NEW YORK, NY AND ORLANDO, FL (November 6, 2013) - Littler Mendelson, P.C. (Littler), the world’s largest employment and labor law firm representing management, has added two attorneys to the firm’s nationally-recognized Electronic Discovery (eDiscovery) practice. Denise Backhouse joins the firm as a shareholder resident in its New York office, and Catherine Losey joins as an associate resident in the Orlando office, further expanding Littler’s eDiscovery Team.
“Littler was one of the first firms in the country to recognize the transformative impact eDiscovery would have on virtually every aspect of evidence in litigation and information management in the workplace and to hire attorneys at the shareholder level dedicated exclusively to managing eDiscovery worldwide. Since we founded our eDiscovery practice in 2007, our clients’ needs in this area have grown substantially,” said Paul Weiner, Littler’s National eDiscovery Counsel and head of the firm’s eDiscovery practice.
The addition of Backhouse and Losey underscores the firm’s position as a leader in one of the fastest-growing practice areas in the legal profession. Littler’s eDiscovery team is dedicated full time to managing eDiscovery worldwide and is comprised of eDiscovery lawyers, litigation support professionals and the Littler National Data Center. Other lawyers on Littler’s eDiscovery team include Aaron Crews, a shareholder resident in the firm’s Sacramento office; Lauren Schwartzreich, an associate resident in the firm’s New York office; and Niloy Ray, an associate resident in the firm’s Chicago office. Littler remains the only labor and employment firm in the world that employs a full-time team of attorneys dedicated exclusively to eDiscovery.
“The fact that we are once again expanding our nationwide footprint of eDiscovery lawyers reinforces the firm’s commitment to providing clients with leading-edge solutions in this subspecialty of the law,” added Weiner. “Our nationwide search focused on lawyers with a unique mix of specialized eDiscovery credentials and ‘hands-on’ litigation experience. When we met Denise and Cat, we knew right away we had found a perfect fit that will allow us to continue to meet the ever-increasing demand from our clients for specialized eDiscovery services.”
About Denise Backhouse
Prior to joining Littler, Backhouse served as of counsel at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where she was a leading member of the firm’s eData practice. In that capacity, she provided a wide spectrum of eDiscovery services in corporate dispute, antitrust, regulatory and white collar matters, as well as complex commercial litigation and labor and employment matters.
“When Littler initially approached me to expand their eDiscovery group, the more I heard, the more I liked, especially given the firm’s growing international footprint,” said Backhouse. “I look forward to focusing a significant part of my practice litigating the eDiscovery aspects of class and collective actions, as well as leveraging my significant international experience to help clients with cross-border eDiscovery matters.”
Active in a number of professional organizations, Backhouse is a member of The Sedona Conference® Working Group 1 (U.S.) and Working Group 6 (International); the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) and the International Association of Privacy Professionals, where she has been certified as an Information Privacy Professional/Europe. She is also a member of the In-House/Outside Litigation Counsel Group of the New York City Bar Association.
Backhouse received her J.D. from Columbia Law School where she was a Stone Scholar and managing editor of the Journal of Law and Social Problems. She received both her M.A. and B.A. from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
About Catherine Losey
Losey is an author and educator in the field of eDiscovery. Prior to joining Littler, she was a litigation associate at Akerman Senterfitt, where she had a diverse litigation practice in state and federal court that included litigating labor and employment matters and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) cases. In the employee benefits area, her experience includes representing one of the nation’s largest insurance carriers in life benefit claim cases governed by ERISA.
“Littler offered the opportunity to focus full time on eDiscovery by joining an established team of eDiscovery lawyers with a nationwide and global footprint that provides targeted advice, strategy and ‘hands-on’ assistance in all types of labor and employment cases,” said Losey.
Losey joined Littler fresh off co-organizing the IT-Lex eDiscovery “Innovate Conference” in Winter Park, Fla. In addition to being a member of IT-Lex, Losey is also a member of the Central Florida Association for Women Lawyers and the Junior League of Greater Orlando. She volunteers her time to the Orange County Teen Court and IDignity and is a former Guardian ad Litem of the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association.
Losey received her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law and her B.A. from the University of Florida.
