
JEFFREY SHARER is a veteran lawyer, technologist, and innovator who concentrates on matters at the critical intersection of law, technology, information, and legal operations. He is the Founder and CEO of both lexshift and Sharer Law.
Through Sharer Law, Jeffrey (CIPP/US/E) advises clients on all aspects of privacy and data protection, cybersecurity, information governance, electronic discovery, and related areas across a broad range of industries. Through lexshift, Jeffrey devotes substantial time to developing and implementing innovative models for delivery of legal services in these and other areas, and helping clients to do the same.
By taking a “client first” approach and combining in new ways the respective strengths of law firms, ALSPs, other subject matter experts, and technology, Jeffrey develops solutions that meet clients’ needs for legal advice better, faster, and at lower cost than traditional billable-hour models. Among other things, Jeffrey’s work includes a first-of-its-kind, web-enabled application—developed in collaboration with a leading alternative legal services provider and AI-based technology platform—that automated an AmLaw 100 firm’s legal analysis and advice concerning U.S. data breach notification. Jeffrey was recognized as part of the Fastcase 50’s Class of 2017 and, based on his work, his former firm was highly commended for “Innovation in Collaboration” by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards North America 2016.
Jeffrey also helps clients mitigate risk, reduce cost, and create value through sound, end-to-end governance of enterprise data. Jeffrey works with clients on programs, policies, procedures related to data privacy and security; records retention; litigation preparedness and strategy; defensible disposition; and more. Who’s Who Legal recently recognized Jeffrey for his “commercial acumen and ability to provide solutions for clients and implement effective e-discovery procedures.”
Jeffrey is a longtime member of The Sedona Conference; the Seventh Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital Information; the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP); and ARMA International, among other professional associations. Jeffrey speaks regularly at leading conferences, law schools, and other forums on all aspects of his work.
Practice Areas
Data Law
Privacy and Data Protection
Information Governance
Electronic Discovery
Education
J.D., University of Chicago Law School, 1996; High Honors
A.B., University of Michigan, 1992; Economics and Psychology, High Distinction
Certifications
Certified Information Privacy Professional – United States (CIPP/US)
Certified Information Privacy Professional – Europe (CIPP/E)
Bar Admission
Illinois
Professional Memberships & Activities
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The Sedona Conference, Working Groups 1, 6, and 11
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International Association of Privacy Professionals
Corporate Legal Operations Consortium
American Society of Legal Engineers
ARMA International
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Seventh Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital
Information -
Seventh Circuit Voluntary E-Mediation Program, Mediator
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Electronic Discovery Institute
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American Bar Association
Published Work & Speaking Engagements
- ARMA Infocon 2020: Facilitator, “Defensible Data Remediation at Scale: From Ideas to Action’,” November 12, 2021
- ARMA Infocon 2020: Facilitator, “User-Driven Data Governance: Putting the ‘People’ Back in ‘People, Process, and Technology’,” October 27, 2020
- Webinar, “Data Discovery: What Dangers and Opportunities are Hiding Inside Your Organizational Data?”, April 23, 2020
- Inspire.Legal 2.0, Panelist, “New Offerings and Client/Lawyer/Law Company Collaboration,” February 1, 2020
- Northwestern Law and Technology Initiative, Presenter, “Building a Robot Lawyer: The Actuate Law Data Breach Advisor,” December 5, 2019
- Chicago Roundtable Discussion, Facilitator, “Legal & Regulatory in the 2020s How Legal, Government Affairs & Compliance Professionals Can Prepare for Unprecedented Challenges and Opportunities,” March 14, 2019
- Inspire.Legal 1.0, Panelist, “Productization of Law,” February 1, 2019
- Neota Network User Group, Presenter, “Building Robots In Law,” December 13, 2018
- Hot Topics in E-Discovery Conference (Sandpiper Partners), Presenter, December 13, 2018
- AbbVie Legal AI Day, Presenter, “Robot Lawyers and Cybersecurity? Automating Expertise for Data Breach Notification and Beyond,” November 29, 2018
- Fourth Annual New Law: Disruption and Innovation in the Delivery of Legal Services (Sandpiper Partners), Presenter, November 9, 2018
- Chicago Bar Association, Presenter, “Next Generation Legal Solutions,” October 16, 2018
- Summit on Legal Innovation and Disruption (SOLID East), Faculty, September 13, 2018
- Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Artificial Intelligence and Legal Reasoning, Presenter, “Next Generation Legal Solutions,” September 4, 2018
- Bloomberg BNA Webinar, “Discovery Challenges Posed by Collaborative Work Environments,” July 26, 2018
- Institute for the Future of Law Practice, Presenter, “Robot Lawyers and Other Next Generation Legal Solutions,” May 18, 2018
- Michigan State University College of Law, Computational Law, Presenter, “Building Legal Expert Systems,” February 14, 2018
- University of Michigan Law School, Presenter, “Next Generation Legal Solutions,” February 13, 2018
- LegalTech New York, Panelist, “The Future for ALSPs is Now: How Combined Service/Technology Solutions Build Scale and Leverage Emerging Technologies,” January 30, 2018
- LegalTech New York, Panelist, “George Orwell’s Animal Farm: Prepping for Disaster,” January 28, 2018
- BDO 2017 South Florida Year-End Accounting and Tax Update, Panelist, “Cybersecurity Panel,” December 5, 2017
- EDI Leadership Summit 2017, Panelist, “Doing Innovation: Robot Lawyers, ALSPs and Law Firms, Oh My …,” October 11-13, 2017
- ARMA Live!: Agents of Change, Facilitator, “Robots Meet Records: Using Artificial Intelligence in IG and Privacy,” October 10, 2017
- ARMA Live!: Agents of Change, Facilitator, “Why Your Retention Schedule Should be in a Database, and How to Get There,” October 9, 2017
- Chicago LegalTech Meetup, Presenter, “Next Generation Legal Solutions,” September 28, 2017
- Lorman Webinar, Speaker, “Information Governance for Banking & Financial Services,” September 27, 2017
- Summit on Legal Innovation and Disruption (SOLID East), Presenter, “A Law Firm, An ALSP, and a Tech Company Walk Into a Bar … (Punchline: Clients Won),” September 14, 2017
- ILTACON 2017, Speaker, “Next Generation Legal Solutions,” August 2017
- MER 2017, Speaker, “Privacy: The New Information Governance Imperative,” May 8, 2017
- Thomson Reuters Webinar, Speaker, “The Changing Legal Landscape,” April 26, 2017
- CISO Summit, Speaker, “Automating Information Governance,” February 7, 2017
- 13th Annual Law Firm Chief Information & Technology Officers Forum, Panelist, “How Artificial Intelligence (AI) is Disrupting the Legal Industry and Transforming Legal Service Delivery,” February 2, 2017
- 13th Annual Law Firm Chief Information & Technology Officers Forum, Panelist, “How Artificial Intelligence (AI) is Disrupting the Legal Industry and Transforming Legal Service Delivery,” February 2, 2017
- Legaltech New York, Speaker, “EDRM and Not eDiscovery,” February 1, 2017
- Perspectives On Predictive Coding And Other Advanced Search Technologies For The E-Discovery Practitioner, Co-Author, “Chapter 16: Algorithms at the Gate: Leveraging Predictive Analytics in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures,” 2016
- Akerman Webinar, Speaker, “Robot Lawyers Meet Cybersecurity: Reengineering Data Law Using AI and Managed Services,” December 16, 2016
- Thomson Reuters Webinar, Presenter, “Grow Your Firm by Building Innovative Partnerships,” November 17, 2016
- EDI Leadership Summit 2016, Panelist, “Reengineering Global Compliance: Real-World Application of Collaborative Disaggregation, Artificial Intelligence, and Economies of Scale,” October 13-14, 2016
- ACC Legal Ops Conference, Panelist, “Self-Service Compliance, Preventive Law & Outside Counsel: A New Model,” June 23, 2016
- Florida Hospital Association Compliance Education Retreat, Speaker, “2016: The Year of Living Dangerously (and How Hospitals Can Reduce Their Cybersecurity Risk),” June 16, 2016
- Thomson Reuters Regulation of Financial Services, Panelist, “White Squall: Big Data & The Evolving Data Privacy Imperative in Financial Services,” June 8, 2016
- LexisNexis Webinar, Speaker, “Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Retooled: The First Six Months,” May 19, 2016
- InHouse Innovates SuperConference, Speaker, “Reasonable Retention – A Sustainable Solution in the Age of Big Data,” May 10, 2016
- International Bar Association’s Law Firm Management Conference, Speaker, “Joint Ventures and Collaboration,” May 3, 2016
- Bloomberg BNA Webinar, Speaker, “Keeping Up: Recent & Anticipated Legal Developments in the eDiscovery World,” February 18, 2016
- LexisNexis.com, Co-Author, “2015 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Amendments- Not to be Taken Lightly,” January 15, 2016
- Akerman Data Law Seminar, Moderator, “Are You Insecure About Cybersecurity?” November 17, 2015
- Florida Hospital Association, Speaker, “The Data Identification and Remediation Imperative – The Dangers, Dollars, and Disposition of Digital Debris,” November 13, 2015
- Proceedings of EDI 3rd Annual Leadership Summit, Author, “Electronic Discovery In China: A Challenging New World”
- ARMA Live! 60th Annual Conference & Expo, Panel Moderator, “Practical Applications for Predictive Analytics in IG,” October 5, 2015
- MER 2015: The National Conference on Managing Electronic Records, Speaker, “Technology-Assisted Review Meets Information Governance: Using Predictive Analytics To Accomplish Data Remediation And Other Worthy Goals,” May 18-20, 2015
- LegalTech New York, Speaker, “Achieving Global Consistency Across Your E-Discovery Processes,” February 3, 2015
- ARMA Chicago Chapter, Speaker, “Technology Assisted Review Goes Left: Predictive Analytics In Information Governance,” November 11, 2014
- InsideCounsel, Co-Author, “Top 10 Strategies To Mitigate E-Discovery Risk In Consumer Class Actions,” November 2014
- ARMA International Annual Conference, Speaker, “Defensible Deletion: The Dangers, Dollars, And Disposition Of Digital Debris,” October 27, 2014
- Electronic Discovery Institute Leadership Summit 2014, Program Co-Chair, developed and coordinated panel session “TAR Goes Hard Left: Predictive Analytics In Information Governance,” October 15-17, 2014
- EDI/ARMA International: Getting Your Data House In Order, Speaker, “New Compliance Features In IG Solutions,” June 30, 2014
- EDI/ARMA International: Getting Your Data House In Order, Speaker, “Using Predictive Coding TAR/CAR To Attack The Dark Data Problem,” June 30, 2014
- Sedona Conference Webinar, Speaker, “Use Of Search And Achieving Quality Commentaries,” March 27, 2014
- LegalTech New York, Speaker, “Risky Business: The Critical Value IG Brings To Mergers, Acquisitions And Divestitures,” February 5, 2014
- EthiSphere Webinar, Speaker, “Cybersecurity: Managing Risk Around New Data Threats,” January 8, 2014
- The Sedona Conference, Co-Editor-In-Chief, “The Sedona Conference Commentary On Achieving Quality In The E-Discovery Process,” December 2013
- BlackRock Legal and Compliance Meeting, Speaker, “Current Issues In Information Governance: Defensible Disposition, Data Privacy, And Cross-Border Quandaries,” November 12, 2013
- ARMA International Annual Conference, Speaker, “Case Law And Self-Collection,” October 30, 2013
- EDI 3rd Annual Leadership Summit, Speaker, “Border Patrol: In-House Perspectives For Managing Global Discovery,” October 15-17, 2013
- The Computer & Internet Lawyer, Co-Author, “Taming The Fox In The Henhouse: Defensible ‘Self-Collection’ In E-Discovery,” March 2013
- American Bar Association Section of Litigation Pretrial Practice & Discovery Newsletter, Co-Author, “Strategic Use Of E-Discovery Counsel To Manage Risk And Cost,” Spring 2013, Vol. 21 No. 3
- The Sedona Conference Institute 7th Annual E-Discovery Program: Living On E-Discovery’s Cutting Edge, Co-Author, “The Evolving Ethics Of E-Discovery Raising The Bar For Counsel,” March 2013
- The Sedona Conference Cooperation Training Program, Faculty, February 20-22, 2013
Court Admissions
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin