In this Project Manager Spotlight, two team members from TLS London sat down for a Q&A session on e-discovery. Regional Director Danielle Giannecchini asked Senior Project Manager Preeti Sharma about her career with TLS, managing multi-language content, and the future of legal technology.

What brought you to TLS and the e-discovery world?

While I was getting my master's degree, I was inspired by a professor who is heavily involved in text analytics and became really interested in the practical applications of machine learning technology. It’s such a fascinating subject and it was natural for me to be in a role that combines technology with real world problems.

I’ve also always enjoyed working with a team to solve complex conundrums!

What have you enjoyed most in your role at TLS?

The London e-discovery team has grown a lot in the last few years, and one of the things I’ve enjoyed most has been creating a lively and dynamic culture with collaboration and exchange of ideas at the forefront.

Having a team of great people is invaluable when collaborating on complex, challenging cases.

Talk to me about multi-language matters and your experience with them.

There’s a lot more to consider with multi-language cases and we consult heavily throughout the process, from search term translation to analytics and TAR.

Being a language services company really differentiates us when it comes to non-English ESI and we’ve developed a solid framework to ensure we’re capturing the right data.

There are so many nuances when more than one language is involved; it has the potential to alter the whole trajectory of a case.

Without giving away the secret sauce, what is your number one piece of advice to our clients who are starting out with a new matter you are assisting with?

It’s essential to collaborate on case specifics so we can foresee downstream needs (and pitfalls) way in advance. Investing a couple of hours at the case onset can steer workflows to maximize efficiency and enables us to predict needs through the life of a case.

Each case is so different—we’ve learned lessons on every single matter and can apply that institutional knowledge accordingly.

The best results come when our clients consider us an extension of their own legal team.

Based on recent trends, what do you expect to see more of by way of legal technology?

We’ve been seeing increases in preparing for future litigation, but there’s a definite spike in cases involving white collar crime and internal investigations, which I expect will only increase as companies face the economic ramifications of COVID-19.

The use of predictive coding and analytics in these matters will be key to minimizing costs, especially where the most important evidence could be a needle in a haystack.

What do you do in your spare time when you aren't a TLS e-discovery ninja?

I love traveling as much as I can, which is obviously limited at the moment, but I’ve been seeing more of the UK and mainland Europe.

A lot of my favorite things like ballet and theater are also on hold so reading, yoga, and barre are keeping me occupied!

Once it’s possible to travel as we all did pre-COVID, where will you go and why?

Anywhere! New Zealand seems perfect for a good adventure. The tickets are already booked and I’m hopeful it’ll go ahead. The landscape there looks incredible! Plus, who doesn’t love Jacinda Ardern?