Nicole Allen

E-Discovery Of Counsel
Office (404) 815-6086
Nicole Allen E-Discovery Senior Attorney

Services

E-Discovery

About

Nicole Allen is E-Discovery Of Counsel with Kilpatrick Townsend’s LitSmart® E-Discovery Team. With more than 20 years of experience in complex litigation, Nicole has managed and assisted with hundreds of document reviews and dozens of depositions and trials. Nicole works with litigation teams in every practice area serviced by Kilpatrick Townsend, including labor and employment, copyright, trademark and patent infringement, trade secrets misappropriation, commercial disputes, breach of contract, real estate, landlord tenant, construction, insurance coverage, and Native American. She has experience with technology assisted review (TAR) and in utilizing tools such as predictive coding, active learning and analytics to narrow data sets and providing metrics to case teams and clients regarding the responsiveness and privilege of documents needing review. When in the role of review manager, she oversees the day-to-day needs of a review team, provides guidance to reviewers in both technical and substantive aspects of a review and provides metrics to case teams and clients regarding review scope and progress. In addition, Nicole is well-versed in using various integrated review timeline tools to create comprehensive timelines to assist with overall case strategy, fact development, legal briefing, depositions and trial preparation. Nicole has been a valued member of numerous trial teams where she assisted with witness preparation for direct and cross examination, exhibits and pretrial and post-trial briefing, most recently in Delaware Chancery Court.

Nicole is highly certified in several areas related to e-discovery and data privacy. She is a Relativity Review Management Specialist, a RelativityOne Review Pro and a RelativityOne Certified Pro, having reached the highest level of reviewer status in the industry-leading e-discovery management platform, Relativity, used in-house at Kilpatrick Townsend. Nicole is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional/US (CIPP/US) and EU (CIPP/E), having passed the rigorous examinations that require understanding of information privacy and data protection within the US context and within the EU.

Prior to joining the firm, Nicole was an attorney with SunTrust Bank where she actively managed complex civil litigations from inception through closure. In addition, at SunTrust, she represented clients in mediations and arbitrations and provided counsel on legal and risk related matters, including audits, transactional and contract counseling, corporate governance, and applicable laws and regulations.

Nicole was named to National Association of Women Lawyer's (NAWL) 2022 Rising List.

Publications, Articles & Presentations

Professional & Community Activities

  • Black Women Lawyers' Association, Member
  • Certified Information Privacy Professional/US (CIPP/US)
  • Certified Information Privacy Professional/E (CIPP/E)
  • Illinois State Bar Association, Privacy and Information Security, Member
  • International Association of Privacy Professionals, Member
  • National Association of Women Lawyers, Member
  • Reading Tutor at the Barak and Michelle Obama Academy
  • Relativity Review Management Specialist
  • RelativityOne Certified Pro
  • RelativityOne Review Pro
  • Selah Freedom, Volunteer
  • Women in eDiscovery, Member

Education

  • Washington University School of Law, J.D. (1997)
  • Carnegie Mellon University, B.S. (1994)

Bar Admissions

  • Georgia (1998)
  • Illinois (2012)

Admissions

  • Supreme Court of Illinois (2012)
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (2003)
  • Georgia Court of Appeals (1998)
  • Supreme Court of Georgia (1998)

Experience Highlights

  • For more than five years, served as critical member of the case team assisting with complex document reviews and discovery projects for various litigations in multiple jurisdictions on behalf of industry leader in global management solutions. Managed all aspects of document production including review, quality control, complex privilege analyses, supervising and training reviewers on technical and substantive issues. Assisted with pre-trial preparation including deposition and exhibit preparation.  Reviewed and analyzed managed services contracts for contract rights and obligations.
  • On behalf of global nuclear power company in construction contract dispute, conducted privilege and quality control review for 50+ contract attorneys and provided reports regarding review progress and substantive issues uncovered during review. Reviewed documents for data identification, responsiveness, privilege and quality control for major government contractor in insurance coverage matter. Assisted with preservation issues and subsequent briefing, fact development and deposition preparation.
  • On behalf of various government enforcement and investigations for corporate clients, reviewed documents for internal investigations, breach of fiduciary duties, investigation demands by shareholders, SEC and DOJ subpoenas.
  • On behalf of various corporate clients, investigated cybersecurity and data privacy incidents and analyzed data to determine obligations under U.S. and international privacy laws, including CCPA and GDPR. Analyzed EEA international data transfer agreements to determine client risk and GDPR obligations post Schrems II decision. 
  • On behalf of various clients, reviewed and analyzed government and commercial contracts, licenses and lease agreements. Performed due diligence for mergers and acquisitions as well as complex technology transactions.
  • Represented clients in various pro bono matters, including: petitioning for reduction of a client’s sentence of life imprisonment for low-level, non-violent narcotics offenses through Clemency Project 2014; reviewing criminal records to determine whether there is a qualification for expungement or sealing and assisting with filing of related court forms; representing victims of domestic violence; and assisting the Native American practice group with numerous matters, including review and analysis of potential trial exhibits in a mismanagement of an Indian trust matter and review and analysis witness tapes in federal tribe recognition matter.
Nicole Allen E-Discovery Senior Attorney