Legal Data Program Manager

Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned matters and own execution from intake, scoping, and planning through preservation, collection, processing, review, production, and matter closeout.

Translate legal strategy and deadlines into documented project plans, milestones, roles, dependencies, budgets, quality controls, and escalation paths.

Lead matter kickoff calls and recurring status meetings; coordinate internal counsel, outside counsel, business units, technical teams, and service providers.

Provide assistance with meet-and-confer preparation, ESI protocols, search-term negotiations, production specifications, and declarations or documentation concerning discovery processes.

Maintain complete and accurate matter records, including scope decisions, chain-of-custody documentation, data maps, collection logs, exceptions, approvals, productions, and closeout records.

Track matter health, deadlines, data volumes, review progress, risks, issues, spend, and forecast-to-complete; provide concise reporting and escalate material concerns with recommended actions.

Conduct post-matter reviews and coordinate secure data disposition, return, or retention in accordance with legal, contractual, and IBM requirements.

Advise attorneys and case teams on auditable, proportionate, and practical approaches to preservation, collection, search, review, analytics, privilege, and production.

Assess matter complexity, data sources, jurisdictional requirements, privacy constraints, cost drivers, and technical risks; recommend an appropriate execution strategy.

Explain technical concepts, platform capabilities, limitations, and tradeoffs to legal and non-technical audiences and convert decisions into clear operational requirements.

Serve as a trusted advisor during high-risk or high-visibility matters, applying sound judgment and escalating issues promptly.

Evaluate and apply technology-assisted review, continuous active learning, advanced analytics, AI-assisted review, and other automation where appropriate, with documented objectives, validation methods, quality controls, and defensibility considerations.

Develop repeatable workflows, templates, playbooks, and quality-assurance standards that improve consistency and scalability across matters.

Identify operational gaps and recommend process, configuration, integration, or automation improvements based on matter data and lessons learned.

Support the implementation, governance, adoption, and responsible use of approved eDiscovery technologies.

Deliver practical training and guidance to attorneys, case teams, and internal partners on eDiscovery processes and tools.