On July 8, I sat down with Chris Weiler, the CEO and Founder of KLDiscovery, via WebEx. Chris and I covered a broad range of topics, including the lessons he has learned providing technology and services to the legal industry, how he would suggest in-house counsel evaluate eDiscovery service providers, and the most likely new eDiscovery developments.
Chris Weiler’s ties to technology services in the legal industry date back to his founding of On-Site Sourcing in 1992 after his military service as a naval officer. On-Site Sourcing provided services for litigation copying and digital printing. Chris then went on to found LDiscovery in the first quarter of 2005, which became KLDiscovery in 2016.
Career Development and Legal Industry Lessons
Chris discusses his entry into the legal services industry as an entrepreneur. During his time as CEO of OnSite Sourcing, he learned that “the legal profession is a nonstop, 24-7, 365 business,” which is the cornerstone of his customer service mindset.
How Should In-House Counsel Evaluate eDiscovery Service?
Chris explains how in-house counsel can evaluate the service mindset of a potential vendor on the front end, and how they can better determine the consistency of the service mentality.
eDiscovery Industry: What’s Next?
Chris discusses industry consolidation and how companies are “challenging the norm or the paradigm” that currently exists.
Listen Aggressively
Chris discusses his commitment to one-on-one meetings with every KLDiscovery employee and being “laser focused” during these meetings to listen aggressively for improvements that can be made within the corporation.
KLDiscovery provides eDiscovery, information governance, and data recovery solutions to law firms and corporate clients. The company has a global footprint, operating in 19 countries, and has 1,235 full time employees. After adding contract attorneys, that total equals roughly 1,900 employees.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at csanko@bakerdonelson.com. I would love to hear from you.
LeanDiscovery: Sitting with the C-Suite is a series of interviews designed to provide in-house legal counsel with a birds-eye view of the eDiscovery marketplace, particularly its various technology and service providers. A key component of great eDiscovery management and execution is having a great supply chain. Sitting with the C-Suite is a forum to hear directly from the C-Suite of various eDiscovery providers about the marketplace history, current and future service offerings, and expectations of things to come. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any of the speakers, or the companies, services and technology that they represent, by either the interviewer or Baker Donelson. The views expressed are those of the speaker. Baker Donelson’s eDiscovery team seeks to provide the best client value throughout the eDiscovery life cycle. If you have any companies or speakers that you would like to see featured, please feel free to reach out to us at LeanDiscovery@bakerdonelson.com.
