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“Tessa has an impressive knowledge and her ethics and integrity are strong. She's always reasonable and explains her positions well in negotiations; she is cool-headed and always willing to learn more.”

Chambers USA 2024

Overview

Tessa leads Husch Blackwell’s cutting edge eDiscovery Solutions team and has spearheaded the firm’s efforts to provide consistent, defensible and repeatable eDiscovery solutions for our clients.

She is responsible for establishing and implementing best practices for eDiscovery as well as providing the related education and training for our attorneys and litigation technology staff.

A practicing attorney for 29 years, Tessa’s strong understanding of the substantive and strategic aspects of litigation informs the counsel she provides to clients and case teams on all aspects of eDiscovery. She works with clients and case teams to create strategic, cost-effective and defensible discovery plans. 

Tessa is knowledgeable in both the legal and technical aspects of eDiscovery. She has vast experience in using and assessing the value of using data mining tools, technology assisted review and various review platforms. She provides discovery management to our clients, including legal hold implementation, identification, preservation and collection of client data as well as assessment of risks and costs of specific discovery strategies. 

Tessa has served as lead eDiscovery counsel in class action cases and has led eDiscovery efforts for numerous companies that were the target of government investigations by the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Her skills in early case assessment, search term development and strategy, and the use of analytics and technology assisted review not only saved clients’ money but helped to ensure early favorable results.

Tessa’s experience in handling eDiscovery in active litigation and her understanding of the legal and technical issues that complicate discovery makes her uniquely qualified to assist clients in creating legal hold processes and ordinary course processes. She has assisted numerous companies of varying sizes in a variety of industries in creating and implementing such plans. Her practical approach focuses on creating a repeatable, defensible process that causes minimum interruption to a company’s daily business.

Tessa frequently speaks on issues related to eDiscovery and is on the advisory boards for National eDiscovery Leadership Institute and the University of Florida eDiscovery Conference. She was recently appointed to the Sedona Conference Working Group 1 Steering Committee for a three-year term. Prior to that, Tessa was the co-editor-in-chief of the Sedona Conference, Commentary on Rule 45 Subpoenas to Non-Parties, Second Edition, 22 SEDONA CONF. J. 1 (2020).  Tessa is also rated by Chambers and Partners under E-Discovery & Information Governance, USA Guide 22. She is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law where she teaches a semester-long, upper level eDiscovery course. Tessa also serves on Husch Blackwell’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She founded and runs the firm’s unique Diversity Liaison Program, a one-on-one mentoring, coaching, and sponsorship program for over 100 racially diverse and LGBTQ+ attorneys.

“Tessa has an impressive knowledge and her ethics and integrity are strong. She's always reasonable and explains her positions well in negotiations; she is cool-headed and always willing to learn more.”

Chambers USA 2024

Industries

Services

Recognition

  • The Best Lawyers in America®
    • Commercial Litigation, 2024 and 2025
  • Chambers USA, E-Discovery & Information Governance, Nationwide, 2022-2024
  • Lawyers of Color, Wonderful Women, 2023
  • The Legal 500 United States
    • E-discovery, Recommended attorney, 2023 and 2024
  • Relativity Innovation Awards, Attorney Tech Evangelist, 2018

Education

  • J.D., Washburn University School of Law
    • with honors
      • Washburn Law Journal, Board of Editors
  • B.A., University of Kansas
  • Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India

Admissions

  • Missouri
  • Kansas

Professional Memberships and Certifications

  • Georgetown Law eDiscovery Training Institute
  • Johnson County Bar Association
  • Kansas Bar Association
  • The Missouri Bar
  • ASU-Arkfeld eDiscovery and Digital Evidence, Advisory Committee 
  • NeLi, National eDiscovery Leaders Institute, Advisory Board
  • University of Florida's eDiscovery Conference, Advisory Board
  • The Sedona Conference, Working Group 1 (Electronic Document Retention and Production) Steering Committee, 2022-2025

Clerkship

The Hon. Jerry G. Elliott, Kansas Court of Appeals, 1992-1994

Languages

  • Malayalam, fluent
Webinar | December 1, 2022
eDiscovery Day: Microsoft 365
Speaking Engagements | March 24, 2022
Moderator, UF Law 9th Annual eDiscovery Conference
Webinar | June 27, 2017
eDiscovery Trends in Employment Law
Speaking Engagements | June 20, 2017
The Masters Conference on eDiscovery
June 20, 2017
News Releases | November 05, 2019
Husch Blackwell Celebrates eDiscovery Day
News Releases | December 10, 2018
Husch Blackwell Elects 25 to Partnership
Media Mentions | September 26, 2018
Relativity Blog: 5 Reasons Lawyers Can't Wait for Relativity Fest

Tessa Jacob shares what she looks forward to doing and learning at the e-discovery/legal technology conference Relativity Fest.

Media Mentions | June 05, 2018
Above the Law: Email Threading: One Of The Most Overlooked Gems In eDiscovery

Tessa Jacob provides insight into best practices for email threading in E-Discovery.

Media Mentions | October 14, 2015
Law360: The 4 Biggest Mistakes Lawyers Make With Email
Follow Tessa on Twitter