Ian Balom

With over a decade of experience as a consultant and legal technologist, Ian has a wealth of knowledge to assist clients with solving complex legal technology challenges with particular attention to disputes and investigations. Ian also has experience developing strategies to efficiently build data maps, prepare strategies to target key data, assess search terms' effectiveness, and leverage analytics to drive accuracy.

He has advised senior stakeholders, including C-suite executives, on strategies to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, manage risk, and minimize disruptions to business operations while achieving optimal results. Further, Ian has worked on multiple disputes that have reached the United States Supreme Court.

In addition to working on US-originating civil litigations, Ian has experience working on international arbitrations and matters involving regulators and law enforcement agencies, including the US Department of Justice, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Security & Exchange Commission, Department of Treasury, Environmental Protection Agency, and New York Attorney General.

Since joining Herbert Smith Freehills, Ian has advised:

• a publicly traded company in connection with concurrent SEC and DOJ investigations into potential violations of the FCPA and foreign bribery laws
• a multi-national energy company in a series of disputes arising out of efforts to enforce a judgment
• a privately held global conglomerate involved in an international arbitration arising out of a contractual dispute
• a major defense contractor in a DOJ investigation into alleged violations of the False Claims Act arising from a US Department of Defense contract
• a cryptocurrency exchange in connection with an SEC inquiry into alleged sales of unregistered securities
• a publicly traded multinational technology conglomerate in connection with DOJ and SEC investigations into alleged accounting irregularities

Background

Ian earned his Juris Doctor from Loyola University Chicago and his Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse College. Prior to joining Herbert Smith Freehills, Ian was a Senior Discovery Consultant at Perkins Coie LLP where he led a team legal technologists and consultants.