Movers and shakers: Jerami Kemnitz, officer, Fredrikson & Byron

Attorney Jerami Kemnitz is working with clients on information law policies and procedures as an officer in the e-discovery strategy and advocacy, data protection and cybersecurity and litigation groups at Fredrikson & Byron.

Kemnitz joined the Minneapolis-based law firm from Wells Fargo, where he was global head of electronic discovery, also referred to as e-discovery, or discovery in legal matters of information stored in electronic format.

At Fredikson & Byron, Kemnitz, who has more than 20 years of experience in private practice and as in-house counsel, said his priorities include strengthening and rounding out the firm's existing information law practice areas.

"I'm able to advise my clients on a wide variety of e-discovery and information governance and data privacy issues that I've encountered both as an outside lawyer and looking at things from inside," Kemnitz said.

Kemnitz also has experience advising global companies and navigating foreign data protection and privacy laws. That background aligns with the law firm's efforts to expand internationally beyond offices in China and Mexico.

He began concentrating on information law early in his career, as companies were rapidly moving from paper- to technology-based records and data storage in the mid-1990s.

Kemnitz, from Edina, has degrees from the University of Minnesota Law School and the University of St. Thomas.

A: Fredrikson & Byron's motto is "Where law and business meet." Their approach is very similar to mine in that they focus on the issues that are most important to clients. Plus they were one of the only firms in this area that had an existing, thriving practice in e-discovery, data protection and cybersecurity.

Q: What about moving data to the cloud?

A: Companies large and small are facing how to handle the amount and the scope of data being generated and stored within their business environment. If you are moving your data to a cloud-based environment suddenly you've lost a bit of control and you're trusting that cloud-based provider to treat your data the way you would. We saw with Edward Snowden that cloud-based providers may be more cooperative with the government than you would have been, so the question is how do you protect yourself from government intrusion or third-party threats?

Q: What does your in-house experience add to your work?

A: Most clients have three primary goals regardless of what industry they're in. Control costs. Mitigate risk associated with their business divisions. Increase efficiency to drive the bottom line. When I went in-house I faced all three of those challenges and when I came outside I really do think in terms of those three things.