Consulting Team

John Hokkanen, Director of Search & Analytics Consulting

An innovative technology trailblazer, John Hokkanen is a lawyer, Internet entrepreneur and the former head of knowledge management at both Latham & Watkins and Alston & Bird. Skilled in the creative application of technology to law practice, John helps corporations and law firms use sophisticated search and analytics techniques to reduce data volumes and enhance efficiency.

At the international law firm Latham & Watkins until 2002, John led the firm's knowledge management efforts. Working with the firm's lawyers and technology staff, he designed and implemented systems to improve productivity. Earlier, as chief knowledge officer at the law firm Alston & Bird, John developed and led the knowledge services team. Under his leadership, the team developed technology tools that enhanced not only how the firm's lawyers practiced law, but also the services they could offer their corporate clients.

James Eidelman, Senior Search & Analytics Consultant

A veteran trial lawyer and pioneer in legal technology, Jim Eidelman is the principal consultant of Catalyst Search & Analytics Consulting. With more than three decades of hands-on experience providing technology advice to law firms and legal departments, he helps clients develop strategies to overcome their toughest e-discovery challenges.

After starting out as a securities litigator, Jim launched a consulting firm in 1980 dedicated to helping lawyers enhance their practices through technology. He became recognized nationwide as a speaker and writer on legal technology. The book he co-edited with John Tredennick, Winning with Computers, became an ABA bestseller. Software he developed for legal-document assembly was said to have the ability to "think like a lawyer."

Nirupama Bhatt, Search & Analytics Consultant

Nirupama Bhatt is a results-driven litigation support professional with more than 10 years of broad experience in technology, project management and business operations. As a consultant at Catalyst, she focuses on developing, refining and coordinating e-discovery services for law firms, corporations and government entities.

One of Rupa's key strengths is in analyzing and documenting our clients' e-discovery procedures and then recommending practices they can adopt to reduce costs and enhance effectiveness. In her work with clients, she helps develop and refine multi-lingual search strategies, coordinates attorney review teams for document-review projects, and recommends best practices for achieving defensible, repeatable results. She is multilingual and is currently studying Japanese.