Denise E. Backhouse

Associate

Denise E. Backhouse is an associate in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice and a senior member of the eData team.

A vital part of our Litigation Practice, eData is an expanding practice area created at Morgan Lewis to address the impact of electronic data on business and legal strategies. Formerly known as Legal Logistics, eData helps clients meet increasingly demanding regulatory and legal requirements with cost-effective prelitigation risk management, eDiscovery consulting, and document review.

We partner with in-house legal, IT, and records-management teams as well as outside technology vendors to apply best practices, inside and outside litigation. We offer start-to-finish litigation management, from litigation holds and data preservation, to negotiations with opposing counsel, to discovery motion practice, depositions, and trial support. We are a national team with both West Coast and East Coast capabilities.

Our emphasis is on giving practical, real-world advice and services to clients. Combining legal experience with technological know-how, eData brings all aspects of electronic data and records management—which traditionally have operated independently—together in one shop. This critical link drives strategic thinking, collaboration, and problem solving. Our industry-leading “best practices” guide clients to meet eDiscovery obligations in ways that minimize cost and maximize quality.

The eData team plays a large role in defending clients in corporate matters, including product liability, mass torts, antitrust, M&A, regulatory, white collar, compliance, construction, insurance coverage, and complex commercial litigation.

In her practice, Ms. Backhouse counsels and defends clients primarily in the areas of securities and financial industry litigation and business and corporate disputes. Her responsibilities have included conducting and advising on all phases of discovery, including the preservation, collection, review, and production of large volumes of eDiscovery and defending client IT personnel in depositions.

Ms. Backhouse has engaged in eDiscovery motion practice in multiple jurisdictions and has worked on discovery responses to the Securities and Exchange Commission, NASD, the New York Stock Exchange, and state attorneys general. She also assists clients and attorneys in analyzing and implementing cutting-edge technologies designed to provide our clients with state-of-the-art case and document management resources.

Ms. Backhouse received her J.D. from Columbia University Law School in 1998, where she was managing editor of the Journal of Law and Social Problems and an editorial member of the Journal of Gender and Law. A Stone Scholar, Ms. Backhouse was also awarded the Charles Bathgate Beck Prize for Property Law, and was a member of the Columbia Law Women’s Association and the Domestic Violence Coalition. While in law school she worked for Judge Theodore Katz, Southern District of New York, under Columbia’s law clerk program and as a research assistant to Professor Martha A. Fineman.

Ms. Backhouse received her M.A. in late medieval history in 1989, and her B.A., with first class honors, in history in 1985, both from the University of Melbourne, Australia, where she also lectured. She is a member of the American Historical Association and is the author of several works on the history of print culture and literacy.

Ms. Backhouse is admitted to practice in New York.