Written Discovery Practice After the 2025 Amendments

Ellen P. Blanchard, Partner | Norton Rose Fulbright

Ellen Blanchard is a partner in the Information Governance, Privacy and Cybersecurity group of Norton Rose Fulbright, based in Dallas. She has extensive experience working with companies managing and protecting the data critical to their business, including information governance policies and procedures, data minimization and storage, cybersecurity, privacy, and all phases of discovery and the EDRM model. She has represented clients across a variety of industries in complex commercial litigation, cybersecurity incidents, and government investigations — including Second Requests — involving securities, antitrust, healthcare, cybersecurity, telecommunications, and intellectual property issues. She also advises clients on information governance matters such as defensible disposition, AI Acceptable Use policies, and record retention. Drawing on her understanding of the interconnections between law and technology, she works with clients across the full EDRM continuum from records management to trial, providing strategic advice that balances risk management with practical business guidance, particularly in information governance and artificial intelligence. A frequent speaker at conferences and on podcasts, she enjoys sharing, in her words, war stories of life in the discovery trenches.

• Recognition & Leadership

Ellen is recognized in Legal 500’s US e-discovery rankings, where she is named alongside colleagues Andrea D’Ambra and David Kessler as part of Norton Rose Fulbright’s e-discovery team; client commentary describes the three as a seamless team of well-informed, efficient, experienced professionals who guide communications and manage projects effectively. Legal 500 notes that she operates from Dallas and supports a range of data breach and cybersecurity incident matters. She was named a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s 2026 global promotions round, announced December 11, 2025. She is described as a recognized thought leader who regularly speaks on panels and participates in podcasts on current industry topics, including data minimization, Second Requests, and artificial intelligence.

• Professional Involvement

Ellen is active in The Sedona Conference, participating in Working Group 1 (Electronic Document Retention and Production), Working Group 6 (International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure), Working Group 11 (Data Security and Privacy Liability), and Working Group 13 (Artificial Intelligence). She is a Founding Board Member of the Mother Attorney Mentoring Association, USA, and served as Director of Outreach for the Mother Attorney Mentoring Association of Seattle from 2011 to 2016. Her CLE and panel speaking history includes engagements with the E-Discovery Institute, the Georgetown Advanced Discovery Institute, ACEDS, Westlaw, Legal Week, the Lighthouse Illuminations Summit, and Perkins Coie, on topics such as complex privilege issues, confidentiality designations, eDiscovery for incident response, and intrapreneurial innovation, primarily across 2021 and 2022.

• Experience

Before joining Norton Rose Fulbright, Ellen served as Director of Discovery and Information Governance at an international telecommunications company, where she developed the strategic vision for discovery and led a team responsible for proactively managing electronic and document discovery for active litigation, including complex, high-stakes disputes such as mergers, government investigations, cyber investigations, and class actions. In that role she successfully managed the team responding to the regulatory requests stemming from the T-Mobile/Sprint merger approval. Earlier in her career, she was a litigator at Boies, Schiller & Flexner and served as Associate General Counsel and Director, eDiscovery Consulting at Evolver Legal Services. Her representative matters include leading a team that assisted a client in responding to a Second Request related to a large telecom merger investigation, working with co-counsel to produce over 3.5 million documents in a few short months; overseeing discovery strategy in a UK antitrust matter involving the production of over 750,000 documents for a large technology client while navigating complex US/UK privilege issues; and leading discovery strategy for a large telecom merger investigation and litigation, managing a team of eight attorneys and paralegals responsible for producing over 12 million pages and 11.5 TB of data from more than 85 custodians under an expedited timeframe.

Eliot Turner, Partner | Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP

Eliot Turner is a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s antitrust disputes group, based in Houston and Washington, DC. He represents clients in defending and prosecuting claims under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, as well as claims under Section 7 of the Clayton Act and state antitrust laws. He regularly counsels clients on antitrust issues, including the requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, and represents them in government investigations. He frequently advises on trade secret matters and has represented companies in litigation to protect trade secret information and enforce non-compete agreements, particularly in the energy sector. He also has broad experience in other complex litigation, including representing franchisors in disputes with franchisees and advising them on franchise relationship matters. He has a recognized background in no-poach and algorithmic price-fixing claims.

• Education & Credentials

At Rice University, Eliot studied history and was a captain of the Rice men’s soccer team. He is a member of the Texas and District of Columbia bars and is admitted to practice before the US District Courts for the Southern District of Texas, the Western District of Texas, and the District of Columbia, as well as the US Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Fifth Circuit, having appeared in various federal courts throughout the country. His law degree is listed by his LinkedIn profile as from The University of Texas School of Law.

• Recognition & Leadership

Eliot is recognized by Chambers USA, which notes he regularly advises clients on complex antitrust disputes and is particularly well regarded for his expertise in Sherman Act cases, citing client commentary describing him as a subject-matter expert with great insights and a practical approach. He is the former editor-in-chief of Litigation, the journal of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation.

• Professional Involvement

Eliot is a council member of the State Bar of Texas’s Antitrust Section and is the former chair of the Houston Bar Association’s Antitrust Section. He has an extensive publication record, including co-authoring “Collaboration and catastrophe: antitrust laws in face of COVID-19” (Norton Rose Fulbright Legal Update and International Law Office, 2020); “United States: Energy” in The Antitrust Review of the Americas 2019 (Global Competition Review, 2018); “New Antitrust Confidentiality Waiver: Proceed With Caution” (Law360, 2013); “Ethics, Justice, and Prosecution,” 32 The Review of Litigation 279 (2013); and “Antitrust Enforcers’ Views On Info Exchanges Are Evolving” (Law360, 2024, with Robin Adelstein and Helen Fairhead). He served as Assistant Editor of Bryan A. Garner’s Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (3d ed. 2011) and contributed to the ABA Energy Antitrust Handbook (2d ed. 2009).

• Experience

Eliot’s representative matters include serving as counsel for a real estate company in class action multidistrict litigation alleging price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act through the defendants’ use of a software program’s pricing algorithm. Legal 500 recognizes his strong background in no-poach and algorithmic price-fixing claims, and Chambers notes the firm’s representation of clients in antitrust matters involving revenue management software. His practice encompasses monopolization and conspiracy claims, government investigations, and complex commercial litigation across regulated industries including energy, healthcare, and telecommunications.

SESSION 1 – Drafting Interrogatories, Document Requests, Admission Requests After Amendments | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Covers drafting written discovery under the amended Federal Rules, showing how the new Rule 26(f)(3)(D) privilege-planning requirement and Rule 16(b)(3)(B)(iv) scheduling-order authority change planning, with concrete drafting techniques, proportionality frameworks, and strategic sequencing for all three devices.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Defending Written Discovery Through Objections, Privilege Logs, Sanctions | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

Covers defensive written discovery under the 2025 amendments: new privilege-logging obligations triggered at the Rule 26(f) conference, specific objections under Rules 33 and 34, negotiating privilege log format and timing, securing Rule 502(d) protections, and sanctions exposure from boilerplate and delay.