E-Discovery Project Coordinator

Job Summary:

The Harvard University’s Office of the General Counsel seeks an experienced E-Discovery Project Coordinator to lead e-discovery workflows, administer and manage legal holds, execute defensible data collections across Microsoft 365, Google Vault, and related data sources, and manage relationships with vendors. Candidates must have experience with e-discovery and legal hold software and processes. You will partner with Harvard’s IT department and outside counsel to ensure timely, compliant, and cost-effective discovery.

Job-Specific Responsibilities:

• Administer and manage e-discovery, including case management, custodians, legal holds, data collections, review sets, and exports
• Define and enforce standard operating procedures, best practices, and quality controls across the EDRM (Electronic Discovery Reference Model) workflow
• Interpret and apply ESI orders and Protective Orders; standardize processes and best practices to ensure proper compliance and defensibility across all matters
• Understand data breach risks and response procedures; coordinate with Legal, IT Security, and Compliance teams to mitigate risks, ensure proper handling of sensitive data during eDiscovery, and support incident response efforts when necessary.
• Draft, issue, track, and release legal hold notices; monitor acknowledgments and compliance; maintain audit-ready logs
• Scope, plan, track, and execute targeted and large-scale data collections (Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Purview audit/search, endpoints/M365 apps, Google Vault, Dropbox, as well as problem solving for other data source collections)
• Perform searches, queries, de-duplication, filtering, and early case assessment; manage exports and transfer to outside counsel, e-discovery vendors, and/or document review platforms 
• Collaborate with outside counsel and vendors to implement efficient workflows, proactively identify and mitigate risk, apply quality control, and address technical challenges to make data discoverable, viewable and useful
• Coordinate with Harvard’s IT Department on data security, retention, and information governance settings 
• Maintain chain-of-custody and associated documentation; support defensibility and audit requirements
• Manage third-party vendor and outside counsel interactions; track deadlines and budgets and regularly communicate with legal team regarding anticipated budget overages
• Support privilege and confidentiality workflows; assist with production specifications and quality control
• Contribute to overall process improvements, e-discovery playbooks, and metrics
• Other duties as determined by business need