Q&A: Karli Parker Discusses the Changing E-Discovery Landscape

Karli, could you provide a snapshot of your professional background and your focus areas at FTI Technology?

I’ve been in e-discovery for more than 15 years. Before joining FTI Technology, I worked at a consultancy where I focused on supporting large, global projects. Here, I primarily focus on ensuring follow-the-sun support and global expertise for U.S.-based matters. Our team here in Ireland is an important part of delivering client value in those projects.

What brought you to FTI Technology, and what do you see as the team’s greatest strengths in Ireland?

In my previous role, I was often the resident senior expert. It felt somewhat like I was at the ceiling and I was interested in surrounding myself with people who I could learn new things from. That’s a major aspect of what brought me here to FTI Technology, because I knew I would receive exposure to the top experts in the industry and find more opportunities to learn. I can work on global matters, ask challenging questions and tackle complex problems. I also value the diversity of the people I work with here. It’s energising to be surrounded by colleagues of all ages, backgrounds and expertise. Ultimately, I think the factors that attracted me to work here are also the differentiators that bring unique value to our clients.

What are the top challenges facing clients right now? How are these challenges unique in Ireland compared to the rest of Europe or the rest of the world?

One of the biggest challenges globally is the cost of discovery due to data volumes. However, Ireland quickly adopted predictive coding as part of its legal framework, earlier than some other European jurisdictions and parts of the U.K. One unique aspect in Ireland is the use of categories in e-discovery, which requires specific branches of legal requests to be identified and responded to. This is a challenge when using predictive coding or generative artificial intelligence because we need to understand the nuances of these categories. Irish clients often want to filter data before it's collected to keep review populations narrow, but it’s important to approach this with a workflow that ensures proper categorisation and appropriate application of analytics to reduce costs.

Everyone is talking about generative AI. What are your thoughts on how it will disrupt e-discovery and investigations?

Generative AI is interesting in that it can provide plain language explanations about information derived from large populations of data. There’s a great deal of potential for generative AI to become an important tool in the e-discovery toolbox. However, potential use cases will need to be weighed against the costs, which for now aren’t reasonable for most matters. We must continue exploring what we can achieve with existing tools while preparing for the advancements AI will bring.

What are the largest gaps in terms of client risk awareness or readiness?

Clients are in a constant balancing act because they want to fully understand the impact of their choices in discovery, but they are also cost conscious. For example, if a client is attempting to self collect to save money, it’s not going to save in the long run if the person doing it doesn’t know how to do it in a forensically sound way. Additionally, we’re sometimes still dealing with paper documentation in discovery. We see matters where counsel is looking for old historical data that is only found in paper documents. So, teams need to be creative in how to tackle that in an efficient way. This is where it’s helpful to have a local team that can support the entire e-discovery lifecycle end to end and bring in technology to drive efficiencies where possible.

Do you have any predictions for the year ahead?

Not surprisingly, I expect the buzz surrounding generative AI to continue and grow louder. This makes sense in our industry because people who work in e-discovery love to innovate and enjoy finding novel uses for existing technology. We’re in the business of extending technical skill into uncharted territory. This is another avenue for us to explore, which is exciting, because in doing so and pairing AI with our skills and expertise, we’ll land on some really practical and innovative solutions.  

Is there anything you’d like to share about your life outside of work?

When I’m not at a computer, I’m reading. I love finding used books because they often have their own story. Discovering information is part of what keeps our industry fresh — we’re always seeking more information. It’s the same for me with books. Once I get going, it’s a bit impossible to stop because I need to know what comes next.
 

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.