Press Release - Sedgwick Names Two Partners to Head Firm’s E-Discovery Practice Group

January 2007

Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP announced that Partners Ken Rashbaum and Keith Casto have been named co-chairs of the firm's Electronic Discovery (E-Discovery), Data Management and Compliance Practice Group. Both are nationally recognized in the field.

"The role of technology continues to provide both infinite opportunities and pitfalls, particularly when it comes to managing data ," said Kevin Dunne, firm chairman. "Today's corporations require sophisticated attorneys like Ken and Keith who are able to turn a potentially overwhelming amount of data into a navigable source of information."

"The success or failure of a case can hang on the balance of a single electronic document, at a time when corporate e-mail messages number nearly 40 billion a day," said Ken Rashbaum.

"The proverbial 'needle in the haystack' has become a dangerous reality for corporate America. Business leaders must ensure they have a system in place that can manage and retain electronic records, or expect to face the legal ramifications," added Keith Casto, referring to Sedgwick's E-Discovery Portal. The portal houses essential forms, cases, statutes, regulations, rules and articles relevant to the handling of physical and electronic data. Using web-based collaboration technology provide by the Xerdict Group LLC (a Sedgwick subsidiary), the portal offers Sedgwick clients and attorneys direct access to the practical, up-to-date information they need to avoid and, where necessary, prepare for and efficiently manage litigation involving this rapidly evolving area of law.

Rashbaum, nationally recognized as a thought leader in the area of electronic discovery, counsels corporations on data management, privacy and security, including offshore outsourcing of data services. He also handles advises clients on Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, state identity theft protection, and state and federal privacy laws. He has lectured and published extensively on the preservation of confidential electronic data, and was selected to join the Sedona Conference's® Working Group 6: International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure. As a member of this prestigious group, he works to develop an in-depth understanding of electronic information management for entities facing conflicts of laws as a result of litigation exposure and/or regulation in multiple jurisdictions. Rashbaum received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the State University of New York, College at New Paltz, and his J.D. from Hofstra University School of law.

Casto has had significant experience advising clients on electronic records retention, data management and electronic discovery issues in the context of business litigation and environmental regulatory compliance and management system audits.  He has also lectured and written extensively on electronic discovery and environmental regulatory compliance issues. His environmental law expertise stems from his ten years of practice at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and over 20 years in private practice in Northern California and Atlanta, Georgia. Casto's environmental toxic tort regulatory and litigation practice encompasses regulatory compliance counseling for all environmental media, due diligence investigation in real estate transactions and corporate mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international environmental audits, environmental management system consultation, civil litigation, and toxic tort defense.