Abbott · 3 months ago
Sr Counsel & Director, eDiscovery
Illinois, United States
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff, Director/Executive
$149K/yr - $299K/yr
10+ years expAbbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. The Senior Counsel & Director eDiscovery is responsible for managing Abbott’s eDiscovery program, collaborating with various stakeholders to ensure effective and defensible electronic discovery processes. This role involves overseeing eDiscovery strategies, vendor relationships, and compliance with legal obligations throughout the information management lifecycle.
BiotechnologyEmergency MedicineGeneticsHealth CareHealth DiagnosticsManufacturingMedicalMedical DeviceNutritionPharmaceutical
Responsibilities
Collaborate with stakeholders to create, refine and implement controls, processes, and business requirements related to eDiscovery and considerations for evaluating recent technologies
Engage with attorneys, paralegals, vendors, IT, and information governance to assist with identification, collection, processing, review, and production of ESI
Work with Litigation team and outside counsel to manage and advise on all electronic discovery issues and matters including scoping initial litigation holds, identifying locations for relevant data, coordinating collection of data and coordinating with vendors, developing discovery plans with paralegals and attorneys; assisting the legal team with early case assessment (ECA) by conducting database inquiries and developing reports for litigation team
Work with Litigation team to coordinate and manage electronic data processing and electronic document reviews with contract attorneys at off-site locations, with discretion for hiring, training, and terminating contractors and electronic discovery vendors
Advise business partners, internal and external counsel, and Litigation on legal hold preservation obligations throughout the information management lifecycle
Oversee the administration and monitoring of legal holds in eDiscovery process management system and follow-up on legal hold compliance and questionnaire responses
Develop and maintain written guidance, including policies and procedures, on eDiscovery obligations
Develop and present educational/training sessions to internal stakeholders on the data preservation process and its importance for legal matters
Address inquiries from stakeholders and internal and external counsel to facilitate compliance with eDiscovery and record retention requirements for legal holds, including data disposition
Confer with service providers and eDiscovery team on creating and ensuring adherence to client and industry specifications for data collection, processing, productions, and disposition
Coordinate across teams to drive automation and continuous standardization in methodologies, practices, and workflows
Direct electronic discovery technology initiatives from planning to vendor evaluation and selection to implementation
Coordinate IT efforts across the Company to achieve successful integration of technology tools
Create innovative and defensible solutions to complex business questions and challenges
Follow and stay current on legal developments related to discovery, retention, and information governance
Develop eDiscovery budget and facilitate budget and eDiscovery technology needs
Work closely with Litigation and Investigations teams on setting and managing eDiscovery strategy on legal matters and investigations
Independently develop, implement, and oversee eDiscovery collection strategies and processes to ensure that information is collected, processed, reviewed, and produced in a legally defensible manner
Provide legal counsel and support for Litigation in creating eDiscovery strategy, including collaborating closely with outside counsel on all eDiscovery-related matters and investigations
Assess and update eDiscovery processes, workflows, and policies, as necessary
Manage eDiscovery vendor relationships
Collaborate with stakeholders to review eDiscovery technology that provides analytical, early case assessment, and review efficiencies
Participate in cross functional meetings to evaluate preferred enterprise settings (including retention) and to implement new or modified applications or features
Analyze functionality available under different vendor license schemes to ensure Abbott data is fully collected and analyzed in legal matters and investigations
Evaluate and provide feedback on new or proposed software and technology to ensure they meet Abbott’s eDiscovery data collection requirements
Participate in cross functional meetings and pilots to evaluate the potential eDiscovery concerns and requirements on topics such as data protection controls, new tools, or functionality, and provide feedback to IT and Cybersecurity teams
Work with Procurement and Legal teams to create, edit, finalize eDiscovery vendor MSAs
Oversee and provide guidance on eDiscovery related metrics
Manage a team of 7-10 people and conduct Abbott people management activities
Qualification
Required
Juris Doctor from an accredited law school
Admitted to practice and member of the bar in good standing
Minimum of 10 years of experience practicing law within a law firm or corporate legal department
At least 5–10 years of specialized experience in litigation and eDiscovery
Efficiently and effectively manage competing priorities and projects
Ability to collaborate in a cross functional manner but also function well independently
Excellent written and oral communications skills to advise all levels of personnel on complex technical issues
Ability to communicate effectively to diverse audiences as well as senior management
Strong interpersonal, analytical, and organizational skills
Excellent time management, organizational, and analytical skills and ability to manage multiple concurrent projects including prioritizing or shifting tasks in a fast-paced, environment
Strong attention to detail, ability to keep project documentation and communicate status updates timely
Experience and interest in all facets of discovery including, eDiscovery, process improvements, records management, information governance, information technology, defensible data disposition and data privacy
Demonstrated passion for driving process improvements, collaboration, and innovation as part of a cross-functional team
Understanding of the EDRM, Litigation processes, eDiscovery concepts and technology, including data security, and alternative data sources such as mobile devices, ephemeral messaging applications, and social media data
Ability to solve problems and prioritize work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment
Strong understanding of Microsoft Office/Office 365 applications
Experience with and understanding of forensic collection processes and analysis, predictive coding, CAL, TAR, AL, prioritization review and other data analytic techniques
Working knowledge of various litigation support and eDiscovery software applications (NUIX, Everlaw, Relativity, Venio, Exterro, Brainspace, etc.)
Company
Abbott
Abbott is a healthcare company that produces diagnostic kits, medical devices, nutritional products, and branded generic medicines.
10001+ employees
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$6.79M2011-03-15Post Ipo Debt· $0.1M
2009-03-16Post Ipo Debt· $6.69M
1980-12-12IPO
Leadership Team
Robert Ford
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mike Peterson
Senior Vice President
Recent News
2026-01-07
Company data provided by crunchbase