Deborah Baron, chief marketing officer, Nuix
Image: Shane Deleers
>>Deborah Baron will be boasting a new badge when she arrives at LegalTech New York. Formerly of Hewlett-Packard Co./Autonomy, Baron is excited about her move to Nuix. She officially joins the company Sunday (Jan. 27) as its new chief marketing officer, the day before Nuix's invitation-only launch party for Luminate, its new information governance product.
In a conversation with LTN Friday, Baron said she expects her role will quickly evolve beyond marketing and will include products management and helping Nuix define strategies — tasks she handled at her previous gigs. Her immediate goal will be to help Nuix "position the company to navigate the waters of information governance, which is a wide open and uncharted sea." Or, to switch metaphors, "climb a steep mountain. There's no Google map to get to the top," she said. "By bringing me on the team, I'm not going to make the mountain any less steep, but if anyone can help navigate the way, I can," said Baron, citing the value of her extensive past experience with Zantaz, Autonomy, and HP.
Of course, given the recent controversies at Autonomy, I had to ask her if she had been fired. Nope, she left voluntarily, Baron confirmed. But she was quick to say how much she will miss her co-workers.
Her initial plans include "eating the dog food," i.e., diving into Nuix's product lines and learning its nuances. "I will use it on the Enron sandbox," she said, referring to the massive Enron database of electronically stored information that is accessible and frequently used to test technologies.
Initial goals? "To give our clients what they have been asking for: to get behind the firewall and manage their data; to knock down cost and risk." Who does she see as Nuix's key competitors? "I don't know yet. I will have to learn a lot over the next few weeks."
>> Robert Owen, a partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, has been named to the Georgetown Law Advanced E-Discovery Institute Advisory Board. In that role, Owen will be involved in planning programming. Owen also recently assumed the presidency of the Electronic Discovery Institute. He is also active in The Sedona Conferenc, and is a member of LTN's Editorial Advisory Board.
As we head to the Hilton, here are answers to some of this week's FAQs:
>> The Editors' and Bloggers' Breakfast will be held on Day 2 (Wednesday Jan. 30) at the Gibson Suite at the New York Hilton (6th and 53rd). It's located on the second floor, behind the elevators in the "core rooms" areas. Everybody is welcome, you don't need no steeenkin' badges (which you will need for everything else at LTNY). We'll convene the editors at 8 a.m., the bloggers at 9 a.m. ALM Vice President and Editor-in-Chief Aric Press will emcee the first segment; our President and CEO Bill Carter takes over the microphone for the second. As is our custom, each editor and blogger will tell you a bit about their publication, then there's plenty of time to network.
>> Last chance: Monday is your last chance to get a free "Exhibit Plus Pass" that gets you into LTNY's keynotes, plenary session, and exhibit hall. Once the show starts, the cost is $50. Register at www.legaltechshow.com. That's also the place to sign up for other options, including our master pass, single day and team passes.
>>Videos! Check out ALM's booth, on the third floor opposite the West Grand Ballroom, and next to the Exhibit Hall doors. I'll be taping newsmaker videos every day after each keynote address. We'll have monitors so you can watch the interviews live!
>> 2012 LTN Innovation Awards ceremony will be held just before the Day 3 (Thursday Jan. 31) keynote address by Charles Duhigg, author of the best-seller, The Power of Habit. Please join us to applaud the winners at 9 a.m. in the West Grand Ballroom, and enjoy Duhigg's presentation — which I guarantee will be mesmerizing!
>>Evan Koblentz has been following the rookie vendors who are attending LTNY for the first time. Check out his stories here (BEC Legal Systems, eDepoze, Leopard Solutions, AppearByPhone, and Conexiones) and here (e-discovery newbies).
Finally, I couldn't resist bringing this to your attention. Can people really be this stupid?
>> You can't make this stuff up: Mayer Brown CIO David Tesch allegedly bilked the firm out of almost $5 million through a series of phony invoices, and his alleged partner was just unmasked — Nicholas Demars of the now-defunct contracting firm, NS Mater, reports Sara Randazzo. And a former Fried Frank staffer, Adrian Rodriguez, is being prosecuted for allegedly ordering more toner than the firm needed, and then reselling them for $10/box (B&W) and $15/box (color). His scam generated $375,000 worth of pocket change. Read the story here.
Our LTN team hopes to see you at LegalTech New York!
Monica Bay is editor-in-chief of Law Technology News and a member of the California bar. She will introduce the winners of the 2012 LTN Innovation Awards in the West Grand Ballroom of the New York Hilton, Thursday at 9 a.m. Email: mbay@alm.com. Twitter: @lawtechnews @LTNMonicaBay
