[Podcast] HaystackID® in the EDRM Illumination Zone: Bryan Bellack, Executive Vice President

Hosted by EDRM’s Mary Mack and Mary Bennett, with EDRM’s Holley Robinson, this Illumination Zone episode features HaystackID Executive Vice President Bryan Bellack discussing what has changed in investigations and discovery over the past 18–24 months and what now works in practice. He noted the rapid, mainstream adoption of AI on high-value matters—class actions, MDLs, and investigations—where legal teams now regularly ask how GenAI may accelerate early understanding, reduce data volumes, and focus scarce expert time on signals rather than noise.

Bridging into incident response, Bellack emphasized immediate steps when an organization faces potential white-collar exposure. The first action is to engage counsel to establish privilege and appoint a clear quarterback for decisions and communications. With counsel directing the work, teams can avoid common missteps such as self-collection that risks spoliation, ad-hoc exports that leave audit gaps, and cross-border actions that conflict with local privacy laws or cultural practices.

From there, the conversation turned to why white-collar matters feel like “eDiscovery on steroids.” The stakes are higher, timeframes shorter, oversight more intense, and data sets more complex and international. Forensics specialists must operate across jurisdictions, manage permissions and paperwork for privacy compliance, and handle diverse data sources—including mobile and social platforms—without disrupting business operations. Bellack described how experienced teams combine seasoned forensics talent, disciplined process, and tuned technology to meet deadlines measured in hours and days, not weeks.

The technology segment provided a practical view of what teams deploy today. Beyond market offerings such as Relativity aiR and eDiscovery AI, HaystackID’s Case Insight and Case Elements are used to cull rapidly, elevate key people, events, and timelines, and generate dashboards that guide early case strategy. Remote capabilities for mobile and social data collections reduce latency and allow data to stream quickly into review environments. Even with these accelerants, Bellack stressed conservative, quality-controlled workflows and legal supervision to ensure defensibility.

The episode also examined responsible AI. Bellack discussed work advising on AI control and risk management—implementing guardrails around inputs and outputs, aligning with information governance goals, and enabling confidence through rapid output checking. He noted that better safety and verifiability can unlock broader professional use by attorneys and other experts. Looking ahead, he anticipates Agentic AI that coordinates tasks across systems, making governance, brand consistency, and monitoring even more important.

As a final bridge to practitioner priorities, Bellack underscored the importance of communication with boards and executive stakeholders throughout an investigation. Clear objectives, frequent updates, and disciplined issue tracking help sustain momentum while legal teams manage multi-jurisdictional requirements and parallel workstreams.

Key Takeaways for Investigators and Legal Teams

• Call counsel first. Establish privilege immediately and appoint an investigations quarterback to direct next steps and communications.
• Avoid self-collection. Prevent spoliation and audit gaps; route actions through forensics professionals with privacy documentation in place.
• Plan for cross-border nuance. Account for local privacy law, culture, and on-the-ground access realities before scheduling collections.
• Use AI for early insights, not shortcuts. Employ GenAI to triage, surface timelines, and identify custodians while maintaining rigorous QC and legal oversight.
• Accelerate mobile and social collection. Leverage remote collection capabilities and rapid streaming into review to compress early-case timelines.
• Implement AI guardrails. Control inputs/outputs, enable verification, and align with information governance to expand safe professional use.
• Communicate in real time. Maintain frequent, structured updates for boards and executives to keep decisions aligned and cases moving.

More About Bryan Bellack

Bryan Bellack is Executive Vice President at HaystackID. His background includes leadership roles as a managing director at a consulting organization and vice president at Epiq, and early work in the New York City Law Department’s World Trade Center unit. He holds a BA in political science and international affairs and a JD from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. He also advises on safe and responsible AI through work with an AI control and risk management platform.