THE Executive team
Board of Directors
BOB OWEN
President
A nationally recognized adviser to financial services, energy, pharma and technology companies, Bob is known for efficient, creative and early dispute resolution, and for a compelling courtroom presence. He has handled hundreds of litigated matters throughout the U.S. His accomplishments as a trial lawyer are recognized by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, at whose renowned National Session in Boulder, Colorado, he has taught seven times.
Bob has been a recognized authority in eDiscovery for years, and has been a national voice in recent federal rules amendments. He is Band One ranked in Litigation: eDiscovery by Chambers, which reports that he is “revered by his clients as a visionary whose knowledge of eDiscovery is top tier” and is “recognized as a seasoned litigator who has the unique perspective of being both skilled in the law and in technology.” He is president of the Electronic Discovery Institute (EDI), editor-in-chief of EDI’s Federal Judges Guide to Discovery, a frequent speaker and writer, and a former member of the Georgetown Advisory Board and the Bloomberg Law Litigation Advisory Board. From 2002-2021 he was a litigation Partner in Eversheds Sutherland’s New York and Chicago Offices. He retired from that firm at year-end 2021 and now practices in his own firm, Robert D Owen LLC.
PATRICK OOT
Co-Founder
Patrick is one of the few eDiscovery and compliance attorneys in the world that possesses the tripartite experience of an in-house corporate counsel from a Fortune 16 organization; a senior attorney at a federal regulatory agency; and a partner in a large law firm. Patrick has extensive experience advising on discovery and investigative matters involving commercial litigation, compliance, regulatory requests, antitrust matters and personnel issues. Combined with a deep understanding of forensics and enterprise technology platforms, Patrick’s experience advising clients on responding to federal agency requests under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) is balanced by his broad-based skill in negotiating enterprise software license agreements for collaboration platforms, e-discovery software and enterprise level computer forensic tools.
Patrick currently serves as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP. Before moving to this position, Patrick served as senior special counsel for electronic discovery in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). During his tenure at the SEC, Patrick co-chaired the agency’s cross-divisional Electronic Discovery Action Team and co-authored The SEC Electronic Discovery and Litigation Response Manual. He has counseled SEC senior leadership and agency staff on best practices and guidance for discovery and litigation strategy and privilege protections and on strategically significant matters involving forensics, technology and ECPA interpretation for subpoena enforcement.
HERB ROITBLAT
Co-Founder
Herb is recognized as an expert in cognitive science, information management, data mining, statistics and eDiscovery processes. He is the author of numerous papers on dolphin biosonar and neural network models of the dolphin sensory system. More recently he has been writing about data mining and how technology can ease the burden of eDiscovery. Herb was an award-winning Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii from 1985 until 2002. He taught courses in cognitive science and research methods. He has a B.A. degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon and his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California-Berkeley. He served as Assistant Professor of Psychology at Columbia University until he joined the faculty at the University of Hawaii. Herb is a Past President of the Division of Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology of the American Psychological Association and Past President of the International Society for Adaptive Behavior. In 2002, he received the Clifford T. Morgan award for distinguished contributions to behavioral neuroscience and comparative psychology. Herb is a member of the Sedona Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production.
Herb is a co-founder and principal at OrcaTec LLC. Before starting Orcatec, he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Scientist, and co-founder of DolphinSearch. He is the primary inventor of the core DolphinSearch technology (patent No. 6,189,002). His duties at DolphinSearch included new product development, business development and marketing as well as internal and external consulting on the processes of eDiscovery and related information management and data mining issues. Herb led the design of the DolphinSearch review tools, DIAD, and ComplianSeek, and was part of the team that brought concept searching and native file review to the eDiscovery industry. He was also responsible for DolphinSearch’s Federal Market efforts.
ASHISH PRASAD
Board Member
Ashish is widely regarded among the leading experts on discovery in the United States. He is currently the Vice President and General Counsel of eTera Consulting. Ashish has served, among other things, as Litigation Partner, Founder and Chair of the Mayer Brown LLP Electronic Discovery and Records Management Practice; Executive Editor of The Sedona Principles: Best Practices Recommendations & Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production (2004); Co-Editor in Chief of the Practicing Law Institute treatise Electronic Discovery Deskbook: Law and Practice (2009) and Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University Law School.
In addition to having extensive experience in managing all aspects of discovery in litigation and investigations, and developing policies and procedures for electronic discovery, records management and legacy data management for corporations and law firms, Ashish has defended discovery compliance procedures before numerous courts and regulators. Over the past decade, Ashish has authored over two dozen articles, and given over 100 legal education seminars on topics of electronic discovery before judges, practicing lawyers and industry groups in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Ashish is active in a wide variety of charitable organizations related to children’s health and education, including serving as a Board Member of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago, and Pratham USA. Ashish graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a Member of the Law Review, and the University of Michigan Honors College, where he graduated with High Honors and High Distinction. He lives in the Chicago area with his wife and three children.
Laura Kibbe
Board Member
Laura is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Global Head of Litigation and Legal Operations and Chief of Staff to the GC at Unisys. She joined the EDI Board of Directors in October 2023. Prior to joining Unisys, Laura held several in-house positions at IQVIA, Pfizer and Texaco. At IQVIA, Laura had responsibility for global legal operations, cybersecurity and data breach matters, and global litigation and investigations. At Pfizer, Laura started the first formal global corporate electronic discovery practice and worked on the P3 law firm partnering initiative in addition to handling a full litigation and investigation docket. She was recognized by the National Law Journal and Corporate Counsel Magazine as an innovator and trailblazer for her work at Pfizer and named an AI Visionary for her innovative use of artificial intelligence in litigation. She is the inventor on US Patent No. 8,560,378 for the System and Method of Reviewing and Producing Documents.
Earlier in her career, Laura was Of Counsel at Morgan Lewis, where she was a senior member of the firm’s eData Practice working with clients across the financial services, technology and pharmaceutical industries. She was also an Associate at Kaye Scholer LLP where she served as national coordinating counsel for Pfizer and as Pfizer’s global e-discovery counsel. Laura received her BA in Legal Studies from Manhattanville College and her JD from Syracuse University College of Law. Laura has a reputation for innovation and is constantly challenging norms for process improvement. She is a frequent speaker and lecturer and is active in EDI, GICLI, and the Sedona Group and serves on the Advisory Board to the Advanced E-Discovery Institute at Georgetown Law School SCE. When not working, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her three daughters.
THE EDI TEAM
KURT LEETH
Executive Director
Kurt has served as EDI’s Executive Director since 2016. He provides executive leadership and administrative management of the organization and its employees. He works closely with EDI’s Board of Directors, members and supporters to advance the goals and mission of the organization. Kurt is also responsible for overseeing the planning and production of the annual EDI Leadership Summit, as well as EDI’s other educational initiatives. As Faculty Liaison, Kurt facilitates the development of content for EDI’s in-person programs. Kurt began his career in 2008 as a Recruiting Assistant with LegalSource, a full-service legal staffing firm in Washington. He joined EDI as Director of Events in 2012. Kurt earned his B.A. from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He splits his time between Washington and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
DANIELLE NICHOLSON
Director of Marketing
As Director of Marketing, Danielle ensures that EDI’s marketing materials, platforms, campaigns & strategies align with the organization’s educational mission. In this role she is responsible for the creative design and production of EDI's digital communications, branding, educational publications, event programs and collateral. In addition to her marketing role, Danielle leads the Ambassador program for the annual Leadership Summit and other educational initiatives. As EDI’s Ambassador Liaison, Danielle manages relationships with the organization’s network of supporters. In addition, Danielle also serves as the organization's bookkeeper and financial manager.
Prior to joining EDI in 2011, Danielle served as an assistant to the Director of Finance at the American Society for Cell Biology in Bethesda, MD. As part of this position, Danielle spent a significant amount of time assisting the Coalition for Life Sciences by facilitating meetings with research scientists on Capitol Hill. Danielle graduated from the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration.
JOSIAH GRANDFIELD
Production Manager
Josiah joined EDI in February of 2014. As Production Manager, he oversees production and manages EDI’s Distance Learning Initiative, in addition to other online educational initiatives and programs. In this role, Josiah has recorded over 150 individual interview sessions with distinguished members of the EDI community. He also assists in the management of EDI’s online presence, audio-visual support and photography at EDI events.
Josiah lives in Washington, DC and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Film & Media Arts in 2013.
HELEN DEHAVEN
Event Coordinator
Helen joined EDI as Event Coordinator in 2020. She brings her experience as a seasoned wedding coordinator to the planning and execution of EDI’s in-person events like the Spring and Summer Meetings and the Annual EDI Leadership Summit. Helen graduated from Temple University with a Bachelors degree in Media and Communications Studies and began her career at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She wore many hats in this role, from non-profit fundraising and event planning to volunteer coordination and daily office operations. She is thrilled to bring her varied experience to EDI and work to advance the educational mission of the organization. Helen lives just outside the city of Philadelphia with her canine roommate.