Kate Mortensen is the Chief Legal Officer at Xact Data Discovery (XDD), a leading international provider of eDiscovery, data management, and managed review services for law firms and corporations. In this role, Kate is responsible for leading corporate strategic and tactical legal initiatives, managing outside counsel, and offering support across all business units.
Kate is also the Assistant Director for the Phoenix chapter of Women in eDiscovery, a nonprofit organization that facilitates advancement, change, and leadership for women professionals in the legal and technology industries. Before this, Kate held executive roles at various other law firms and corporations and ran a travel blog while traversing through South America with her husband.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Kate Mortensen discusses her career journey and how she ended up in the eDiscovery world
- Kate talks about transitioning from a career in litigation to her role as a business executive at Xact Data Discovery
- What is eDiscovery?
- Recent trends in the legal industry regarding eDiscovery and data collection
- Kate’s advice to law firms on how to get started with eDiscovery
- Kate shares her experience backpacking around South America for a year and a half with her husband
- How working with an executive coach has helped Kate achieve her personal and professional goals
- Kate’s tips for effectively speaking to your audience
In this episode…
Are you looking to make a change in your career? Have you wanted to explore an executive role, but don’t know how to pivot out of your current position? Do you want to be more intentional with your personal and professional goals? Kate Mortensen did, and now she is the Chief Legal Officer at Xact Data Discovery.
Kate was a litigation lawyer for 12 years before realizing she needed a change. Having both an MBA and JD, she decided to switch gears and take on more business-related roles at various corporations—but she still wasn’t sure exactly which path to take in her career. Then, in 2015, Kate and her husband dropped everything and trekked across South America for over a year. Kate returned to the States with a renewed spirit, professional clarity, and a fresh set of career goals.
On this episode of The Lawyer’s Edge podcast, host Elise Holtzman talks with Kate Mortensen, the Chief Legal Officer at Xact Data Discovery. Kate discusses her journey from litigation lawyer to business executive, the life lessons she learned from her trek across South America, and her tips for succeeding in an executive role. She also shares everything you need to know about eDiscovery in the legal industry. Stay tuned.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
- The Lawyer’s Edge
- The Lawyer’s Edge podcast
- Kate Mortensen on LinkedIn
- Xact Data Discovery
- Judy Mines on LinkedIn
- Orange Research Group
- Lawyers Making Rain
- Elise Holtzman on LinkedIn
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by The Lawyer’s Edge, a firm based in the New York metropolitan area founded by Elise Holtzman in 2008 to help lawyers become skilled business developers and leaders so that they can grow their practices, retain top talent, and step confidently into leadership roles.
The firm offers customized coaching, consulting, and training programs such as their signature business development program, Lawyers Making Rain.
Now more than ever, it’s not enough to just do good work and hope your law firm will thrive. And no matter how smart and hard-working you are, it can be time-consuming and overwhelming to figure it all out by yourself.
To learn more about how we help lawyers become rainmakers and leaders, visit thelawyersedge.wpengine.com or email us at podcast@thelawyersedge.wpengine.com.
