A Second Request Expert Q&A

A specialized field such as ediscovery in antitrust matters requires an equally specialized and expertly trained team. Here at Kroll Ontrack, we are fortunate enough to have some of the most seasoned and knowledgeable consultants, including professionals with direct work experience with antitrust agencies and private merger and acquisition practices. You can’t second guess a second request, so you need one of Kroll Ontrack’s very own antitrust experts.

Tell us about your background and what led you to becoming an ediscovery expert that focuses on antitrust matters.

A: Before working as an ediscovery consultant, I was an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where I reviewed proposed mergers and investigated anticompetitive conduct. While there, I drafted and negotiated a number of second requests and gained valuable insight into federal agency document requests.  That was a great foundation for what I am doing today—helping Kroll Ontrack’s clients develop strategies for responding to similar requests. I’ve also worked on the private practice side, defending companies in antitrust investigations and helping them respond to second requests and similarly large data requests in commercial litigation. After these roles, I moved into the ediscovery service provider world, where I worked on the managed review side—designing workflows, driving strategy timelines and responses, and meeting production deadline goals.

What types of services do ediscovery consultants provide to law firms and corporations involved in a second request?

A: Kroll Ontrack leverages a proven, defensible process for handling second requests from inception through completion. This process involves dedicated team resources with specialized expertise to handle the sheer complexity and tight timeframes associated with second requests. The team provides 24/7 support for your case, including onsite project scoping, planning and kickoff and daily status calls and briefings. In addition, an ediscovery consultant is skilled at honing the technology platform specifically for the needs of a second request review – from setting up the workflow and category tree to leveraging predictive coding. Our goal is to provide efficient, accurate and defensible ediscovery for deadline-driven second requests.

Can you give us an example of a recent second request that Kroll Ontrack helped with?

A: Kroll Ontrack works on dozens of antitrust matters each year. For example, in 2014 alone, Kroll Ontrack produced over 20 million pages of documents involved in second request matters. Furthermore, many of these antitrust matters involve global competition bureaus or merging companies outside of the United States. In one recent case, two device companies looking to merge were issued a second request by the FTC. Kroll Ontrack’s ediscovery.com platform, predictive coding technology and document reviewers aided the merging companies in completing the FTC production in less than two months, taking 2.5 terabytes of data down to about 500,000 documents.

Since we’re getting to know your work, it would be great to get to know a little about you. What is your ideal day outside of the office?

A: I live in Brooklyn Heights, just across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, but I really like to escape from the city as often as possible. This summer, I have spent a lot of time hiking in upstate New York and in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.