Mary Mack, executive director of ACEDS, left, and Kaylee Walstad, vice president of client engagement of ACEDS, right. Mary Mack, executive director of ACEDS, left, and Kaylee Walstad, vice president of client engagement of ACEDS, right. Courtesy photos.

 

Mary Mack and Kaylee Walstad may be leaving their positions at the head of the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), but that doesn't mean that they're leaving e-discovery behind.

Mack, the executive director of ACEDS, and Walstad, its vice president of client engagement, will be leaving the BARBRI-owned organization at the end of October. Mack and Walstad will be performing tasks such as organizing webinars and curating social media through October 31, but then will be on to what Walstad joked "we're calling it 'Mary/Kaylee 2.0' as we percolate."

The two are nearing the end of a three month transition period out of their respective positions—a transition that has allowed the gradual easing of tasks to others within the BARBRI organization, but has also spawned questions as Mack and Walstad have largely stayed silent on the move.

Mack told Legaltech News that at the ILTACON conference in particular, she had a number of people approach her after hearing rumors of the transition. She said people were kind, but the rumors of why she was leaving ran the gamut, from her health (it didn't help that she was using a scooter from a twisted ankle at an earlier conference) to being pushed out of her role.

"People thought I was dying or something like that, and I'm not dying that I know of," Mack joked. She also added, "If we were being pushed out, it'd be the longest transition period in the history of earth."

Walstad said that in the end, "Our overarching messaging has been that it's time of our next adventure."

What people have been asking about, they said, is information about their next gig. Both Mack and Walstad said they want to work together and to remain in the e-discovery community, and they acknowledged that they have been approached by both potential investors and e-discovery industry positions. While their next move isn't yet set in stone, Mack noted that getting back to her roots is also important to her. "What I'm looking forward to is more technical," she explained. "I stopped being hands on eight or nine years ago, and I'm a tech person."

Following their four-plus years at ACEDS, Mack and Walstad will move forward with one piece of knowledge in mind: the benefits of being an outside voice. Walstad said that while the two have a number of conversations around certification, they have also become a resource for e-discovery job movement and placement, looking at business models, and general industry education.

"One of the things that comes up all the time is, please do something where you're Switzerland and people can connect and continue on a lot of education and different things that we've done," Walstad said.

Mack added that in her view, no one company can tackle e-discovery all on their own, given ever-growing and changing nature of the profession. "We all have to cooperate and collaborate with competitors to serve the clients that need to be served."

"To provide a Switzerland environment where competitors can develop relationships on a human level with each other, I see it as more than just a feel good thing," she explained. "I think it's absolutely essential for our profession, and as we're putting down tracks and algorithms and technology in law comes together, that our community that has the intellect and the heart puts themselves into position where they can make a difference. That's altruistic, but it's also commercial."

As for the future of ACEDS, BARBRI is currently interviewing executive director applicants, and BARBRI CEO Stephen Fredette told Legaltech News that he expects to have someone in place by the end of October. He doesn't see the structure of ACEDS changing moving forward, but he does want to integrate some of BARBRI's newly acquired organizations, such as the Center for Legal Studies, to offer a wider array of education "and see if in doing so, we can build a bigger tent."

"Mary and Kaylee have done a wonderful job making the attainment of the ACEDS certification and the prestige of becoming a member of the organization a thing, which is great. And they've done a lot of things through social, networking, and bringing the community together," Fredette said. "My intention is to build on that, but at the same time try to expand on it and take advantage of the strengths that BARBRI brings to the table."

One of those strengths is the organization's international scope, as Fredette noted a desire to grow ACEDS chapters abroad. Some of those chapters, he said, have requested a top-off exam for local law in addition to the CEDES certification to help bridge the gap. The organization is also looking into expanding its ACEDS advisory board, as well as standardizing the process for starting up new ACEDS chapters.

"I definitely plan on expanding, building more training solutions and more educational tracks for people of different levels, whether you be an attorney, a paralegal, or some other sort of professional," he explained.