Alison A. Grounds

Alison is the founder and managing partner of Troutman eMerge, a wholly owned subsidiary of the firm, which provides end-to-end, integrated discovery services for legal matters and data management consulting. Troutman eMerge’s attorneys and technologists combine legal strategy with the latest technology to manage data, reduce costs, and identify facts needed to resolve disputes or address business objectives in data management. Their novel approach effectively addresses two common causes of unanticipated costs and risks: disconnected stakeholders and processes. eMerge is an industry-leader and nationally recognized for its innovative use of AI and other technology to reduce costs and identify the information necessary to resolve legal matters. Troutman eMerge also creates bespoke staffing, technological, and project management solutions to ensure clients’ goals are achieved.

With a practical, efficiency-obsessed approach, Alison assists clients in all discovery-related aspects of litigation, internal and governmental investigations, subpoena response, and due diligence, as well as proactive litigation readiness and data management. Clients across varied industries rely on Alison’s litigation experience and technology prowess to develop and manage the overall strategy and to advocate on their behalf during discovery conferences, meet and confers, and hearings. She consults with clients on their deployment, integration, and use of AI in litigation and helps clients navigate legal and technical issues associated with data management and eDiscovery, including issues associated with AI, collaboration tools, and other technologies. She also serves as national discovery counsel to ensure consistent approaches to eDiscovery across a portfolio of matters for clients.

Alison is an authority on eDiscovery law and a frequent speaker and author on eDiscovery issues.

Additionally, Alison chairs the firm’s Innovation Committee, serves on the Policy Committee, and is a leader of the firm’s Generative AI Task Force.

• Consulted with technology client to advise on retention, preservation, collection, and related discovery and data management issues associated with deployment and use of proprietary AI solutions.
• Assisted clients with the development and deployment of litigation readiness plans to provide repeatable processes for more efficient management of data related to litigation, including preservation planning, legal hold workflows, collection and data tracking, and template forms.
• Led discovery advocacy efforts to secure case terminating sanctions against an adversary in multiple lawsuits who failed to comply with discovery requirements by destroying and withholding key documents and misrepresenting steps taken to respond to discovery. Successfully elicited damaging testimony and identification of undisclosed documents through corporate depositions of 30(b)(6) witnesses, oversaw third party forensic investigation, and successfully argued in support of motion.
• Successfully defended client against terminating sanctions motion by assisting the client with massive effort to remediate discovery issues and deficiencies, drafting supporting declarations and briefing, and successfully arguing in opposition to motion.
• Served as national coordinating discovery counsel on behalf of client involved in 90+ related, but separate litigation matters, and created repeatable workflows and templates for the preservation, collection, analysis and production for ESI as well as related templates for ESI Protocols, Protective Orders, and discovery request and objections.
• Successfully limited costs of discovery in multiple, related class-action antitrust lawsuits by negotiating a standard ESI Protocol with all parties that permitted the use of categorical privilege logs, technology-assisted review and carved-out preservation limitations; and then successfully defeated adversaries’ efforts to expand discovery beyond the proportional needs of the cases.
• Coordinated a discovery plan for state and federal regulatory approval of a significant energy industry merger.
• Developed the discovery strategy for related litigation matters and governmental investigations involving multiple outside merits counsel, to avoid duplication of effort across firms and matters, ensure prior work product was leveraged, avoid inconsistent productions, and reduce discovery disputes.
• Successfully argued on behalf of clients to prevent a governmental agency from shifting costs associated with discovery to clients in civil actions with the agency.
• Led discovery strategy for various E.U.-based clients involved in U.S.-based litigation and governmental investigations to navigate international privacy regimes including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and country-specific guidance for Germany, Belgium, and France.

• Legaltech News, Monica Bay Women of Legal Tech Award (2025)
• Recognized as an “AI Visionary” by Relativity in its inaugural 2022 AI Visionaries list
• Legal 500 United States: Dispute Resolution: E-Discovery, Recommended (2021-2022), Leading Lawyer (2024-2026)
• Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer (2022-2026) – independently rated lawyers
• Benchmark Litigation: “Local Litigation Star” in Georgia (2022, 2023-2025), “Future Litigation Star” (2021)
• Best Lawyers in America®: Electronic Discovery and Information Management Law (2023-2027), Privacy and Data Security Law (2021-2027)
• Best Lawyers in America®: Privacy and Data Security Law: Lawyer of the Year (2027)
• Chambers Global USA, E-Discovery & Information Governance, Nationwide
  (2024-2026)
• Chambers USA, E-Discovery & Information Governance, USA Nationwide (2015-2026)
• Daily Report: 2020 Georgia Trailblazer (2020)
• Super Lawyers: E- Discovery, Georgia (2015-2019), “Rising Star” in General Litigation (2009-2014)
• Monica Bay STEM Leadership Committee: Inaugural Recipient, Monica Bay STEM Leadership Award (2015)
• International Legal Technology Association: Technology Advocacy Professional of the Year (2013)
• Fulton County Daily Report: Top Attorneys in Georgia Under Age 40 “On the Rise” (2013)