle is a Chambers-ranked attorney and mother of two budding Shakespeare lovers, Oliver and Emma

 

Suzanne Clark, Esq., CEDS, RCU
Discovery Counsel
eDiscovery CoCounsel, pllc

Suzanne H. Clarkdirects the Legal Project Management practice of eDiscovery CoCounsel, pllc. She graduated from the University of Florida College of Law and began her legal career as merits counsel in commercial litigation. She later transitioned to a full-time focus on Electronic Discovery and is a nationally recognized speaker and panelist in eDiscovery education. Suzanne is anAssociate Professor at Samford University, Cumberland School of Law, where she teaches e-discovery. She holds the Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS) designation from ACEDS and is also a Relativity Certified User (RCU). Suzanne co-founded the Jacksonville chapter of ACEDS, which was later recognized as national Chapter of the Year for its vibrancy and outreach and served as president of the chapter for two years and remains an active member of the board. She also sits on the Global Advisory Council 2020 of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM).

 

Chad Roberts
Founder
eDiscovery CoCounsel, pllc

ChadS. Robertsfounded eDiscovery CoCounsel, pllc in 2013 after a successful twenty-year career as merits counsel representing consumers in complex litigation. Continuously AV rated since 1996, he holds an Engineering Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and graduated with high honors from the Florida State University College of Law. He has been a litigation partner at both a large, multi-national law firm (Holland & Knight, LLP) as well as a small boutique trial firm (Spohrer & Dodd, LLP) and has won multi-million dollar verdicts as lead trial counsel. At eDiscovery CoCounsel, pllc he focuses on discovery motion practice in Federal Courts, Information Governance, Analytics, and Information Retrieval technology. He holds the CEDS designation from ACEDS and is a Relativity Certified Administrator (RCA).

 

Mike Quartararo, CEDS
President
ACEDS

Mike Quartararo is the President of the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), which provides training and certification in e-discovery to the legal community. He is the author of the 2016 book Project Management in Electronic Discovery and has been successfully consulting in information governance, e-discovery, project management and legal technology for two decades, including 10-year stints at both Skadden Arps and Stroock. He is a certified Project Management Professional and a Certified E-Discovery Specialist. He frequently writes and speaks on e-discovery, legal operations, project management and technology topics.

Contact 

Email:mquartararo@aceds.org

 

Courses

A Proposed TAR Framework