MEET JEFF
Associate Director | Review Management | Dayton, Ohio
I love the human element of the work.
What is your role at Array? What is a typical day like for you?
My role at Array is to oversee and develop our Review Managers for Array’s managed document review offering, as well as to manage some of our projects myself. This is a role straddling the worlds of our document review teams and the clients who depend on us to complete their document productions in an accurate and timely fashion. There is seldom such a thing as a “typical day” in this role, but depending on the needs of our individual projects, clients, and department, my job is mostly one of communication: with our teams to understand their roles and how our clients need them; with clients to ensure we understand their needs and expectations, and to update on what we are doing to meet and exceed them; and to our vendors and internal clients to ensure technology and humans are working efficiently together.
Why do you do this type of work? What do you like about your job?
Our review teams learn and understand the facts of any matter we take on, which gives us the opportunity to learn about every kind of business under the sun. Even more than that, I love the human element of the work. So much of the world, including the legal industry, treats people as cogs in a large machine. When it comes down to it, people make it all work, and the chance to get to work with so many people, with so many backgrounds and interests, means that if I am paying attention, this job will never stop being fascinating.
What is an example of your most creative or impactful work? (Tell us about a time you went above and beyond or met a unique challenge)
The job of a review manager really becomes important when the challenges emerge. One project on which we have worked for some time involved redaction of HIPAA information in clinical trial documents. This involved some documents too large for the vendor’s review technology to manage. Given the situation, we needed to find a solution outside of the usual tools available. I learned how to work with these documents in native form to create defensible redactions we could then return to the database for production. Some of these documents, even if the database had been able to handle them, would have required well over 50 hours each to complete; I developed a process that allowed me to handle several each day, creating not only timely productions, but tremendous cost savings for the client.
What do you think is the “Array advantage”? Why do clients trust Array?
The people with whom I work every day are very good at what they do. Our managed review services offering brings a wealth of industry experience, from the staffing process all the way through to production. And the administrative team at Array provides tremendous resources to bear that help all of us do our jobs better.
Describe Array in five words or less.
Good people doing great things.
What did you do before Array? How do you apply that experience to your work today?
My career has included the practice of law at two law firms, and work in various roles in managed document review processes and management. I feel the combination of legal practice and discovery-focused work has provided important insights into not only what we do, but why. It allows me to focus my communications with law firms, corporate counsel, e-discovery vendors, and document review attorneys with insights into the needs and expectations of each group.
What are you most likely up to when you are off-the-clock?
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family. With two children in high school now, I want to take time to appreciate all the time I can with them. I also enjoy writing, reading, and visiting our local parks, and volunteering as a coach with our local high school’s writing club.
What is something that would surprise people about you?
I have a published book of poetry, and I spent three weeks touring Europe before my senior year of high school playing trumpet with an honors concert band.
What is the most recent thing you learned about or taught yourself to do? (does not have to be work related)
As with many in this day and age, I had to teach myself to take a proctor-guided online Covid test. It was almost exactly as much fun as one might imagine, but it allowed me to help both my daughter and my son through the process.
