Shannon Capone Kirk, Chambers Band 1-ranked and Legal 500 Tier 1-ranked in E-Discovery, focuses exclusively on electronic discovery law at both domestic and cross-border levels serving as Ropes & Gray’s Managing Principal & Global Head of the firm’s Advanced E-Discovery and A.I. Strategy practice. According to Business Today, where she was recently awarded the Top 10 Leading Lawyers Shaping E-Discovery and Information Governance Nationwide, Shannon is “among the sharpest attorneys” and “is able to ‘see around corners’ and get ahead of risk and strategic challenges before most others are even aware of them.” As quoted by Chambers, Shannon is “impressive and outspoken when it comes to controlling E-Discovery spend and pursuing advanced workflows for her clients.” Shannon serves global corporations as outside E-Discovery Counsel in large-scale litigation and investigations, with deep experience strategizing on Litigation Readiness Programs, protocols to collect and review data in foreign countries, and on the most efficient, practical, and cost-effective document preservation, collection, and review plan for any given matter. Shannon has mastered the application of machine learning in document review and is ideally positioned to help clients navigate this and the many other aspects of E-Discovery critical to litigation and investigations.
Shannon is a contributing author on several E-Discovery books, including the EDI Judges’ Guide to E-Discovery, specifically the Technology Assisted Review chapter for use by the Federal Bench. Recently awarded as a Thought Leader Nationwide by Who’s Who Legal, Shannon has published numerous cutting-edge articles in leading publications such as Law360, New York Law Journal, Law Technology News, Corporate Legal Times, National Law Journal, among many others, and frequently presents at prestigious institutes including Georgetown Law’s Advanced eDiscovery Institute, the Annual Electronic Discovery Institute (“EDI”) Leadership Summit, and SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Forum examining all aspects of E-Discovery, and in November 2023, Shannon will serve as a faculty member faculty of EDI’s Sixth Annual Judicial Training Symposium.
Notably, Shannon examined on National Public Radio's “All Things Considered” how technology is changing the legal profession, and specifically document review. Shannon was a professor of E-Discovery at Suffolk Law School in Boston for several years.
Shannon also leads Ropes & Gray’s interactive E-Discovery training for attorneys, part of Ropes & Gray’s #1-ranked formal training program for the past several years by Vault.
Experience
E-Discovery Representative Work
- Led E-Discovery strategy around preservation, collection, and Technology Assisted Review in several high-profile data breaches that have made international news in recent years.
- Led E-Discovery strategy around preservation, collection, and Technology Assisted Review in global-reaching international investigation requiring coordination among several business units in several countries and several law firms. Enormity and complexity required coordinated cross-border strategy around China’s State Secrets laws and Non-U.S. Data Privacy Laws.
- Served as National E-Discovery Counsel for clients on matters and policies including, advising on data, privacy, and use policies, and overall Litigation Readiness Management and vendor selection processes, not necessarily confined to a single case.
- Persuaded a federal court to order the production of forensic images of all defendants' desktop computers, laptops, external storage devices, and Blackberrys® in a case involving claims of breach of fiduciary duty, trade secret misappropriation, and violation of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act.
- Successfully argued against the issuance of an adverse inference instruction to a jury for spoliation of evidence in a multi-million dollar breach of contract case.
- Assisted clients with implementing E-Discovery and document retention policies for use in anticipation of and during litigation
- Persuaded an Illinois state court to shift the cost of discovery for review and production of documents from 150,000 back-up tapes, for all practical purposes, ending the litigation.
- Guarded numerous clients from “fishing expeditions” into client’s electronic storage and discovery, saving clients significant litigation expenses.
Representative Litigation Background
- Defended corporate clients in the areas of commercial litigation, contract disputes, mass tort litigation, complex product liability, trademark, MDL and trade secret cases.
- Defended a rubber glove manufacturer against claims for latex allergies in numerous state and federal jurisdictions, including the Multi-District Litigation for NRL claims.
- Lead counsel in temporary injunctive relief case involving private nuisance law and easements. The case attracted TV and newspaper press in Chicago.