Alison Grounds

With a practical, efficiency-obsessed approach, Alison assists clients in all discovery-related aspects of litigation, internal and governmental investigations, subpoena response, and due diligence, as well as proactive litigation readiness. Clients across varied industries rely on Alison’s litigation experience and technology prowess to develop and manage the overall strategy and to advocate on their behalf during discovery conferences, meet and confers, and hearings. She regularly handles discovery disputes across the country to ensure the compliance and responsiveness of her clients’ adversaries, and takes and defends eDiscovery-related depositions in support of her clients. She also serves as national discovery counsel to ensure consistent approaches to eDiscovery across a portfolio of matters for clients.

Alison is the founder and managing director of Troutman Pepper eMerge, a wholly owned subsidiary of the firm, which provides end-to-end, integrated discovery services for legal matters. Troutman Pepper eMerge’s attorneys and technologists combine legal strategy with the latest technology to manage data, reduce costs and identify facts needed to resolve disputes. Their novel approach effectively addresses two common causes of unanticipated costs and risks: disconnected stakeholders and processes. The technologies used regularly include artificial intelligence, technology-assisted review, continuous active learning, predictive coding, analytics, email threading, data visualization and custom applications. Troutman Pepper eMerge also creates bespoke staffing, technological and project management solutions to ensure clients’ goals are achieved.

Clients rely on Alison for proactive litigation readiness, including the development of repeatable and defensible litigation response plans before litigation arises. She is known for developing effective plans for the preservation, collection, analysis and production of electronically stored information (ESI) that keep the costs and burdens of discovery proportionate to the unique circumstances and needs of each case or matter.

Alison is an authority on eDiscovery law. She is an adjunct professor of eDiscovery and Legal Technology at Emory University School of Law and a frequent speaker and author on eDiscovery issues.

Alison also serves on the firm’s Policy Committee.