As Founder and Executive Chairman of X1, John leads the company’s strategy and business development efforts. He has an extensive background and expertise in eDiscovery and corporate compliance, combining strong knowledge of both the law and the supporting technologies in those areas. Prior to joining X1, John served as a consultant providing strategic planning and product strategies to eDiscovery and compliance solution providers. John also spent nearly a decade at Guidance Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: GUID) where he held senior management positions, including Chief Strategy Officer, Vice Chairman, Chief Legal Officer and President and CEO. While at Guidance, John led the transition of the company from start-up to a major enterprise software firm and grew revenues from $5 million to $40 million during his tenure.

Prior to joining Guidance, John spent eight years practicing law in the fields of commercial litigation and business transactions. John received an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and a JD from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Case Law Update: Social Media Screenshots Held Inadmissible Under the Best Evidence Rule

The most important case of 2021 so far concerning social media evidence is arguably Edwards v. Junior State of America Foundation, No. 4:19-CV-140-SDJ, (US Dist. CT, E.D. Texas April 23, 2021). …

Social Media Algorithms Foster Relevant Evidence in Litigation

Recently I participated in a webinar on technology and politics sponsored by USC Center for the Political Future. I mostly managed to steer clear of the political discussion and instead …

Index and Search In-Place Workflows Key to Reducing eDiscovery Costs and Risks

Most core eDiscovery costs (outside of attorney review) stem from over-collection of electronically stored information (ESI). While direct collection costs can seem inexpensive, law firm Nelson Mullins notes that “over …

Dark Data is an Unmet Cyber Security Challenge

Enterprises today are creating and storing massive volumes of unstructured data, distributed across the enterprise at a very fast pace. IT experts refer to this data type as “dark data.” …

eDiscovery Services Are Undergoing a Major Transformation

Recent research from industry analyst Greg Buckles at the eDiscovery Journal highlights soaring valuations for eDiscovery tech firms. For the first time in the history of the industry, multiple eDiscovery …

Facebook Groups are an Important Source of Electronic Evidence

Facebook Groups are moderated online forums on the social media giant’s platform where often thousands of users engage with and share content with others. The groups can be either private …

Pre-Collection Keyword Searches: Where Angels May Fear to Tread but Not Attorneys with the Right eDiscovery Software

One of the key cases involving the principles of proportionality under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1), is McMaster v. Kohl’s Dep’t Stores, Inc., (E.D. Mich. July 24, (2020).  McMaster …

Relativity and X1 Publish Joint Legal Whitepaper on ESI Collection Best Practices

Relativity and X1 have published a joint legal whitepaper on the topic of full-disk imaging as a disfavored collection practice in civil litigation, with Relativity eDiscovery attorney David Horrigan as …

X1 Social Discovery Case Law Update

  X1 Social Discovery had a key mention in a US Federal Court decision published last week. Edwards v. Junior State of America Foundation, No. 4:19-CV-140-SDJ, (US Dist. CT, E.D. …

Industry Experts from Relativity and Insight Optix Discuss Operationalizing Proportionality

  Industry experts including Relativity eDiscovery attorney David Horrigan, Relativity Product Manager Greg Evans and Insight Optix CEO Mandi Ross addressed utilizing cutting-edge ESI collection processes and technologies to effectuate …

On TAP: Targeted, Automated, and Proportional Collection for Modern e-Discovery

Proportionality is now the hottest legal issue in the area of eDiscovery, with the largest number of eDiscovery-related cases in the past year addressing the subject. eDiscovery attorney Kelly Twigger …

Why Post-Level Parsing is Critical for Effective Social Media Evidence Collection

As succinctly noted by The Florida Bar Association in its publication, Florida Law Journal: “Social media is everywhere. Nearly everyone uses it. Litigants who understand social media–and its benefits and limitations–can immeasurably …

Full Disk Imaging Not Required for eDiscovery Collections

In Fact, Courts and Legal Commentators Disfavor the Practice     By John Patzakis[1]   The collection and preservation of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) in the enterprise remains a significant …

Meeting Modern Discovery Demands with Relativity Collect and X1

  As we’ve all heard time and again, 2020 was a transformative year—and in our space, it has had a huge impact and really changed the way people work. With …

The Reddit Evidence Hotbed: Three Important Tips for Reddit Web Investigations

By John Patzakis and Ashley Aranega   Over the past two weeks, stock traders fueled by Reddit message boards have engaged in a classic short squeeze that could involve potentially …

eDiscovery Collection of Large File Shares: An Unaddressed Major Pain Point

  One of the major unaddressed challenges for eDiscovery and other digital investigations involves very large file servers that host shared documents. The data volumes for these file shares is …

Traditional eDiscovery Processing is Now Obsolete

  eDiscovery can be a very expensive process and time consuming when traditional methods are employed. With legacy processes, from the time ESI collection starts, it often takes weeks for …