The National Litigation Support Team (NLST)

Sean Broderick oversees the NLST. He provides guidance and recommendations to federal courts, federal defender organization staff, and court appointed attorneys on issues regarding electronic discovery and litigation support technology. Sean is the co-chair of the Joint Working Group on Electronic Technology in the Criminal Justice System (JETWG), a joint Administrative Office of U.S. Courts and Department of Justice working group which examines the use of technology in the federal criminal justice system and provides suggested practices for the efficient and cost-effective management of electronic discovery. He is a co-author of “Criminal e-Discovery, A Pocket Guide for Judges,” Federal Judicial Center (November 2015).

Kelly Scribner is the director of operations for the NLST. She specializes in case management, workflow design and vendor relations. Before joining the NLST in June 2009, Kelly was the Director of Litigation Support Services for Loxodrome Solutions, Inc., a litigation support vendor which works with civil law firms in the United States on document management and discovery needs. Before this position, Kelly was a senior litigation paralegal for Affymetrix, Inc., a biotech company, and at Pillsbury Winthrop LLP in San Francisco. She has over twenty years of litigation support and legal experience, including project management of multinational civil cases, overseeing onsite document collection, the assessment and selection of technology vendors, training end-users on litigation support software, and the supervision of large teams of attorneys conducting the review of legal documents.

Carl Adams joined the NLST in January 2022. Previously he was the Litigation Support Specialist for the Iowa FPD for three years. At the FPD, Carl assisted with discovery management, digital forensics including Cellebrite extractions, audio and video editing, and exhibit creation. Carl enjoys trying to solve problems using inexpensive and open-source tools. Before joining the FPD, Carl clerked for state and federal judges, and worked briefly in bankruptcy and state criminal law.

Nakiyyah “Nikki” Adams was the litigation support paralegal with the Federal Community Defender Office in Philadelphia, PA and the FPD in Newark, NJ before joining the NLST in September 2023. Before working in the federal system, Nikki worked as paralegal at the Legal Aid Society in New York. During her career, Nikki spent considerable time using a wide range of litigation support tools such as Ipro Eclipse, Relativity, and Trial Director. Nikki graduated from law school in the Spring of 2023 and passed the New Jersey bar in Fall 2023.

Before joining the NLST, Derek was a systems engineer for Forex Capital Markets in New York, NY for more than a dozen years, managing a group of administrators to help with the on-site upkeep of data centers and servers in the Mobile Device Management Department. As part of his work, he traveled globally to assist in the setup of new offices and data centers in the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Australia, and Israel. He managed and deployed workstations, mobile devices, printers, and phones.

Brian Brunelle served as the Computer Systems Administrator for the FPD for the District of Connecticut for 26 years before joining the NLST in September 2023. Besides serving as the CSA in Connecticut, Brian has provided IT support for the Districts of Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire at various times. During his tenure, Brian has dedicated an extensive amount of time to train CJA panel attorneys and Federal Defender staff members on how to use technology effectively for courtroom presentation, managing the challenges of large volumes of discovery, and overall case management strategies. He has also provided his knowledge in the forensic analysis of electronic evidence, created automated procedures for processing electronic discovery in his office, and served as faculty for various NLST workshops.

Tisha Davis was a paralegal with the Federal Public Defender Office in Pittsburgh, PA for five years before joining the NLST in September 2023. In that position, Tisha was the lead paralegal on a 14-week-long capital trial, including taking charge of presenting evidence by using courtroom presentation technology. She spent much of her time assisting in the management of eDiscovery, creating fact chronologies, using software to visualize data, and helping in anything litigation support related as the need arose.

Before joining the NLST in September 2023, Nelson was a litigation support paralegal and Computer Systems Administrator for the FPD for the Northern District of New York for more than twenty years. He assisted the office in its representation of clients through his knowledge and practical experience with digital forensics, eDiscovery, and litigation support. During his time with the Federal Public Defender Office, Nelson served as faculty for various national workshops put on by the Defender Services Office Training Division.

Claudia Kokot worked with the Federal Public Defender Office for the Western District of North Carolina for more than a decade before joining the NLST in September 2023. She was a trial unit paralegal and oversaw the organization and analysis of discovery received from the U.S. Attorney’s office for all complex cases in the office. Claudia worked extensively on white collar fraud cases and developed an expertise using Ipro Eclipse and CaseMap. In addition, Claudia assisted with courtroom presentation for hearings and trials.

Claudia can be reached at Claudia_Kokot@fd.org

Rocio Pizano is the point person within the NLST regarding office administration and management, including assisting in national and local finance, procurement, and property management. Before joining the NLST in November 2018, Rocio worked for the FPD of Northern District of California in Oakland, California. She worked in the FPD office for 13 years, first serving as a Legal Assistant before becoming Branch Administrator.

Alex Roberts focuses on the technical areas of litigation support and can assist with identifying what technology to use and when to use it. Alex has over 20 years of experience in the field of litigation support. Before joining the NLST in August 2009, Alex was a litigation support technical analyst and workflow coordinator for Foster Pepper, PLLC, a law firm in Seattle, Washington where he supervised and coordinated electronic discovery workflow, litigation software training, provided advanced legal database support and gave trial presentation consulting. Of note, Alex worked in the past with CJA panel attorneys in the Western District of Washington, consulting and participating in a number of complex CJA matters.

Joe Wanzala’s experience has included a focus on leveraging eDiscovery solutions for complex litigation and identifying best practices. Before joining the NLST in September 2021, Joe was a trial paralegal with the FPD of Northern District of California in Oakland, California. Before that he worked at several law firms including Shartsis Friese LLP, Orrick, and Morrison & Foerster; developing specializations in regulatory enforcement and white-collar defense. He also worked as an investigator on death penalty cases for the California Appellate Project and was a policy analyst for the California Public Utilities Commission, Public Advocates Office.

Joe can be reached at Joe_Wanzala@fd.org