Legal Operations

Relativity To Focus On Corporate Legal Ops At Upcoming Conference

As we approach the Fall, there's one more big conference to attend.

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It is incredibly difficult to fully digest that it’s October already. The baseball playoffs are set, and football season is in full swing. As we approach the end of the year, we are also looking at the last big eDiscovery conference of the year — Relativity Fest.

I remember attending early Relativity Fests. Back then, everyone who worked at the company pretty much fit in a conference room. As a customer visiting their offices, I once attended an “all hands” meeting led by then-CEO Andrew Sieja. I think about 25 people worked there at the time. They served beer. It was a very productive meeting. I can’t remember being in a room that reverberated more eDiscovery enthusiasm.

The company has come a long way. Last month, Relativity welcomed its 1,000th employee and in June a new CEO. Sieja, of course, remains as founder but has moved into an Executive Chairman and a more product-focused role. New CEO Mike Gamson, who previously held an SVP Global Solutions role at LinkedIn that focused on talent, marketing, and sales, will now lead Relativity into its next decade.

I was in Chicago two weeks ago and all indications are that Gamson and Sieja are excited to share the stage in a few weeks.

More than 2,000 people in the eDiscovery community will descend upon the Chicago Hilton for the 10th Annual Relativity Fest in three weeks and it’s appropriate to highlight some of the content, particularly for our legal operations readers.

One new feature this year is the first annual Fest Focus: The Corporate Vision, a session track specifically for corporate legal operations professionals. The Corporate Vision track is a series of corporate-only sessions focused on the unique needs and requirements facing in-house and legal operations teams.

Shawn Gaines, Relativity’s VP of Marketing, told me that “we received feedback that corporate legal teams wanted more sessions and content focused on their needs specifically, with opportunities to network with one another and share ideas. To that end, we felt it was time to roll out our first-ever corporate track that provides these unique learning opportunities alongside all the content Relativity Fest has today for law firms, solution providers, government agencies, academic institutions, and anyone else in this awesome community.”

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What specifically does Relativity have in store for legal operations professionals?

On Monday, October 21, beginning at 1:15 p.m., Andrew Sieja and Relativity COO Nick Robertson will host a series of short talks centered around disruption and the future of in-house legal teams. Guest speakers will offer insights and perspectives on the future of legal operations.

That session is followed by a panel of Relativity corporate customers who will discuss how technology — and presumably Relativity, in particular — has changed the way in-house legal and operations teams work. Has eDiscovery technology contributed to the business? Show up for this session to find out.

At 4 p.m., iHeartRadio’s Shirley Strawberry, co-host of the Steve Harvey Morning Show, the number-one nationally syndicated morning radio show, will discuss her inspirational journey, how she found guidance in life and throughout her career, and the need to adjust to changing customer demands.

The Corporate Vision track concludes on Monday with a 5 p.m. networking meet and greet with Ms. Strawberry for corporate legal operations attendees.

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There are also other sessions at Relativity Fest that are focused on legal operations teams.  Topics range from the corporate and outside counsel relationship to governance and managing data in-house, and a RelativityOne case study on litigation and corporate investigations.

“Fest has always been about educating and celebrating the eDiscovery community in an environment where everyone feels welcome,” said Gaines.

And if you’re not in legal operations, there are about 150 other reasons to attend Relativity Fest. They will have sessions focused on legal and industry education, professional development and of course hands-on deep dives into the Relativity software itself. You may browse all of the sessions here. And if you have not yet registered, you may do so here.

We’ll highlight more from Relativity Fest in the weeks following the conference.

Mike Quartararo is the managing director of eDPM Advisory Services, a consulting firm providing e-discovery, project management and legal technology advisory and training services to the legal industry. He is also the author of the 2016 book Project Management in Electronic Discovery. Mike has many years of experience delivering e-discovery, project management, and legal technology solutions to law firms and Fortune 500 corporations across the globe and is widely considered an expert on project management, e-discovery and legal matter management. You can reach him via email at mquartararo@edpmadvisory.com. Follow him on Twitter @edpmadvisory.

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