Craig Bayer gets technology. After earning degrees in both History and Political Science while graduating a semester early from Loyola University New Orleans, he went to work at a law firm as a courier while studying for the LSAT.  Since he was a “geek” he somehow got tasked with finding case management, accounting and document management software for the firm.  After many all-nighters reading hundreds of software manuals, he finally figured out how to get the firm trained, customized and up and running.  When one of the partners at the firm recommend him for those services to a friend at another firm, law school was put on the back burner.

Craig currently has his own consulting company, Optiable, where his ability to make confusing technology topics easy to understand keep him in demand with clients as well as at multiple CLE events for the Mississippi and Louisiana Bar Associations, where he frequently speaks.

Tom O’Connor, a nationally known consultant, speaker and writer in the area of computerized litigation support systems, is a New England native who graduated from The Johns Hopkins University in 1972 with a BA in Political Science. After attending law school for one year at The University of Notre Dame, Tom returned to Baltimore and undertook a career as a paralegal specializing in complex litigation. He later earned a J.D. at an evening law school program.

Tom’s consulting experience is primarily in complex litigation matters where he has worked with firms of all sizes, most recently the Plaintiffs in the BP litigation. He has also been appointed as a technical consultant by various federal and state courts on cases dealing with large amounts of electronic evidence.

Tom is a frequent lecturer on the subject of legal technology and is also a prolific writer, with numerous articles in legal publications and several books, most recently the self-published “EDiscovery for The Rest of Us”.

Tom resides down the Mississippi down in New Orleans as does his son Seamus, a technical guru who works for Joy Murao on Team PAR. They both still mourn the recent death of legal marketing maven Gayle O’Connor, a wonderful wife to Tom and loving mother to Seamus. They continue to dream of someday having their own float in a Mardi Gras parade.