Setting the global standards for e-discovery

the late Gayle O'Connor

The GO Award will be presented on eDiscovery Day

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, USA, August 22, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Setting the global standards for e-discovery, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) is pleased to announce that the Third Annual Gayle O’Connor (GO) Spirit Award will be presented once again, on eDiscovery Day, December 1, 2022 on EDRM’s platform. Nominations are now open. Nominations will close on October 25, 2022.

Candi Smith, Senior Technology and eDiscovery Specialist at Jabil related her thoughts about the award. “After Gayle passed I thought, I knew this wonderful woman and didn’t remember when or if I ever told her how wonderful she was and how she made me feel when I was around her. What a shame that we can take those that have impacted our life in small or big ways for granted. I reached out to a few people and wanted to do what I could to avoid that happening ever again. The group met and we started the GO Award (abbreviation for Gayle O’Connor). The yearly award was created to find those in our industry with the essence of Gayle and show them we appreciate them. This award was not to be a recognition for climbing the corporate ladder or knowing the most about the industry, but more about the love and caring of others. Dear Gayle, you are wonderful and caring. Thank you for always being YOU!”

“EDRM is proud to host the Third Annual Gayle O’Connor (GO) Spirit Award to remember Gayle every year on our special holiday, eDiscovery Day,” said Mary Mack, CEO and chief legal technologist, EDRM.

Tom O’Connor, Gayle O’Connor’s husband and Director of the Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center, explains the origin and importance of the award to him:

Our profession has legal awards, technical awards, and marketing awards but the GO Award is the only “people” award. It’s presented to someone every year who embodies the spirit and exuberance that Gayle brought to her work and for which she is most well remembered. When she died, her obituary in the local paper described her as “dynamic”. Craig Ball remarked on her “luminosity” and Bob Ambrogi wrote “ … what truly made Gayle so special was not her outward appearance, but her inner soul.”

When we were doing the traditional New Orleans memorial service and second line for her in her neighborhood, so many people showed up that an attendee asked “was Gayle friends with everyone in New Orleans?” and her sister Kit replied “just the ones she met”. She never met a stranger; everyone she encountered became a friend immediately.

Even now, as we approach the second anniversary of her death, not a day goes by that I don’t think as I’m working on something “I wonder what Gayle would say about that?” I still receive calls and emails from people who I have never met and didn’t even know existed, who tell me that Gayle had inspired or encouraged or advised or mentored them and in so doing made a difference in their life and/or career.

I have one of those little inspirational cards on my desk that she kept on hers. It says “They said ‘You couldn’t”. She said “Watch Me’ “. That’s what the GO Award means to me.

Nominations are welcome and encouraged at https://edrm.net/awards/go-spirit-award/#nomination-form.

About the Gayle O’Connor Spirit Award

The Gayle O’Connor (GO) Spirit Award celebrates members of the e-discovery and legal technology communities whose singular energy, enthusiasm and verve echo the spirit of the late Gayle O’Connor (1956-2020). Recipients of the GO Spirit Award have made noteworthy contributions to e-discovery, legal technology, information governance, cybersecurity, or data privacy through efforts that inspire, educate, or promote the common interest and cohesion of our community. The GO Spirit Award is given to an individual in the legal profession who best exemplifies Gayle O’Connor’s spirit and work ethic by serving as an example for other individuals in the profession through attitude, collegiality, energy and accomplishments thereby serving as a positive example for not just those in the legal industry but all people. Each recipient’s efforts inspire, educate, or promote the common interest and cohesion of our community. Previous awardees include Tom O’Connor and Joy Murao. The GO Award is presented each December on eDiscovery Day. Learn more about the GO Award at https://edrm.net/awards/go-spirit-award/.

About EDRM

Empowering the global leaders of e-discovery, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) creates practical resources to improve e-discovery, privacy, security and information governance. Since 2005, EDRM has delivered leadership, standards, tools and guides to improve best practices throughout the world. EDRM has an international presence in 136 countries and growing and an innovative support infrastructure for individuals, law firms, corporations and government organizations seeking to improve the practice and provision of data and legal discovery. Learn more about the EDRM today at EDRM.net.

EDRM Media Contact

Kaylee Walstad
Chief Strategy Officer, EDRM
+1 612-804-3244
email us here

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