Biography
Ellen Blanchard has extensive experience working with companies managing and protecting the data that is critical to their business, including information governance policies and procedures, data minimization and storage, cybersecurity, privacy and across all phases of discovery and the EDRM model. Ellen has represented clients from a variety of industries in complex commercial litigation and government investigations, including Second Requests, involving securities, antitrust, healthcare, cybersecurity, telecommunications and IP issues. Ellen uses her knowledge of the interconnections between legal and technology to work with clients on all phases of the EDRM continuum from records management to trial. She provides strategic advice that balances risk management with practical guidance for the business, particularly in the space of information governance and Artificial Intelligence.
Prior to joining the firm, Ellen served as Director of Discovery and Information Governance at an international telecommunication company where she was responsible for developing the strategic vision for discovery and providing leadership in managing the company's data. She led a team that was responsible for proactively managing electronic and document discovery for active litigation matters, including complex and high-stakes disputes such as mergers, government investigations, cyber investigations and class actions.
A recognized thought leader in the industry, Ellen regularly speaks on panels and participates in Podcasts on the latest topics in the industry including data minimization, 2nd Requests, and Artificial Intelligence.
Professional experience
Representative experience
Representative experience
- Led a team of attorneys to assist a client in responding to a 2nd request response related to a large telecom merger investigation working with Co-Counsel to produce over 3.5 million documents in a few short months.
- Oversaw the discovery strategy and implementation in an Antitrust matter in the UK involving the production of over 750,000 documents for a large technology client, including navigating thorny privilege issues related to the overlap between US and UK privilege.
- Led discovery strategy for large telecom merger investigation and litigation, managed a team of eight attorneys and paralegals responsible for the production of over 12 million pages and 11.5 TB of data from over 85 custodians under an expedited time frame.
- Handled regulatory responses and investigations related to several large cyber incidents.
- Completed a data disposition project analyzing hundreds of three hundred orphaned file shares, containing over ten million documents to defensibly dispose of over 90% of the files, significantly lowering the privacy and cyber security risks for a large international healthcare client.
- Managed access and review workflow for 31 law firms involved in over 15 concurrent litigations and government investigations of telecom industry;
- Oversaw large-scale document review and productions for major antitrust and securities litigations as well as government investigations, including a DOJ investigation involving: Production of over 2.5 million records including images, native audio and video files, native Excel files and databases across 74 unique production initiatives between April 2011 and September 2012. Management of multiple review teams accessing several active databases containing 27 million records with over 500 users in 30 different user groups, each with unique permissions and access levels.
Rankings and recognitions
Rankings and recognitions
- Legal 500 US, Recommended Lawyer, E-Discovery, The Legal 500, 2025
- Recipient of the EDI Leadership Award 2022
- Recognized as one of the top 100 T-Mobile employees company-wide through receipt of Peak Award
- Recognized as one of top T-Mobile employees in the area of client service through receipt of the Winner's Circle Award
Education
Education
JD, American University, 2000
BA, Ohio Wesleyan University, 1997
Admissions
Admissions
- District of Columbia Bar
- Virginia State Bar
- Washington State Bar
Publications
Publications
- Co-author, Lessons Learned from the Overuse of ESI Protocols, New York Law Journal (December 2023)
- Co-author, eDiscovery in a Post-COVID World (September 2020)
- Co-author, Law firms are the new target for IP theft: Basic Protections (June 19, 2015)
- Co-author, Black Hats Look for Low Hanging Fruit: Law firms are the new target for IP theft (May 3, 2015)
Speaking engagements
Speaking engagements
- Panelist, EDI, “Update on Second Request Compliance”, 2024
- Panelist, Master’s Conference, “Cyber Tabletop Exercise”, 2024
- Panelist, Master’s Conference, Becoming a Legal Cyborg, 2024
- Panelist, Sedona Working Group 11 Mid-Year Meeting, “Privacy and Data Security Litigation Update”, 2024
- Panelist, Cowen Café, Mastering the Art of Professional Networking, 2024)
- Panelist, Exterro XChange, Digital Transformation: Navigating Microsoft 365 Roll Out and Management, 2023
- Panelist, Perkins Coie CLE, Discovery from the In-House Perspective, 2022
- Panelist, E-Discovery Institute CLE, Complex Privilege Issues: What they Don't Teach in Law School, 2022
- Panelist, E-Discovery Institute CLE, Sunshine In Litigation Act 2.0, 2022
- Participant, ACEDS, Fireside Chat with eDiscovery Leaders from Coinbase and T-Mobile, 2022
- Panelist, Lighthouse Illuminations Summit, Intrapreneurial Innovation: How to Drive Innovation from Within Your Organization, 2022
- Panelist, Westlaw Legal ED CLE, Reexamining Line-by-Line Confidentiality Designations: A Cost-Effective and Cooperative Approach, 2022
- Panelist, Legal Week CLE, Leveraging eDiscovery Expertise for Incident Response Matters, 2022
- Panelist, Georgetown Advanced Discovery Institute CLE, Migration, Integration, Disposition, Oh My!, 2021
- Panelist, E-Discovery Institute Leadership Summit CLE, Balancing Act: How Privacy, Litigation, Discovery & RIM Professionals Work Together for Success, 2021
- Panelist, PREX CLE, Global Privacy & the New World of Consumer Rights, 2021
- Panelist, ACEDS CLE Webinar, Post-Pandemic: The Rise of Cloud and Collaboration Apps, Data, and the Impact on eDiscovery, 2021
- Panelist, ARMA Webinar, The Impact of Information Governance Compliance on Cybersecurity/ Privacy Risk, 2021
- Panelist, LegalWeek CLE, Understanding the New Data Set, 2021
- Panelist, Mobile Devices and Cloud Applications - Legal and Risk Management, 2021
- Panelist, Sedona Working Group 1 Annual Meeting, Reinventing the Privilege Log, 2020
- Panelist, E-Discovery Institute CLE, The 2nd Request: When Cash is King, Deals are Done, 2020
- Speaker, Summit on Legal Innovation and Disruption (SOLID), How Do You Get a Seat at the Table when There is no Table in a Post COVID World, 2020
- Panelist, CLE, Slack for Legal Teams: Getting the Most out of Collaboration while Mitigating Risk, 2020
- Panelist, CLE, Information Governance, 2020
- Panelist, ACC Labor & Employment Law Summit CLE, Employee Privacy in the Digital Workspace, 2020
Memberships and activities
Memberships and activities
- Women in eDiscovery, Seattle Chapter (Board Member 2012-2017)
- Sedona Working Group 1 (Electronic Document Retention and Production), Working Group 6 (International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure), Working Group 11 (Data Security and Privacy Liability) and Working Group 13 (Artificial Intelligence)
- Mother Attorney Mentoring Association, USA (Founding Board Member)
- Mother Attorney Mentoring Association of Seattle (Director of Outreach, 2011- 2016)
Insights and news
