For the Court · Rule 53, Fed. R. Civ. P.
Daniel B. Garrie is appointed by the bench to resolve disputes whose substance turns on technical fact — where the record cannot be fairly weighed without specialized command of software, data, and security.
Engaged to examine source code, supervise e-discovery, evaluate forensic evidence, and report findings the parties and the bench can rely upon — including service as eDiscovery Special Master in In re Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation.
A technical special master is a neutral, appointed under Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or an analogous state authority, to address matters the court cannot effectively reach unaided — questions that are not legal in character but technical, and often voluminous.
The appointment serves the bench, not the parties. The master examines the technical record, manages disputes that would otherwise consume the docket, and renders findings and recommendations within the precise scope the appointing order defines. The court retains full authority to adopt, modify, or reject any report.
Neutral examination of disputed code in copyright, trade-secret, and patent matters — assessing authorship, copying, provenance, and functional equivalence under protective order, with findings stated so the court need not read the code itself.
Supervision of preservation, collection, search methodology, and proportionality. The master resolves disputes over custodians, search terms, technology-assisted review, and claimed inaccessibility before they overwhelm the schedule.
Independent reconstruction of intrusions, data exfiltration, and spoliation. The master evaluates forensic artifacts, chain of custody, and competing incident narratives to establish what the evidence will actually support.
Examination of machine-learning systems, training data, model behavior, and automated decision-making — addressing questions of attribution, reproducibility, and explainability that conventional discovery is not built to answer.
Each engagement is shaped by the appointing order. The sequence below describes the customary path; the court sets the scope, the standard of review, and the allocation of fees.
A conflicts check confirms neutrality. Counsel and the court align on scope, candidates, and the proposed terms of reference.
The court enters an order under Rule 53 fixing duties, authority, the materials to be reviewed, communication protocol, and compensation.
The master reviews the technical record under protective order, convenes the parties as needed, and develops findings of fact.
A written report sets out findings and recommendations. The parties may object; the court reviews de novo or as the order provides.
“The Special Master shall review the materials produced under the Protective Order and submit findings and recommendations to the Court on the technical questions set forth herein, reserving all questions of law to the Court.”
Flagship Appointment
In re Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation
Appointed by the Honorable Vince Chhabria of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California as eDiscovery Special Master. Issued dozens of orders resolving complex disputes over the production of data from one of the world’s largest data processors, and oversaw dozens of technical depositions concerning cloud architecture and distributed systems.
Beyond that engagement, Mr. Garrie has served in more than one hundred court-appointed and expert-witness matters. Out of respect for the confidentiality those engagements require, the following are described by role and subject rather than by name.
Designed the ESI protocol and resolved spoliation issues spanning servers, mobile devices, biometric timekeeping devices, and cloud systems.
Appointed across dozens of disputes involving iPhones, Android devices, iCloud, Office 365, servers, medical devices, vehicles, enterprise software, and the Internet of Things.
Between two technology companies; identified, collected, and removed proprietary data from the defendants’ systems under the court’s supervision.
A dispute with hundreds of millions of dollars in claims, arising from former employees who left to form a competing firm.
Assisted the court in identifying and removing sensitive and classified data before devices were returned to the parties.
Coordinated dozens of parties and global data productions in a sprawling multi-party matter.
Court-Appointed Technical Special Master · Discovery Referee · Forensic Neutral
Request curriculum vitae →Daniel B. Garrie, Esq. has spent more than twenty years at the intersection of law and technology. He is Founder and Managing Partner of Law & Forensics LLC (est. 2008), a neutral — arbitrator, mediator, Special Master, and forensic neutral — with JAMS since 2016, serving nationwide, and Partner and Chief Information Security Officer at Zeichner Ellman & Krause LLP.
He has been appointed by and appeared before the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the New York Supreme Court, the Delaware Supreme Court, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, and Seventh Circuits — across more than one hundred court-appointed and expert-witness engagements concerning source code, e-discovery, cybersecurity, and artificial-intelligence systems.
Since 2020 he has been Adjunct Professor at Harvard University, teaching Cybersecurity Law, Cryptocurrency & Smart Contracts, and Computer Forensics, with prior faculty appointments at Cardozo, Rutgers, and the University of Connecticut law schools. He is the co-inventor of four cybersecurity patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 10,546,129; 10,528,738; 9,990,498; and 9,990,497) and the author of more than 400 articles and several books, including Understanding Software, the Internet, Mobile Computing, and the Cloud: A Guide for Judges (Federal Judicial Center, 2015).
Mr. Garrie’s scholarship has been cited in more than 500 articles, publications, and court opinions, and recognized by several Justices of the United States Supreme Court. He has delivered more than 600 seminars and lectures worldwide on digital forensics, cybersecurity, and the management of complex technical disputes.
Inquiries from the Court & Counsel
Conflicts checks, availability, and proposed terms of reference are handled discreetly and without obligation. Chambers and counsel are welcome to inquire.