Freeths—Jake Pennington-Slater

National law firm Freeths has appointed Jake Pennington-Slater as its first in-house eDiscovery manager. He joins from Deloitte, where he supported the business at a global level.

Jake has more than nine years’ experience in the sector, progressing through digital forensics into eDiscovery. Jake’s expertise extends across the whole spectrum of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, having supported on a large-scale data collection in a global class action, to managing large document reviews with up to circa ten million documents.

Jake’s diverse and transferable range of eDiscovery skills will be invaluable to the wider Commercial Dispute Resolution (CDR) team, as he will work on mass litigation projects such as the Post Office Horizon scandal, and support with complex data challenges in the ever-growing and vast data landscape. The firm is set to provide enhanced data services, as Jake implements his skills to combat large and multifaceted data assets, by leveraging technology to manufacture high quality and cost-effective solutions for clients.

Commenting on Jake’s appointment, James Hartley, dispute resolution partner, said: 'Jake’s appointment brings with it plenty of excitement, as it gives us a real opportunity to continue developing our national offering using a multidimensional approach.'

Nick Pryor, director of knowledge and innovation, said: 'eDiscovery sits at the core of how we innovate and optimise our dispute management services. Sourcing the technical expertise to support and enhance this key vertical is pivotal to our CDR growth plans, and to our GenAI strategy.'

Jake added: 'I am thrilled to be joining Freeths, and I am very much looking forward to working on the firm’s breadth of legal engagements. I’m excited to see what challenges are ahead, and its great to see the commitment the firm has to its clients in providing a service that is second-to-none.'