Law Knowledge Management Advisory Board

 

Vishal Agnihotri
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Vishal Agnihotri has held operational, consulting and leadership roles for over 20 years in enterprise Knowledge Management spanning business research, knowledge technology implementation, training and adoption, knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and social learning. 

She has led Knowledge Management groups at two law firms and two Big 4 firms. She currently leads the Knowledge Management and Research Services group at Hinshaw & Culbertson. 

Prior to Hinshaw, Vishal was Akerman LLP's first Chief Knowledge Officer and steered the development and implementation of processes and systems to help her rapidly growing firm to sustain a competitive edge and serve its clients well.

Previously, as the Americas Financial Services Head of Knowledge at EY (formerly known as Ernst & Young), she oversaw the team dedicated to the Americas Financial Services practice to ensure that this highly successful regional practice of 7,000 practitioners was equipped with enabling services, tools and insights. Prior to EY, she was at KPMG where she built a progressive track record of delivering strategic enterprise-level programs with multi-disciplinary global teams while guiding matrixed stakeholders through the associated change.  Vishal started her career in Knowledge Management at a boutique research and advisory firm which supported Fortune 500 clients with market perspective that informed and provoked their new product development, new market entry, strategic growth and innovation efforts. 
 
Vishal holds an MBA from the University of Leicester (UK). She frequently speaks on Knowledge Management in the professional services firm, and her audiences have included the Lex Mundi Roundtables, ILTA, The Ark Group Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession Conferences, APQC, E2, IABC's Intranet Global Forum, Digital Workplace Group, and the EY Human Capital Conference. She previously blogged at idearipples.tumblr.com

 

Becky Bowman
Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz

Becky Bowman is the Chief Research and Information Analysis Officer for Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, headquartered in Memphis, TN. Becky began her library career as a high school Librarian and then moved to the public Library before landing at Baker Donelson thirty years ago. She has been a member of several advisory boards and has taught paralegal classes on research at one of the local universities. Becky is a member of AALL and SLA.

 

Ed Brandwein
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler

Ed Brandwein is the Head Librarian for the law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler in NYC. He has worked as a law librarian for over twenty years. His experience has included a stint with the US Justice Department along with positions at a number of different law firms. Ed has a J.D. from New York Law School and a Masters in Library Science from the City University of New York. He is also a member of the NY Bar and the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY).

 

Magalie Desince  
White & Case LLP  
Magalie Desince is the Associate Director of Research & Information Services at White & Case LLP.  She has been with the firm since 2006.  She has Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Boston University and a Master’s degree of Library and Information Services from Simmons College in Massachusetts.  

Ms. Desince is a member of AALL and is an active member of the local chapter the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY) where she served on the board and she is currently the Co-Chair of PLLIP’s membership committee.  Ms. Desince is an active member of the local                                  chapter of SLA’s NY Diversity Committee.

Barbara Folensbee-Moore
Venable LLP
I am the first firm-wide Director of Library Services at Venable LLP.  I have been in law libraries for over 25 years and I am enjoying putting all that experience into play in creating my new role at Venable.  I thoroughly enjoy working in the law firm environment and helping the lawyers and staff with research needs.  For the past several years my efforts have been to expand library training firm-wide and get the Venable library users to take advantage of all the great resources available to them through the library.  We have offices across the country so making an effort to visit each one on at least a yearly basis and establish a personal relationship with the lawyers in the different offices has been part of the awareness effort at Venable.


I have an MLS from Emory University and a JD from the University of Georgia.  I live on a 60 ft power yacht in Baltimore harbor and split my time between our Baltimore and DC offices every week.  I like taking classes on different subjects and my current efforts are in learning piloting and navigation so I can be the official navigator (other than our GPS system) when we are out on the water.


Cathy Hardy
Fenwick & West
Catherine Hardy is the Research and Intelligence Manager at Fenwick & West LLP.  Cathy, has over 25 years of experience in a variety of law library settings.  In her role at Fenwick and West she is responsible for all aspects of the Research and Competitive Intelligence function including selection, implementation and budgeting strategies for research tools.  As part of the Knowledge and Innovation Development Department at Fenwick, she is engaged in integrating external and internal information and processes to deliver actionable data to support our client’s goals.  Prior to joining Fenwick and West Cathy held similar positions at Hanson Bridgett, Heller Ehrman, and Venture Law Group. Cathy received her B.A. and her Masters in                                   Library Science from UCLA.

Susan Hesse
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Since 2003, Susan Hesse has been Director of Information Services at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a pre-eminent mergers and acquisitions firm, where she supervises 9 very busy reference librarians and a technical services staff of 4. Prior to that she was Electronic Services Librarian at Wachtell. She has an undergraduate degree from Barnard College, an MLS from Columbia University, and over 25 years’ experience in law firm and corporate law libraries. She is a member of AALL and LLAGNY. She is particularly interested in the creative use of technology to improve research services and the visibility of the Library.

 

Diana Koppang
Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
Diana Koppang is the Director of Research & Competitive Intelligence at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP in Chicago. In this role, she directs a team of librarians who manage all research, competitive intelligence, alerts, and knowledge management initiatives for the firm. Diana is currently the Vice Chair/Chair-Elect of the Private Law Librarians and Information Professionals (PLLIP) section of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). She is a past board member of the Chicago chapter of AALL and past chair of the Intellectual Property Caucus of PLLIP. Diana has presented at conferences for AALL, the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries, Chicago Association of Law Libraries, and the Patent Information Users Group. She has also guest lectured for intellectual property research courses at Northwestern University and Boston University. Her programs have focused on the topics of patent and trademark research, social media investigations, and legal analytics. Diana received her Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004 and a B.A. in Finance from the same university in 2001.

 

Jill Poretta
Cozen O’Connor
Jill Poretta is the Director of Research and Business Intelligence at Cozen O’Connor. She is an active member of AALL, serving as the Annual Meeting Local Arrangements Co-Chair in 2015 and of GPLLA, where she has served as a Director and presented on various topics relating to legal research platforms and efficiency. Jill also served on the think and code Advisory Panel in 2014. She earned her J.D. from the City University of New York, and her B.A. from Muhlenberg College, where she is still actively involved in fundraising, alumni and mentoring efforts. Jill resides in Haddonfield, NJ with her family, and serves as the Treasurer for Haddonfield Child Care, and as coach and board member of Haddonfield Youth Softball and Haddonfield Youth Field Hockey, which she helped found in 2014.

 

 

Monica Wilson
Nelson Mullins
Monica Wilson is Manager of Library and Research Services at Nelson Mullins, a 565 attorney firm with 18 offices mainly on the east coast.  She has over two decades of experience providing attorneys, management and other firm personnel with legal and business research solutions. Monica partners with practice group leaders and the business development team to advance the firm’s strategic goals. She serves on the firm’s technology committee.