Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s global chief innovation officer Katie DeBord has joined Disco as vice president of product strategy, with Tom Furr joining as chief marketing officer, in a major double hire for the NYSE-listed eDiscovery leader.
Reporting to the chief product officer Kevin Smith, DeBord will help guide Disco’s product strategy as the company continues to expand its offerings across the litigation lifecycle and into new practice areas.
At BCLP, DeBord led the firm’s international cross-disciplinary innovation team made up of lawyers, technologists, and other professionals. Her departure follows a multi-year McKinsey-led strategic review by BCLP called Project Advance, which called into question the future of its tech arm BCLP Cubed and saw corporate partner Sean Odendahl appointed as the firm’s inaugural chief transformation officer.
DeBord began her legal career at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP as a trial attorney specialising in complex contract, patent, and IP licensing matters, as well as consumer class action defense. Commenting on the new role, she said: “I am passionate about legal innovation and helping legal teams use technology in transformative ways. Disco has always stood apart from other solutions due to its technical excellence, superior features and functionality, and products that align to how lawyers work. I am delighted to join the team to contribute to its product excellence and to continue my work helping the legal industry embrace meaningful change through technology adoption.”
Furr, meanwhile, who was previously VP of brand marketing at MongoDB, will report to Disco’s chief revenue officer Andrew Shimek. Shimek said in a statement: “Our ethos at Disco is to build and offer technology that frees lawyers to actually practice law and, most importantly, achieve better legal outcomes in a more efficient tech-enabled way. As the industry continues to embrace our vision and adopt our products, I am delighted to bring a leader and expert in creating brand excellence to the Disco team. Tom will lead our growth marketing organization as we create new categories in legal technology and further establish Disco as the technology partner of choice for law firms and legal organizations around the world.”
Before MongoDB, Furr served as vice president of brand at Vonage, where he helped lead the company’s transformation into a leader in the business cloud communications and APIs.
Furr said: “The industry is just beginning to realize the potential of legal technology to transform the practice of law. I am excited to join Disco at a pivotal moment in its history to create additional awareness and demand for Disco’s products and services as the company continues to expand its offerings and global footprint.”