Eric J. Parham
**** ****** ******, ***** *****, Colorado 80033 614-***-**** ****.******@*****.***
Seasoned legal and e-discovery managerial professional defined by critical thinking and intellectual curiosity with strong litigation and project management experience across multiple civil and criminal corporate disciplines. Analytical, focused and technically savvy, yet pragmatic with proven success in setting priorities, solving problems and meeting deadlines in high-pressure, high-stakes highly regulated industries.
CORE ATTRIBUTES
Over 30 years of legal practice, over 10 years of e-discovery project management experience, federal security clearance, internal investigations, Relativity Administrator trained, GDRP compliance trained, polished communication skills, courtroom and board room seasoned, partner and business owner
PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAREER
RYLEY, CARLOCK & APPLEWHITE Denver, Colorado/Grand Rapids, Michigan
Project Manager August 2016 – March 2019
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Joined the firm (“RCA”) in June of 2015 and was promoted to manage the largest ongoing Relativity based managed e-discovery project in the country in August of 2016 and successfully did so until March 2019, creating structure and stability in an ambiguous and fluid environment and within budget pursuant to a Master Service Agreement with the client. The project involves the production of electronic financial data (structured and unstructured) to various federal investigators, regulators and opposing counsel representing individual claimants in multiple jurisdictions related to the financial crisis of 2013. The client is exposed for up to $2 billion. The project and management thereof involves:
Swiss bank (RCA’s largest client) requiring a clean room work environment and eight law firms (including RCA)
Management of EDRM process for arbitrations, investigations and prosecutions before the Department of Justice - US Attorney’s Office; Securities and Exchange Commission; Federal Bankruptcy Court; Federal Court in Southern District of New York, and FINRA within budget memorialized in a Master Service Agreement
Management of EDRM process for multiple class-action suits and thousands of individual claimants a minimum claim value of $2 Million with day-to-day management and tracking of 100-125 claims in various stages of litigation and discovery.
Management of leadership team (8) and staff attorney team (25-40) in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Performance of administration of Relativity database currently containing over 9 million email and related bank financial records (an additional 4 million records have been culled during my tenure, reducing client hosting costs)
ACHIEVEMENTS
Reduced RCA personnel costs by reorganizing and streamlining leadership team while simultaneously obtaining raises for Grand Rapids staff attorneys to align with market rate
Increased firm revenue during my tenure as the client assigned four additional outside counsel law firms to work with the firm on the project
Advised on, contributed to, and implemented new protocol to control client’s entire project affecting all outside counsel and vendors; including but not limited to direct, substantial participation in training outside counsel (60 attorneys) on the new protocol
Conceived and implemented numerous internal protocols achieving increased workflow efficiencies and reduced client costs/risks
Advised on, contributed to, and implemented 14-month long sub-project to remediate substantial client risk
Drafted playbooks for sub-projects documenting all steps taken and why for purposes of justifying means and methods to federal investigators and regulators
Led 8-hour workshops at clients’ New York headquarters involving eight in-house counsel (including the head of “Wealth Management Americas” litigation), multiple attorneys from seven law firms and a key technology vendor
Cultivated trust and sustained open lines of communication with clients’ General Counsel’s office, executive management, scores of attorneys from numerous outside counsel law firms, various vendors and RCA attorneys
Travelled to RCA’s Grand Rapids office from Denver over 100 times.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Served as main point of contact and liaised with client, outside counsel and various vendors to devise and implement policy, procedures and protocol based on best practices and strategies to meet deadlines and mitigate risk, fines and sanctions.
Reporting
Preparation of spreadsheet detailing exact status of all pending claims and provision to client, all outside counsel, vendors and internal RCA personnel every Monday
Lead on conference call with client, all outside counsel, vendors and internal RCA personnel every Thursday discussing exact status of all pending claims and any issues related to the overall project
Lead on monthly executive call attended by the following for the client: Executive Director - Wealth Management (member of the Americas Litigation Group and the head of the Wealth Management Americas Litigation Group); Director and Global e-Discovery Counsel; Head of Global eDiscovery Vendor & Cost Management; Director of Global eDiscovery & Analytics - Vendor & Cost Management
Performed Root Cause Analysis investigations and prepared reports for incidences that may require remediation or federal regulator notification detailing what happened, how it happened, who was responsible, what remedial measures have been taken, how the issue will be avoided going forward, and potential client exposure
Preparation and submission of specialized reports based on client requirements.
Technology
Leveraged existing technologies to increase efficiencies and minimize risk
Performed protocol and process conceptualization, development, implementation management and improvement
Performed quality control conceptualization, development, implementation management and improvement
Performed Relativity Database Administration and complex search creation
General
Risk identification, management, mitigation; served as escalation point of contact regarding client risk
Advised and trained outside legal counsel on compliance with procedures and protocol established by client
Received and responded to 200-300 email a day from client, outside counsel, vendors and RCA personnel
Supervised the Grand Rapids project management staff and staff attorneys
Attended technology conferences
Responsible for monthly billing review and approval
FALCON DISCOVERY Denver, Colorado
Case Manager July 2014 – June 2015
Case Manager and Team Lead management of contract attorney teams on Relativity-based projects, served as point of contact for clients and outside counsel, performed implementation of best practices and QC protocols and strategies and progress reporting to clients.
Technical consultation and strategy Project planning
Staff support, training and direction Identifying efficiencies
Data analysis Reporting
Relativity Database Administration Quality Control Design/Implementation Management
TECHLAW SOLUTIONS Golden, Colorado
Attorney Project Manager April 2013 – May 2014
Performed technical and procedural management of Relativity and other databases pursuant to EDRM standards for the entire technical life cycle of the e-discovery review process including people management, workflow administration, processing electronic data for use within various review platforms including Relativity, and other technical tasks. Maintained daily contact with clients and outside counsel, including responding to counsel requests for database assistance, developed and implemented best practices and project specific protocols and strategies
Provided technical consultation and strategy; Performed database administration and hosting
Created Relativity databases and imported and exported data
Manipulated or reformatted data using various text editing and comparative software tools including SQL
Prepared and formatted data load files, including programmatic reformatting of data as needed to satisfy input requirements
Created custom production deliverables including creation of case specific quality control reviews and validation of production specifications prior to release to the end users
Performed complex search creation
Prepared and submitted specialized reports based on client requirements
Leveraged existing technologies to increase efficiencies and minimize risk
Managed quality control design and performed implementation management
Software utilized: Relativity, EnCase, Concordance, iCONECT; Kroll Ontrack, NUIX, Ringtail, SQL
BLACK LETTER DISCOVERY Columbus, Ohio
Attorney Project Manager September 2009 – January 2013
Managed contract attorney teams of up to 70 attorneys
Served as main point of contact for clients and outside counsel
Developed and implemented best practices
Developed and implemented quality control protocol and strategy
Performed daily progress reporting and drafting of final reports to clients
Software utilized: Concordance, FYI, iConect, Kroll Ontrack, Ringtail, Relativity, Stratify, Xerox
LEGAL CAREER
RYLEY, CARLOCK & APPLEWHITE Denver, Colorado
Staff Attorney June 2015 – August 2016
Electronic document review, including Privilege review, for complex civil litigation for Fortune 500 companies including, but not limited to, DOJ, SEC, FINRA and other Governmental and Internal Investigations.
BLACK LETTER DISCOVERY Columbus, Ohio
Contract Attorney 2008 – 2013
Electronic document review, including Privilege and Second Requests, for complex civil litigation for Fortune 500 companies including, but not limited to, Anti-trust, Employment, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Tax, Government Investigations, and Internal Investigations.
LAW OFFICES OF ERIC J. PARHAM Charlotte and Durham, North Carolina
Founder/Sole Proprietor - Litigation
TODD, PARHAM, HARRIS & DIXON, PLLC: Charlotte, North Carolina
Co-founder/Managing Partner - Litigation
COZEN & O'CONNOR: Charlotte, North Carolina
Associate - Litigation
JONES, DAY, REAVIS AND POGUE Washington, DC
Staff Attorney - Litigation
LAW OFFICES OF PETER G. ANGELOS Baltimore, Maryland
Attorney – Litigation
HONORABLE MICHAEL L. RANKIN, ASSOCIATE JUDGE, DC SUPERIOR COURT Washington, DC
Law Clerk (Full-time during law school)
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE Washington, DC
Law Clerk (Full-time during law school)
EDUCATION
Georgetown University Law Center Washington, DC
Juris Doctorate
University of London, Kings College Law School London, England
International and Comparative Law Exchange Program with Georgetown
Duke University Durham, North Carolina
Bachelor of Arts, History and Sociology
American University Washington, DC
Political Science Exchange Program with Duke