Andrew J. Peck

Senior Counsel

There's nobody who knows the law better.

— peers quoted in Chambers USA

About

The Honorable Andrew J. Peck served for 23 years (from February 1995 until his retirement in February 2018) as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York, including a term as Chief Magistrate Judge from 2004 to 2005. Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Peck was in private practice for 17 years, focusing on commercial and entertainment litigation, including copyright and trademark matters, with extensive trial experience.

At DLA Piper, Judge Peck advises on copyright and trademark matters, and also serves as a resource for the firm and its clients on litigation strategy and discovery (including cross-border discovery) issues, from a Judge's perspective. He frequently speaks at conferences concerning ediscovery issues. Since joining DLA Piper, Judge Peck has been retained to serve as special discovery counsel to clients and law firms, and to submit expert reports on ediscovery issues.

Judge Peck serves as an arbitrator, mediator, Special Master, and ediscovery expert witness. In addition to serving directly through DLA Piper, Judge Peck is on the arbitration and mediation rosters of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), Federal Arbitration, Inc., and National Arbitration & Mediation (NAM).

Judge Peck is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers and Partners in their 2024 Chambers USA and Chambers Global 2024 guide in Nationwide E-Discovery & Information Governance. Chambers commented that "He is very knowledgeable on litigation tactics, ESI and much more. He is not only a complete subject matter expert, but he can anticipate what the opposing side will say." The Legal 500 United States 2024 ranked DLA Piper's eDiscovery team in Tier 2 and ranked Judge Peck as a "Leading Lawyer," with client testimonials noting that Judge Peck is "very experienced in handling a variety of e-discovery matters," is "very innovative when it comes to dispute resolution," and "is highly respected in the practice area." Who’s Who Legal 2024-25 ranked Judge Peck as a “Global Elite Thought Leader” in Commercial Litigation – Ediscovery.

Judge Peck serves as a permanent member on the Steering Committee of the prestigious Sedona Conference Working Group 1 (discovery) as Judicial member emeritus.

Judge Peck is recognized internationally for bringing electronic discovery competency to the attention of both the judiciary and bar. His landmark decision in the 2012 employment class action Monique Da Silva Moore, et. al. v. Publicis Groupe & MSL Group, was the first judicial decision approving the use of technology-assisted review (TAR). By 2015, Judge Peck declared in Rio Tinto v. Valle that it was black-letter law that if the responding party wished to use TAR, courts would allow it. In the third of his trilogy of TAR cases, Hyles v. City of New York, he stated that while he preferred the use of TAR, neither the requesting party nor the court could require a reluctant responding party to use TAR.

On his retirement from the bench, the New York Law Journal in March 2018 called Judge Peck "one of e-discovery's most influential figures." Among the honors he has received, the American Lawyer named him to its list of the Top 50 Innovators of the Last 50 Years as its Judicial E-Discovery Innovator. In February 2022, he was awarded the Honorable Shira Scheindlin Lifetime Achievement in eDiscovery Hero Award, presented by Zapproved (now part of Exterro).

Areas of FocusIntellectual Property Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations Appellate eDiscovery and Information Management Trademark and Copyright Litigation

Bar admissionsNew York

CourtsSupreme Court of the United StatesUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eighth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Tenth CircuitUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

EXPERIENCE

Education

J.D., Duke University 1977
Order of the Coif, graduated First in the class
Editor, Duke Law Journal

B.A., Cornell University 1974
with honors

[His] 'former position as a US Magistrate Judge, and prior experience as a broad-based commercial litigator, make him a unique asset to clients, who regularly engage him as a special e-discovery counsel’

— Chambers USA

Awards

Chambers USA (2024) and Chambers Global (2024)

Ranked in Band 1, Nationwide E-Discovery & Information Governance
Continuously ranked starting in 2019 (on retirement from the Bench in 2018)

Chambers says “Judge Peck’s former position as a US Magistrate Judge, and prior experience as a broad-based commercial litigator, makes him a unique asset to clients, who regularly engage him as special e-discover counsel.” Clients say “He is an expert and giant in his field.” “They don’t get any better than Judge Peck. He’s sophisticated on the law and a great communicator, but he’s also got trial skills, the ability to mentor, and the willingness to learn technology.” “His relationship with the bench is helpful and his experience is one I look upon. He is thoughtful in his approach to these issues and understands what the court is looking for, being a former judge himself.” “Judge Peck has a stellar reputation and he is on of the leading and most well-known experts in the country.” “Judge Peck’s wisdom is truly unparalleled on issues of legal technology, best practices surrounding ediscovery…. He is universally respected as the leader in the industry.”

The Legal 500 United States (2024)

Leading Lawyer, E-Discovery (2024)
Continuously ranked since 2020

Clients say, "'Judge Peck brings an excellent perspective to matters'. 'The firm has a number of highly experienced and knowledgeable e-discovery practitioners including former Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck'."

WWL Who’s Who Legal (2025)

Ranked as a Global Elite Thought Leader in Commercial Litigation, ediscovery

Additional Awards

Marquis Who’s Who in America (2024)
Law Technology News – Champion of Technology Award (2011)
Electronic Discovery Institute – Judicial Leadership Award (2013)
Zapproved Pinnacle Award for providing direction on how to handle the rapidly changing demands of electronic discovery in civil litigation (January 30, 2018)
American Lawyer Judicial E-Discovery Innovator, on its list of the Top 50 Innovators of the Last 50 Years

Bylines

"Lessons Learned from the Overuse of ESI Protocols," New York Law Journal (January 5, 2024) (with David Kessler, Ellen Blanchard, & Esther Clovis)
The Sedona Conference TAR Case Law Primer, Second Edition (2023) (Steering Committee Liaison)
The Sedona Conference Commentary on the Need for Guidance and Uniformity in Filing ESI and Records Under Seal (2022) (Steering Committee Liaison)
"California Bill Barring Privacy Protections in Litigation Would Have Significant, Negative Consequences," New York Law Journal (August 8, 2022)(with Chris Campbell, Leeanne Mancari and Christopher Young)
ESI Protocols: ESI Tool Turned ESI Problem, SDNY Federal Bar Association Newsletter (September 2021) (with Dawson Horn and David Kessler)
The Sedona Conference Commentary on the Effective Use of Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) Orders (2021) (Co-editor-in-chief and Steering Committee Liaison)
Exterro Case Law Alerts, "Expert Analysis" (periodically)
A View from the Bench and the Trench(es) in Response to Judge Matthewman's New Paradigm for E-Discovery: It’s More Complicated, 71 Fla. L. Rev. F. 143 (2020)
"Defensible Deletion: The Proof Is in the Planning," New York Law Journal (January 29, 2021) (with Jennifer Feldman, Leeanne Mancari, and Dennis Kiker), reprinted in Texas Paralegal Journal, Spring 2022 (vol. 27, #4)
The Sedona Conference Commentary on Rule 45 Subpoenas to Non-Parties, Second Edition (October 2020) (Co-editor-in-chief and Steering Committee Liaison)
Keeping Civil Cases Civil: A Best Practices Guide From 4 Perspectives, ACC.com (with Vincent Montalto, Cara D. Edwards, and Reyna E. Kessler)
Foreword, TAR for Smart People (3d edition 2018), by John Tredennick
Creating Cooperation in Discovery: Musings on Building Trust, N.Y.L.J. (April 9, 2018) (with Dawson Horn and David Kessler)
Judge Andrew J. Peck, 1 of E-Discovery's Most Influential Figures, Retires from the Branch, by Ian Lopez, N.Y.L.J. (March 5, 2018)
The Sedona Conference Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(b)(2) Primer: Practice Pointers for Responding to Discovery Requests, 19 Sedona Conf. J. 447 (2018) (Judicial Participant)
The Sedona Principles, Third Edition, 19 Sedona Conf. J. 1 (2018) (Judicial Participant and Editorial Style Committee member)
The Sedona Conference TAR Case Law Primer, 18 Sedona Conf. J. 1 (2017) (Judicial Observer)
Foreword, Perspectives on Predictive Coding (edited by Jason Baron, Ralph Losey and Michael Berman), American Bar Association (2016)
The Sedona Conference Commentary on Protection of Privileged ESI, 17 Sedona Conf. J. 95 (2015) (Judicial Participant)
Foreword, A Survey of Emerging Issues in Electronic Discovery, 26 Regent Univ. L. Rev. 1 (2013-2014)
E-Discovery: Where We've Been, Where We Are, Where We're Going, 12 Ave Maria L. Rev. 1 (2014) (with Magistrate Judge John Facciola and Steven Teppler)
Search, Forward: Will manual document review and keyword searches be replaced by computer-assisted coding?, Law Technology News (Oct. 2011)

PRESENTATIONS AND SEMINARS

Clerk Experience

The Honorable Paul Roney, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh (then Fifth) Circuit, 1977-1978

Civic and Charitable

Baker Street Irregulars and other Sherlock Holmes societies
Mystery Writers of America, Inc. –member; former national Executive Vice President; former President and New York Chapter Board of Directors member
Duke Law School Board of Visitors

Memberships And Affiliations