Katherine Charonko

Katherine E. Charonko is a partner and litigator who leads Bailey & Glasser, LLP’s Electronically Stored Information & Technology Practice Group where she designs and deploys ESI strategies across all of the firm’s cases, as well as nationwide class action and MDL matters. Kate routinely leads ESI in cases that involve billions of documents, including cases that involve numerous countries and complex international law and regulatory schemes. She also speaks and writes on cutting-edge topics involving technology and litigation, including the use of artificial intelligence.

Ms. Charonko leads a team of talented litigators at Bailey Glasser whose focus is ensuring that the strategic use of ESI – and the timing related to when ESI strategies are deployed in pending or threatened litigation – positively impact the flow and cost of our legal proceedings and ensure matters are handled properly, that laws and regulations are properly complied with, and that privileges are protected.

Ms. Charonko not only oversees e-Discovery across our cases, but she’s a trial lawyer. In 2025, Kate was part of the trial team that won another landmark win against Johnson & Johnson when it tried to discharge talc liabilities through the bankruptcy process using a “Texas Two-Step” maneuver. Learn more about that litigation here.

Ms. Charonko is a Certified e-Discovery Specialist (CEDS), a globally recognized credential that assures clients and co-counsel that our approaches are efficient, cost-effective, and reduces risk in all phases of e-Discovery. In addition, her work provides structured and conceptual analytic functionality for numerous aspects of e-Discovery, including document review strategy, use of technology and technology assisted review (TAR), collection and preservation strategy, ESI protocols, and training and implementation of e-Discovery practices with a particular focus on the benefits and dangers of the use of artificial intelligence.

Ms. Charonko supervises all Bailey Glasser e-Discovery case managers and attorney case teams to drive analytics adoption at the firm, resulting in significant time and cost savings to clients. In addition to her e-Discovery practice, Kate serves as part of Bailey Glasser’s multidistrict litigation (MDL) teams focusing on mass tort and product liability actions across the country. She was appointed to serve as liaison director of e-Discovery and ESI on several MDL leadership committees and creates case-specific document review workflows.

Ms. Charonko has earned widespread recognition for her expertise in electronically stored information and technology law. She was named a winner of the Monica Bay Women of Legal Tech Award by Legalweek (ALM) in 2026 and was included on the 2026 Lawdragon 100 Leading AI & Legal Tech Advisors list. Kate is nationally ranked by Chambers & Partners in Product Liability: Plaintiffs category as well as a 2026 Lawdragon Top 500 Leading Litigators list, among many other recognitions.

As a sought-after speaker and writer, Ms. Charonko has presented at numerous conferences including the 2025 Trial Lawyers of Mass Torts Conference, HarrisMartin's MDL and Talc Litigation Conferences, and Mass Torts Made Perfect, covering subjects ranging from ESI protocols and technology-assisted review to emerging issues like generative AI's intellectual property implications. She has also contributed to legal scholarship through her work with organizations like the Sedona Conference and was featured in Nora Riva Bergman's book "50 Lessons for Women Lawyers From Women Lawyers."

American Association of Justice

The Sedona Conference

Women In E-Discovery

Women En Mass

International Legal Technology Association

Chambers and Partners 2026 Artificial Intelligence Global Practice Guide: Trends and Developments, USA: “AI in Legal Practice: With Great (Computing) Power Comes Great (Ethical) Responsibility" by Katherine E. Charonko, Panida Anderson, Allison A. Bruff, and Elizabeth L. Stryker

Guest Column: "From Code to Canvas: the Intellectual Property Debate in Generative AI Creations," Daily Journal (November 3, 2025)

Client Alert: "Is the Future of the Civil Trial Hybrid? Federal Rules Committee Considering Amendments to FRCP 43" (November 2025)