Board of Directors
Patrick Bilgere
President
Patrick Bilgere is an e-discovery consultant bringing over 15 years of experience in e-discovery, data analytics, and information life-cycle management. Mr. Bilgere’s areas of specialty include data collection, computer forensics, predictive coding, review management, training and development, software selection and implementation and strategic consulting in support of all phases of litigation, investigations and litigation readiness. Mr. Bilgere has extensive knowledge and proven ability in assisting clients with managing the discovery process from beginning to end, ranging from collection, processing, review and hosting, to production and presentation.
Chip Delany
Immediate Past President
Strategy Director at Lineal Services, previously worked as a strategist for Legal AI tech firm NexLP and before that as a consultant in continuous improvement and labor modelling. Australian National and US permanent resident.
Chris Bojar
Vice President
Chris is in charge of the litigation support department at Barack Ferrazzano and administers BF Discovery’s instance of Relativity, which is the firm’s eDiscovery subsidiary that is used to service all eDiscovery needs for the firm and its clients.
Bill Ryan
Secretary
Bill has spent four decades in information management including sales and consulting for: SEC filing services, virtual data rooms, discovery in litigation, investigations and regulatory enforcement, and cybersecurity incident response. He concentrates on advanced approaches to unstructured data for quick retrieval of relevant information through analytics-based investigation. He has presented on predictive coding and AI for discovery in Canada, Great Britain and across the United States. Bill served on the eDiscovery Subcommittee of the Commercial Litigation Committee of the Chicago Bar Association and the Technology Project Team of the 7th Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital information. He is currently Secretary to the ACEDS Chicago Chapter Board. Bill is Axcelerate Certified, a Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS) and a Relativity Certified Sales Professional (RCSP).
Matthew Miller
Treasurer
Matthew W. Miller, CEDS, is an experienced litigation attorney and executive with a demonstrated history of success in the legal industry. He formerly co-owned a personal injury law firm and recently served as Legal Counsel for Reveal Data Corporation – a venture capital backed, SaaS based eDiscovery software company and ACEDS supporter. Matthew just completed an MBA in May (Notre Dame – Mendoza School of Business – ’21) and is presently exploring various in-house counsel opportunities. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf and chasing after his two Corgis. Matthew is married to Kaitlin (nee Lavery) of Newtown, CT who works in the mobile advertising industry.
Claire Caruso
Public Relations & Marketing
Claire Caruso is a Director at Lighthouse Global on the Spectra team, serving the Midwest to the East Coast. She has been in the eDiscovery industry since 2014. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, yoga and meeting kindred spirits. Having been a member of ACEDS previously Claire is excited to officially join the Chicago chapter as the Public Relations & Marketing Director.
Kevin Hearn
Membership Director
Kevin Hearn is a Certified E-Discovery Specialist and has participated as a Director at Large and Board member since the start of the ACEDS Chicago Chapter. Kevin has been in the eDiscovery industry since 2014 and currently manages eDiscovery Technology & Services for Thomson Reuters in both IL & WI. Mr. Hearn currently lives in Glen Ellyn, IL with his wife and 1 year old son and is thrilled to be apart of ACEDS Chicago for another year!
Alicia Hawley
Director at Large
Alicia Hawley is an Innovation Award-winning Senior Discovery Attorney in the Chambers-ranked eDiscovery & Information Practice Group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. A former white collar criminal defense attorney, she brings a unique perspective and skillset to eDiscovery practice including critical narrative development, getting ahead of the “story,” and marrying a matter’s facts to its legal strategy. She is an industry expert on leveraging technology and AI and argued and won a progressive decision in the Northern District of Illinois in Livingston v. the City of Chicago regarding the use of Technology Assisted Review in litigation practice. In addition to her many speaking engagements, Alicia is currently the chair of the Sedona Conference Working Group 6 brainstorming committee on Lifting Legal Holds, on the Sedona Conference Working Group 1 TAR Primer drafting team, and the Director of the Women in eDiscovery Chicago Chapter.
Abigail Mast
Director at Large
Abigail Mast is a senior project manager with Perkins Coie's E-Discovery Services & Strategy practice. She has an extensive background in the legal industry, beginning her career as a litigation paralegal. She has experience managing all phases of the e-discovery lifecycle for Am Law 100 and Fortune 500 companies on a broad range of matters including antitrust, bankruptcy, criminal and white-collar litigation, investigations, labor and employment, patent, and product liability. Abigail collaborates with legal teams to develop comprehensive discovery workflows that leverage technology to target relevant data, enhance and manage document review, and conserve cost. Drawing on her paralegal experience, she brings an invaluable approach for developing case strategies. She proactively consults with legal teams on e-discovery best practices while creatively constructing solutions to meet client needs. Abigail has also been a guest lecturer at Roosevelt University teaching students the EDRM and is currently co-teaching Legal Technology.
Matthew Poplawski
Director at Large
Matthew W. Poplawski (Chicago) is a Senior eDiscovery Attorney who advises clients on e-Discovery issues in complex commercial litigation, multi-district products liability litigation, Hart-Scott-Rodino Second Requests, and other regulatory investigations. He is a member of the strategic planning team for the Seventh Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital Information, a lead editor of the Duke University/EDRM working group on Technology-Assisted Review Guidelines published in February 2019, and a member of the George Washington University working group on Proportionality. Mr. Poplawski is a senior member of Winston’s eDiscovery Group, which has received Band 2 Chambers ranking. He has been named as a “Key Lawyer” within Winston’s Tier 1 eDiscovery practice group as ranked by The Legal 500. Mr. Poplawski is a member of the Leadership Committee of Winston & Strawn’s eDiscovery & Information Governance Practice Group and a co-editor of the firm’s eDiscovery Advantage client newsletter. He has counselled clients on all aspects of e-discovery, including document retention, preservation, collection, search terms, Rule 26(f) conferences, e-discovery motion practice, production format, data culling, analytical document review, predictive coding, and document production. He has built “eDiscovery Blueprints” for clients to improve legal defensibility, project management, and cost forecasting and control. Mr. Poplawski also co-leads Winston’s “Analytics Team” that specializes in assisting clients and case teams with the application of advance search and retrieval engines including Technology-Assisted Review.
John Randall
Director at Large
Bruce Malter
Director at Large
John Pappas Jr., Esq.
Director at Large