Nan R.
Nolan

The Honorable Nan R. Nolan is a former United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1998 -2012).  Judge Nolan has extensive experience in a wide variety of complex litigation matters and is a nationally recognized authority in eDiscovery.

During her 14 years as a Magistrate Judge, she presided over numerous complex federal cases at every phase of civil litigation.  Judge Nolan’s work on these cases ranged from supervising pretrial discovery and mediation in settlement conferences to presiding over bench and jury trials where parties had consented to her jurisdiction.  Before joining the bench, she had more than two decades of experience handling a wide variety of civil and criminal matters in private practice, as well as with the Federal Public Defender program.  After retiring from the court, Judge Nolan served as an arbitrator, mediator, and special master with JAMS.

Judge Nolan’s experience includes antitrust claims, business and commercial disputes, class actions under state and federal laws, labor and employment disputes, insurance disputes, intellectual property disputes, personal injury and tort disputes, securities matters, and white-collar criminal matters.  

At Redgrave, Judge Nolan’s work has included serving as Special Master, Discovery Neutral, and Discovery Expert in numerous contentious litigation matters.  Judge Nolan’s appointment in these cases helps to streamline proceedings and provides recommendations so that discovery and privilege issues can be effectively and efficiently resolved.  She is also knowledgeable in the use of technology assisted review (TAR). 

Judge Nolan was one of the co-founders of the Seventh Circuit’s E-Discovery Pilot Program.  Among other awards and recognitions, Judge Nolan received the 1996 American Bar Association Award for “Pro Bono Publico Award” (Rolando Cruz Defense Team), the 1996 Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) Award (Rolando Cruz Defense Team), 1996 Public Interest Law Initiative, “Distinguished Public Service Award” (Rolando Cruz Defense Team).  In 2014, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.  She also received the 2016 Leadership Award from the Electronic Discovery Institute at the Sixth Annual EDI Leadership Summit.  Judge Nolan is a frequent speaker on eDiscovery and information governance topics.