Monday Funny: Is eDiscovery a foreign language?
Thanks for our friend Gabe Acevedo for pointing out this good cartoon from the folks over at CaseCentral.
.jpg){kind=spacer}
CT Summation Announces Release of Discovery Cracker 5.5
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- CT Summation, part of CT, a Wolters Kluwer business, and the premier provider of litigation workflow and eDiscovery solutions, today announced the forthcoming release of CT Summation Discovery Cracker. Release 5.5 will capitalize on the current version which won the LTN 2009 Gold Award for EDD Services Processing. The enhancements to be delivered in Discovery Cracker 5.5 will provide corporations, law firms, and eDiscovery vendors with processing speed performance improvements while maintaining the best accuracy in the industry. The new version will be delivered with significantly improved data reporting tools, enhanced standard reports, and numerous new reports designed to meet our customers' eDiscovery needs.
Discovery Cracker is a complete solution making it possible for legal and data professionals to create unlimited PDF's or TIFF's, OCR image files, process international text characters, and much more. The solution provides unrestricted user access, enabling clients to leverage the collective power of their team without worrying about resources. In addition, Discovery Cracker is backed by a support team that has over 60 years of combined knowledge in some of the most complex, high output processing environments.
"Discovery Cracker has given our team a strategic edge resulting in increased efficiencies and more streamlined eDiscovery processes," said Alexander Call, J.D., Juris Imaging & Graphics. "The CT Summation team is patient, knowledgeable, and always ready to go above and beyond their duties to meet our eDiscovery needs."
Some of the key enhancements to Discovery Cracker include:
- Performance improvements on average of over 100 percent, the fastest Discovery Cracker version to date
- More accurate search and production of all responsive data – including embedded image files
- Extraction of metadata from over 500 file types in 300+ languages at significantly greater speeds
- Improved reporting package with enhanced standard reports, and numerous new reports designed to meet our customers' eDiscovery needs
Judge Shira Scheindlin (S.D.N.Y.) "Revisits Zubulake" in Pension Committee of the Univ. of Montreal Pension Plan, et al., v. Banc of America Securities, LLC, et al.
January 14, 2010
David Herron, Jeffrey Fowler, Eric Chan 
In an 87-page opinion released this week, Pension Committee of the Univ. of Montreal Pension Plan, et al., v. Banc of America Securities, LLC, et al. (“Pension Committee”), Judge Shira Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York granted sanctions against 13 plaintiffs for their failure to properly preserve, collect and produce electronic documents.[1] Judge Scheindlin subtitled the opinion “Zubulake Revisited: Six Years Later.” She observed that, six years after the Court’s series of ground-breaking Zubulake opinions and decades after courts first addressed the discovery of electronic evidence, litigants are still conducting electronic discovery in an “ignorant and indifferent fashion.”[2] The Court then reviewed the steps a party is required to take to properly preserve evidence, and provided a legal framework for determining the severity of sanctions that may be issued against parties who fail to take those steps. This Client Alert highlights the elements of Pension Committee that are likely to have the greatest impact on current e-Discovery practice and identifies a number of Practice Tips resulting from this decision.
Plaintiffs Sanctioned for Failure to Produce Electronic Files in Hedge Fund Suit
Mark Hamblett
New York Law Journal
January 19, 2010
A federal judge has sanctioned 13 plaintiffs suing two collapsed hedge funds for negligence and gross negligence for their failure to preserve electronic files in discovery.
Saying "most plaintiffs conducted discovery in an ignorant and indifferent fashion," Southern District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin will assess monetary sanctions against all 13 plaintiffs and give an adverse jury instruction for six of the worst offenders in The Pension Committee of the University of Montreal Pension Plan v. Banc of America Securities LLC, 05 Civ. 9016.
"While litigants are not required to execute document productions with absolute precision, at a minimum they must act diligently and search thoroughly at the time they reasonably anticipate litigation," Schiendlin said in her 87-page opinion. "All of the plaintiffs in this motion failed to do so and have been sanctioned accordingly."
The lawsuit was brought by investors who sought to recover losses of $550 million following the liquidation of two hedge funds based in the British Virgin Islands. Banc of America and other defendants have already settled the case, which involves a total of 96 plaintiffs.
The chief defendant remaining is Citgo Fund Services, which was hired by the two hedge funds to perform certain administrative services.
It was Citgo that brought the sanctions motion, and it is Citgo that will be compensated, with a yet-to-be-determined amount, in the form of costs and attorney's fees, including fees and expenses associated with filing sanctions motions, reviewing declarations and deposing declarants.
Citgo, its parent company and two directors will also benefit in the adverse jury instruction with respect to six plaintiffs. Scheindlin said she will tell the jury that relevant evidence was destroyed after the duty to preserve arose and that the plaintiffs were grossly negligent. It would then be up to the jury to decide whether the evidence was relevant.
The six plaintiffs who will get the adverse instruction, including the Morton Meyerson Family Foundation and the Defined Benefit Plan for Hunnicutt & Co., she said, conducted "severely deficient" searches in response to document requests in 2003 and 2004.
Continue Reading...Microsoft Corporation Deploys Clearwell to Assist With E-Discovery
Big news in the eDiscovery world (and Puget Sound area) with word that Microsoft selected Clearwell - which happens to be one of our featured solutions.
TERIS can work with corporations to either purchase the appliance and service (if they want to bring it in-house) or offer the service on an as-needed project bases.
The reality is there are not many corporations that can justify the cost of bringing the tool in-house anyway, because only a small percentage of companies deal with the same volume of litigation as Microsoft.
Regardless whether companies elect to purchase it or use it on a project basis, Clearwell is becoming even more pervasive and popular in the corporate world.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - January 12, 2010) - Clearwell Systems, Inc., a leader in intelligent e-discovery, today announced Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), a Fortune 500 company, has deployed the Clearwell E-Discovery Platform as a component of its in-house e-discovery strategy. Microsoft's legal and IT teams use Clearwell to increase the efficiency of the e-discovery process for litigation, regulatory inquiries and internal investigations.
"E-discovery costs are a significant portion of litigation costs," said Rich Wallis, deputy general counsel of litigation at Microsoft. "With the implementation of Clearwell's pre-processing, processing and analysis solution, we are further streamlining our e-discovery processes, starting with early case assessment, intelligent and appropriate minimization and search."
The Clearwell E-Discovery Platform is fully operational in less than 25 minutes and provides users with immediate visibility into case facts, significantly accelerating early case assessment. Clearwell's Transparent Search, metadata filters, and people analytics enable users to quickly and defensibly eliminate irrelevant documents and false positives, lowering processing costs and reducing review workload. The product's discussion threading and relevance ranking capabilities display documents in context, further increasing review throughput. Responsive documents can be produced or seamlessly uploaded into litigation support databases via EDRM-compliant XML and other major load file formats. In addition, the Clearwell E-Discovery 
Platform automatically tracks all actions on case documents throughout the e-discovery workflow, ensuring a defensible e-discovery process.
"The e-discovery expense will continue to increase as the amount of electronically stored information grows," said Kamal Shah, vice president of product management and marketing at Clearwell Systems. "To cope with this, many companies like Microsoft are choosing Clearwell to perform early case assessments in-house and gain control over e-discovery costs."
About Clearwell Systems
Clearwell Systems is transforming the way enterprises and law firms perform electronic discovery (e-discovery) in response to litigation, regulatory inquiries, and internal investigations. The Clearwell E-Discovery Platform automates the processing, analysis, review, and production phases of e-discovery via a single, integrated product. Leading organizations such as Constellation Energy, Cisco, DLA Piper, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, and the Department of Homeland Security / Office of Inspector General are using Clearwell to accelerate early case assessments, intelligently cull-down data, increase reviewer productivity, and ensure the defensibility of their e-discovery process. Consistently ranked as a leader in independent industry surveys and reports, Clearwell Systems is an active participant in the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Project and The Sedona Conference. For more information, visit www.clearwellsystems.com, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/clearwell, or subscribe to the E-Discovery 2.0 blog at http://www.clearwellsystems.com/e-discovery-blog/.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
The Electronic Discovery Reference Model Explained (in video)
Ralph Losey is the lawyer, writer and educator behind the e-Discovery Team blog. He has created some excellent video content, including this explanation of the EDRM Model.
4th Annual Sedona Conference Institute Program on Getting Ahead of the eDiscovery Curve to be Held March 25-26 in Philadelphia
Sedona, AZ (PRWEB) January 4, 2010 -- The Sedona Conference® announces that registration is now open for the fourth annual Sedona Conference® InstituteSM Program, entitled “Getting Ahead of the eDiscovery Curve,” to be held at the Westin Philadelphia Hotel in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday and Friday, March 25 and 26, 2010. The all-star faculty for this program includes nationally renowned members of the federal Bench, litigators from the plaintiff and defense bars, and in-house counsel.
The conference is chaired by Kenneth J. Withers, Director of Judicial Education and Content for The Sedona Conference®, and features United States Magistrate Judges John M. Facciola (DC), Paul Grimm (Maryland), and Craig B. Shaffer (Colorado). Also on the faculty are former in-house counsels Tom Allman (BASF), Patrick Oot (Verizon), and Ed Wolfe (General Motors), along with current in-house counsels Jason R. Baron (National Archives and Records Administration), Tim Moorehead (BP America), and Miriam M. Smolen (Fannie Mae). Rounding out the faculty are plaintiff and defendant counsels Kevin Brady (Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz LLP), Conor R. Crowley (Law Offices of Conor R. Crowley), Joseph P. Guglielmo (Scott + Scott, LLP), Cecil A. Lynn, III (Ryley Carlock & Applewhite), and Jonathan Redgrave (Nixon Peabody LLP), and litigation support expert Sherry Harris (Hunton & Williams LLP).
 Panels will focus on maximizing opportunities under the current rules and achieving proportional discovery through the meet and confer process.  |
Registration is $1195/person, $1095/person if two or more from the same firm register at the same time, and for members of The Sedona Conference® Working Group Series. Registration for the program limited to 150 persons. To register, or to view the complete agenda and faculty bios, just go to www.thesedonaconference.org and click on the program title on the right side in the TSCI box, or call 
1-866-860-6600
.
Three Minute Video on 'Victor Stanley v. Creative Pipe' and Search
Thanks to the e-Discovery Team Blog for this.
This video is an excerpt from the last day of a law school class on Electronic Discovery taught by Professor Bill Hamilton and myself at the University of Florida. This three minute take summarizes and reminds the students about Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc., 250 FRD 251, 2008 WL 2221841 (D.C. M.D. 2008).
EDiscovery market set for 2010 boom: Gartner
from CBR
Published:16-December-2009
By Steve Evans
Litigation fuelling growth
The eDiscovery software market is set for rapid growth, with revenues expected to surpass $1.2bn in 2010, according to analyst house Gartner. The market this year is tipped to total $1bn, a 25% increase over 2008 figures.
Gartner defines eDiscovery as, “the identification, preservation, collection, preparation, review and production of electronically stored information associated with legal and government proceedings.”
It can be delivered on-promise or through a SaaS offering.
The growth in the market is being fuelled by increasing levels of litigation across the business world. Craig Carpenter, VP of marketing at eDiscovery and eDisclosure form Recommind, told CBR that the economic situation was driving more companies to take legal proceedings.
“When times are good, people don’t sue each other very much; they’re making money and they have money. When times are bad, people tend to sue a lot more,” he said. “EDiscovery and eDisclosure are becoming core platforms for businesses. I think we’ll start to see more and more of this soft of software over the next few years.”
Tom Eid, research vice president at Gartner claims that the market will continue to grow throughout 2011, with consolidation continuing beyond then. While existing vendors will expand their product line, the emergence of eDiscovery as a high-growth market will see more companies enter the space, Gartner said.
While the US has been the biggest market for eDiscovery – accounting for about 90% of the market revenue in 2008 – other territories such as the UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa are expected to see large revenue growth over the next few years.
“The December 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures (FRCP) in the U.S. regarding the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI) and passing of subsequent similar statutes in other countries, has really spurred market interest in eDiscovery,” said Eid. “This is prompting many companies to rethink their overall information management strategies, from the policy level to the implementation level.”
Players in the eDiscovery scene include Autonomy, Recommind, EMC and ZyLAB.
Holiday Gift Idea: "E-Discovery For Dummies"
You can make e-discovery easier by knowing how the court separates electronically stored information (ESI) into two tiers; the seven basic steps in e-discovery; implications of the e-discovery federal rules; and the timeline that actually begins prior to litigation.
E-Discovery Categories of Electronically Stored Information
In e-discovery, electronically stored information (ESI) is divided into five categories, which are grouped into two tiers based on the effort and cost needed to access ESI. Keep these categories in mind when requesting ESI or responding to a request:
| Category | What It Is | Accessibility |
|---|---|---|
| Active, online data | ESI created, received, or processed; or that’s quickly and frequently accessed. Examples: hard drives and active network servers. | First tier: reasonably accessible |
| Near-line data (short for near online) | ESI stored on removable media or accessed via automated or robotic storage systems. Access speeds range from a few milliseconds up to 2 minutes. Examples: optical disk and magnetic tape. | First tier: reasonably accessible |
| Offline storage and archives | ESI sent to storage. Unlike the first two categories, offline ESI is accessed manually. Examples: magnetic tape or optical disks; referred to as JBOD (just a bunch of disks). | First tier: reasonably accessible |
| Backup tapes, commonly using data compression | ESI stored for backup or disaster recovery and not organized for retrieval of specific files or messages. Retrieving ESI requires restoring the entire tape and might require reversing the compression used to fit more bytes of data. The discovery of ESI from backup tapes requires proof that their need and relevance outweigh their retrieval and processing costs. Example: backup tapes. | Second tier: not reasonably accessible |
| Erased, fragmented, or corrupted data | Erased, overwritten, fragmented (broken up and stored in separate areas), or corrupted files (damaged by computer viruses, or a hardware/software malfunction) are the least accessible. This ESI might be accessed only after significant processing or might be impossible to access at all. | Second tier: not reasonably accessible |
Clearwell Systems Forecasts Top 10 Predictions for Electronic Discovery in 2010
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - December 7, 2009) - Clearwell Systems Inc., a leader in intelligent e-discovery, today announced its top 10 predictions for e-discovery in 2010. Based on insights gathered from industry experts, enterprises and law firms, Clearwell expects one of the most significant priorities in the year ahead to be a greater focus on controlling e-discovery costs, .jpg){kind=spacer}
and gaining better control over the entire, complex process. As a result, legal and IT departments are becoming more strategic about managing their electronic data while they proactively bring e-discovery in-house.
Clearwell's Top 10 Electronic Discovery Predictions for 2010 include:
1. Early case assessment (ECA) moves from a "nice to have" to a "must have" requirement for any matter involving electronically stored information (ESI). In 2009, ECA moved into the mainstream as a methodology to quickly understand case facts, assess risk and lower both data processing and attorney review costs. However in 2010, with the advancement of products and the increased socialization within the bar and the litigation support community, ECA will graduate into a core methodology for savvy litigators regardless of matter type or size.
2. Appetites for broad information lifecycle management initiatives will diminish as organizations will realize these programs are far too complex to solve specific pain points, and they often take too much time (measured in years) to execute. The economic reality is that these holistic, cross-systems, cross-department initiatives often fail to demonstrate the return on investment necessary in today's challenging economy.
3. Staffing roles will continue to evolve with a newfound focus on project management. The role of an in-house e-discovery coordinator will emerge as more of a project manager across the entire e-discovery process and has expertise in both, legal and IT. This shift will become increasingly necessary as e-discovery evolves into a standard business process that is repeatable, measurable, and defensible.
4. Data analytics and statistical methodologies will gain traction to augment the type of subjective decision making approaches that have historically formed the backbone of the e-discovery search and review processes. These objective methodologies have long been called on as best practices by the likes of the Sedona Working Group. In 2010, they will start to move from theoretical to practical task as e-discovery tools increasingly move in-house.
Continue Reading...TERIS becomes one of the first litigation support service providers to offer Clearwell E-Discovery Platform version 5.0 to its clients
Seattle, WA – December 2, 2009 – TERIS announced today the addition of Clearwell E-Discovery Platform Version 5.0 to the firm’s product offering. The latest version features new pre-processing, review and production modules that help lawyers pre-process, analyze, search, review, redact, and produce documents within a single product, eliminating the need to use multiple tools and enabling an iterative and defensible e-discovery process.
Clearwell Pre-Processing Module provides interactive graphs that enable e-discovery teams to quickly filter out data by known files (both NSRL NIST list as well as custom lists), custodian, date, file type, and size, significantly reducing downstream processing and review costs. Clearwell Review Module enables reviewers to quickly redact documents, apply reason codes, and verify redactions prior to production. Decision-tree tagging using a multi-layer tree structure prevents errors and minimizes the number of clicks needed to accurately tag a document. Clearwell Production Module offers a range of production options, including bates stamping, watermarking, custom header/footer, and various export options. In addition to these three new modules, the Clearwell E-Discovery Platform V5.0 delivers over 20 new features and enhancements in its industry-leading processing and early case analysis module.
“This latest version of Clearwell is a dramatic step forward in capabilities,” said Peter Sternkopf, TERIS Chief Technology Officer. “The new platform addresses the glaring need for an eDiscovery product that reduces the number of tools required in a case and also helps reduce the repetitive movement of data.”
“We have been a longtime partner with Clearwell and appreciate the opportunity to work with the development team to contribute feedback and ideas for the new 5.0 platform,” Sternkopf continued. “Our eDiscovery team can now perform all of the post-collection phases of eDiscovery in a single, integrated application, instead of using three or four separate tools.”
ABOUT TERIS
Founded in 1996, TERIS provides legal support and sophisticated eDiscovery solutions to corporate legal teams and law firms across the U.S. and internationally. TERIS’ staff of over 300 was named one of the top 20 eDiscovery service providers by industry researcher Socha-Gelbmann in 2008. The company operates a free job board for the legal profession at www.discoverlegaljobs.com and has offices in Seattle, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Phoenix,, Austin, Dallas and Chicago. To learn more about TERIS, visit www.TERIS.com or follow the company on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/DiscoverTERIS.
Media Contact: David Kaufer, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, 425-275-8814 (mobile); 206-521-8717 (office) or DKaufer (at) TERIS.com
Managing e-Discovery Costs - Risk Managers Must Learn To Tame Expenses
From Claims Magazine:
By Kevin M. Quinley
In litigation, the discovery process has always been expensive. With computers and digital technology, though, there are added layers of complexity and cost. Discovery no longer involves just reviewing boxes and boxes of papers. Regardless of the dispute — product liability, employment practices, or directors and officers — discovery now entails exhaustive searches of electronic data. This means sifting through computer hard drives, thumb drives, servers, tapes, e-mail strings, archives, instant messenger dialogue, and so on. Searching electronic data sources consumes huge chunks of time and dollars.
.jpg)
Now let’s consider that 36 billion e-mails are transmitted each day. This pace rises 20 percent annually. Ninety-three percent of all information is now stored digitally, with 70 percent of that never actually printed. A 2007 Kroll survey revealed the following:
· Twenty-five percent of U.S. corporate in-house counsel claim to be current with all case-law developments and regulations relating to electronically stored information (ESI).
· Only half of the respondents said that their organizations had a policy regarding ESI.
· Seventy-five percent report losing time and money because of inefficient ESI processes.
Autonomy unveils new collection-to-the-cloud solution for e-Discovery and compliance
Cambridge, UK and SAN FRANCISCO - November 10, 2009 - Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU. or AU.L), a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today announced the availability of a next-generation collection solution for eDiscovery and compliance. The solution uses a scalable, distributed model to automatically search, identify, preserve and collect relevant electronically-stored information (ESI) to the cloud from laptops, desktops and more than 400 
enterprise repositories, including file and email servers, archives, and Microsoft SharePoint. Collected ESI is then stored in Autonomy's secure, cloud-based archive, enabling organizations to perform defensible and systemized preservation and collection in the shortest amount of time to meet the preservation obligation. This new solution, which is a key part of Autonomy's industry-leading Legal Hold solution suite, enables global organizations to comply with data privacy laws around the world by ensuring that personal data that does not pertain to the legal case will not be collected.
Preservation and collection of relevant data is a critical step in the legal hold process, when an organization faces pending litigation or investigation. The new Autonomy collection solution enables global organizations to dramatically reduce both the risks and costs associated with the identification, collection and preservation of ESI, while ensuring compliance with government regulations, such as the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) and the COBS 11.8 in the U.K.
Legacy technologies for preservation and collection of ESI require inefficient manual processes that involve significant personnel and IT investments. These technologies can neither scale nor meet the needs of counsel to quickly preserve, analyze and understand data within the timelines set under the FRCP and other regulations. The challenge of legal hold, preservation and collection is further compounded by a global, distributed workforce, because legacy solutions cannot effectively identify and collect data without a continuous, high-bandwidth connection.
Continue Reading...TERIS Partner Clearwell Systems Receives Patent for Discussion Threading and Relevance Ranking
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA-- November 9, 2009 - Clearwell Systems, Inc., a leader in intelligent e-Discovery, today announced it was awarded US Patent No. 7,593,995, "Methods and systems of electronic message threading and ranking." This patent reinforces differentiation for the Clearwell E-Discovery Platform, the market's leading product for early case assessment. Clearwell and the Clearwell E-Discovery Platform have received recognition from LTN's Technology Awards, Red Herring 100, Network World Enterprise All Stars, eWEEK Excellence Awards, SC Magazine, Info Security Products Guide, among others.
"The e-Discovery space is rapidly evolving, with a significant percentage of enterprises looking at technology solutions to bring e-Discovery in-house for cost control and reduced risk," said Vivian Tero, program manager, GRC infrastructure at IDC. "Defensible search and early case assessment are emerging as hot button areas that enterprises should consider when evaluating products. A lot of confusion exists in the market, making it important to examine proof of concepts and conduct a detailed evaluation before selecting an e-Discovery product. Clearwell is one of the vendors that provides customers an opportunity to test its capabilities in advance of purchasing the product."
When It Comes to eDiscovery, Even Walmart Can Get It Wrong
Posted by Christine Taylor (Network Computing)
October 12, 2009
Mimosa Systems' excellent (and entertaining) Know-It-All Guide recently reminded me of an older but still relevant case, Testa vs. Walmart. The mid-90s case is still relevant because the same practices that led to Walmart's loss happen every day in business. The settlement was small at $50K and Walmart could readily afford it, but do you really want to go there by making the same mistake they did?
Here is a short summary. In 1993 Louis R. Testa drove up to a Walmart loading dock. The dock was coated with ice but Testa gamely delivered his load of tropical fish with a dock worker's help. Sadly he slipped and fell on the ice and threatened to sue right then and there. The Walmart employee alerted his supervisors who ordered a full investigation. The finished report included photos of the ramp, a description of events and Testa's threat to sue.
How to avoid an e-discovery disaster
Great article in today's Computerworld discussing steps companies can take to avoid a disaster when they are involved in legal proceedings.
Among the tips shared:
- Know what you have
- Talk to your legal department on a regular basis
- Make your information-handling practices routine and consistent
- Keep a trail.
- Understand what spoliation is
- Be ready to preserve all data, immediately
E-Discovery Trends in the Paralegal World
E-Discovery has become a necessary part of the legal profession and often it's paralegals and legal assistants are the gatekeepers for implementation at a law firm. On this edition of The Paralegal Voice, co-hosts Lynne DeVenny and Vicki Voisin welcome Tom Mighell, a consultant with Fios and co-host of The Kennedy-Mighell Report on the Legal Talk Network and Dorothe Howell, senior paralegal at E.I. du Pont De Nemours and Company, to share their insights into current trends in e-discovery. They will discuss what it takes to work in this specialty area, e-discovery training and the importance of e-discovery to a paralegal's job.
TERIS is a proud sponsor of the Paralegal Voice.
Organization of Legal Professionals (www.theolp.org) formed to drive eDiscovery Certification
It's no secret that eDiscovery continues to grow. As it was noted in the recent Law Technology News article, " EDD SHOWCASE: Strange Times" By George Socha & Tom Gelbmann, there is an ever-growing need for professionals "who actually understand what is involved in handling electronic documents." As this need continues to grow, there is concern that the current lack of standards and certification creates an unbalanced and inconsistent baseline from which to gauge experience and expertise in this field.
As a result of a crying need from judges, law firms and vendors alike, a new non-profit organization, The Organization of Legal Professionals (www.theolp.org) has been formed for the purpose of providing an exacting and tough certification exam to establish core compentencies in eDiscovery.
The OLP (www.theolp.org) has assembled a top notch roster for its Board of Governors and Advisory Council.
The Organization of Legal Professionals is looking for help from all associated with eDiscovery. It is looking for companies and individuals to join and support the cause and to help spread the word. As was noted in a recent article announcing the formation of the group, " The lack of qualified people in the fastest growing arena of litigation is unprecedented. And now, there is a way to help manage and control the problem."
More information about the Organization of Legal Professionals can be found in this article or though its website.
Governor Schwarzenegger Signs California's Electronic Discovery Act, to be Effective Immediately
News broke today that 
California Governor Schwarzenegger signed the state's Electronic Discovery Act, to be effective immediately. We have two perspectives on this development. The first comes from TERIS CTO Peter Sternkopf:
California, as well as other states, have adopted the FRCP's at the state level – this has set a tremendously positive precedent for our industry.
California's adoption of the FRCP's forces all levels of Litigation Practice (law firms and corporations alike) to follow guidelines that ultimately make Litigation Service Providers interaction with Clients and their business run much smoother. Finally the resistant and less adept Clients are forced to follow the same guidelines as the rest of us.
We expect the adoption of the FRCP's top propagate and positively affect more areas in the EDRM. A super positive consequence of this proliferation is the widespread focus and adoption of more industry standard practices.
The second comes from Micah Kasdan, San Diego Regional Director of Electronic Sales (RDES) who earlier wrote and blogged about this topic:
After more than 3 years of speculation and 2 rounds of review from Governor Schwarzenegger, California has amended the State’s rules for civil procedure regarding the handling of Electronically Stored Information (ESI).
TERIS has spent the better part of the past 5 years consulting and educating clients on the impact of data on the discovery process. This part of our industry remains a very interesting area of constant transition. We are looking forward to bringing our previous experiences of assisting clients with the 2006 FRCP rule changes to help this new wave of attorneys deal with a major shift to their processes. These changes largely mirror those that have taken effect in the federal court system and we expect many of the same growing pains to follow on the State level. For more details about the new codes, please check this link: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_5_bill_20090629_chaptered.pdf. And for assistance on handling ESI with industry leading best practices, contact your TERIS representative.
IPRO Honors TERIS
IPRO Tech., a leader in the design of scalable, easy to manage litigation support software as well as e-Discovery software, honored TERIS at its two-day 8th Annual Partner Conference, IPRO Innovations 2009. The conference, held at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak in Phoenix, Arizona featured more than 20 specialized workshops and seminars to provide more than 200 attendees with important hands-on knowledge and comfort in the quickly evolving world of litigation support software.
IPRO added TERIS to its growing "Hall of Fame" award category, which recognizes long-term IPRO clients that have continually maintained innovative and leadership positions within the litigation support community.
TERIS is a full-service litigation support solution provider. The company works with leading law firms and corporate legal departments to provide sophisticated consultation-based solutions, state-of-the-art technologies and highly experienced project management. TERIS simplifies enterprise-wide information flow, allowing for professionally enhanced case management, which provides clients with improved workflow and a much higher return on their investment.
As in years past, the criteria for selection includes consistent dedication to technological innovations and leading edge business paradigms to streamline business practices, achieving top quality service levels, and positively impacting the litigation community in their market over the last year.
“TERIS has always taken a pioneering approach to its business model, and we’re delighted that IPRO products and services have been instrumental in the company’s success,” said Jim King, CEO of IPRO. “Our long-term partnership has been beneficial to both companies, and we hope to work with the terrific management at TERIS for years to come.”
# # #
Continue Reading...
iCONECTnXT Enhances TERIS E-Discovery, Hosting, and Litigation Support Services
Los Angeles, CA (April 28, 2009) - iCONECT Development, LLC's award-winning litigation support platform, iCONECTnXT, will now be offered by TERIS as part of their e-discovery, hosting, and litigation consulting services. nXT is used by 83 Am Law 100 firms, corporate legal departments, Fortune 500 corporations, and government agencies to organize, review, and analyze e-discovery.
"TERIS is excited to offer iCONECT's leading litigation support software to our growing client base. It provides an ideal blend of flexibility, power and security that law firms and corporate legal departments alike require with their e-discovery projects," said Stefan Wikstrom, TERIS founder and CEO. "We look forward to a very productive relationship with iCONECT."
TERIS is a full-service litigation support solution provider that works with leading law firms and corporate legal departments to provide sophisticated consultation-based solutions, state-of-the-art technologies and highly experienced project management. Backed by an experienced staff of over 275, TERIS also offers traditional hosting and scanning services for law firms and corporate legal teams a
cross the U.S. and internationally. The company was named one of the top e-discovery service providers by industry researcher Socha-Gelbmann in 2008.
"As part of our commitment to iCONECT users, we only permit companies with excellent services and top-notch customer support to license our software, and TERIS exceeds that high standard," said Cynthia Williams, CEO of iCONECT Development, LLC.
nXT has a proven track record with over 980 cases and 3.7 billion pages hosted worldwide. Key features include support for Chinese, Russian, Arabic and over 250 other languages worldwide, e-mail grouping for faster review, advanced searching, and scalable database technology to keep up with growing e-discovery demands. To learn more, send an e-mail to info@iconect.com.
About TERIS:
Founded in 1996, TERIS (previously known as ALC Legal Technologies, Duplex Legal Discovery Solutions, and Digital Discovery Solutions), provides legal support and sophisticated e-discovery solutions to law firms and corporate legal teams across the U.S. and internationally. TERIS' staff of over 275 was named one of the top 20 e-discovery service providers by industry researcher Socha-Gelbmann in 2008. The company operates a free job board for the legal profession at www.discoverlegaljobs.com and has offices in Seattle, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Phoenix, and Austin. To learn more about TERIS, visit www.TERIS.com.
About iCONECT Development, LLC:
iCONECT® Development, LLC is your reliable choice for litigation support software, with products trusted by prestigious Am Law 100 firms, corporate legal departments, Fortune 500 corporations, and government agencies to host, organize, review, and analyze e-discovery for litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and multi-party international cases.
Awards include: #1 Web-Based Litigation Software (Am Law Tech Survey), Top 10 Service Provider for Review, Analysis, Production and Best Overall (2008 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey), Honorable Mention Winner (Oracle 2007 North America Titan Awards), #1 Online Document Repository (Am Law Tech Survey), and #1 Litigation Support Software (Law Technology News Awards).
For more information, or if you would like to schedule a demo, send an e-mail to info@iconect.com or visit www.iconect.com.
TERIS adds leading litigation support professionals Julie Hinkle, Josh Rasmussen and Christy Harder to serve growing San Francisco office
TERIS announced today the addition of three leading litigation support sales professionals to its growing San Francisco office. Julie Hinkle joins as a new Electronic Projects Manager; Josh Rasmussen as Electronic Account Manager and Christy Harder as Account Manager for the company. The trio brings a combined mix of experience from both the legal and litigation support industries that bring immediate value for new and existing TERIS clients."We are excited to have a group of very valuable professionals with such caliber and experience join TERIS," said Rob Robinson, TERIS San Francisco Managing Partner. "As our San Francisco office continues to grow, our clients are requiring a greater level of experience and proficiency in eDiscovery and related services. Josh, Christy and Julie are valuable additions as we continue to expand our considerable expertise and success to serve an ever-growing market requiring unique knowledge in eDiscovery and digital forensics."
A certified paralegal, Hinkle brings more than 15 years of litigation support experience to TERIS. She was both a Senior Production Manager and Project Manager at First Advantage litigation consulting. She previously served as Production Manager of large scale Electronic and Paper Scanning projects with ALC Legal Technologies (now TERIS). Hinkle has special expertise with older microfilm/fiche technologies and converting film to electronic images.
Rasmussen has experience working with various Fortune 500 companies with projects that involved complex procedures with high confidentiality documents and has conducted discovery reviews for numerous private lawsuits involving complex electronic and paper discovery, which included millions of pages each. He also has experience working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Attorney's Office.
Harder comes to TERIS after a successful four-year stint at a legal industry leading software company CT Summation, where she most recently served as West Coast Regional Sales Director, with a territory that spanned 24 states. A driven sales professional with more than three-years experience focused on software sales and account management, Harder has demonstrated success building relationships with upper management in Fortune 500 companies and Am Law 200 firms alike.
Legal Implications of "Free" Wi-Fi
With Wi-Fi being so pervasive today, it's easy to take for granted the ability to log into a hotspot no matter where we are to surf the web and conduct email.What many people don't realize however is that there actions could amount to the commission of a felony, as it may be illegal in many states to access another person's and/or entities' open Wi-Fi network.
Check out this interesting Blog post, "Legal Implications of Wi-Fi Usage" to learn more about potential legal implications in this area.
The Industry Standard: eDiscovery gets an F
From the respected Industry Standard comes an article talking about how far eDiscovery has to go still (according to technology industry standards):
E-discovery in the age of Web 2.0 has a long way to go, according to industry experts, who recently convened at a Symantec Inc.-hosted Webinar to bemoan the state of record compliance in enterprises today.
"E-discovery has always been an issue for lawyers to handle, but now there's that added complexity with wikis, Facebook, Twitter, and other new technologies," said George Socha, a litigation attorney who works with the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Project. "A lot of lawyers' eyes roll back into their head and they curl up like possums because they just don't want to deal with it."
Or, take a look at the full article.
10 Steps to Manage E-Discovery Projects
From Law.com
Like it or not, lawyers involved in e-discovery matters must become project managers. In addition to advising and representing clients, they must help clients select and supervise vendors of e-discovery services (from simple photocopying, to forensic analysis, to data retrieval and production, to expert testimony on the adequacy of e-discovery efforts). This article outlines 10 key steps in a typical e-discovery project, suggesting ways that lawyers can help ensure that such projects proceed successfully.
Read the rest of the article here
American Bar Association Publishes Next Generation Book on Electronic Discovery
Mr. Losey, a leading authority on e-discovery, has more than 30 years of experience in computer technology; with 28 years of experience in associated commercial litigation leading more than 70 published legal opinions. He has authored numerous law review articles, including reviews of the mathematics underlying e-discovery and the "ethics" of e-discovery. In addition to these articles, Mr. Losey's first book E-Discovery: Current Trends and Cases is one of the ABA's bestsellers and has already been cited by several judges and commentators. Both books are based on Losey's popular weekly blog, "e-discovery Team" (www.ralphlosey.wordpress.com).
"In this economic environment, e-discovery has become recognized as an important part of any responsible corporate strategy to reduce costs," commented
Mr. Losey's book explains, in easy to read language, the complex legal and technology issues involved in electronic discovery. Similar to his first effort, this book helps lawyers and IT experts better understand the latest thinking and techniques for transferring critical information from the computer to the courtroom. It includes examinations of new case law and opinions of jurists and experts in the field, and provides a diverse number of views on the subject, including the two most popular e-discovery guides used by judges. Furthermore, the book outlines the interdisciplinary team approach to solving the unique problems of e-discovery and also covers:
- Self-organization and development of evidence preservation protocols
- New articles of interest on e-discovery teams
- The future of e-discovery suggested by a recent litigation survey
- How negligent e-records management is creating stunning business risks
- E-discovery at the Harvard Club in
New York City - New
California proposals for e-discovery laws - The conflict between our rules of discovery and the privacy laws of the rest of the world
- The limitations of checklists and how to work best using them
Akerman Senterfitt's e-Discovery team, led by
The team routinely handles the e-discovery aspects of major litigation and serves as "national e-counsel" to coordinate the discovery work of local counsel. They are also pioneering a new type of legal service where they assist clients to prepare for litigation by helping them to organize and operate their own internal e-discovery teams. The new "team-related" services include advice on: initial organization and budgeting of the e-discovery team; records retention policies, litigation hold procedures; ESI identification, retrieval, search and analysis; information management; software; hardware; and vendor selection.
About Akerman Senterfitt
Akerman is ranked among the top 100 law firms in
Contact:
Pat Tucker
RF|Binder Partners, Inc.
patrick.Tucker@rfbinder.com
Walter Fowler
RF|Binder Partners, Inc.
walter.fowler@rfbinder.com
Court holds that overlooking e-discovery information due to honest mistake may serve to avoid court-imposed sanctions
From IBLS.com (Internet Business Law Services):
In the case of R & R Sails, Inc. v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, Case No. 07-cv-0998-H (POR) (S.D.Cal., Apr. 18, 2008), the court held that overlooking e-discovery information due to honest mistake may serve to avoid court-imposed sanctions. Though, the court found proper to impose sanctions upon the party claiming to have omitted production due to honest mistake when a reasonable inquiry into the nature of the requested material might have prevented the mistake from occurring.
In R & R Sails, Inc. v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, Case No. 07-cv-0998-H (POR) (S.D.Cal., Apr. 18, 2008) (R&R Sails), plaintiff requested several documents from defendant in the course of litigation. Plaintiff defined "document" as including every other means of recording any tangible thing and form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols or combinations thereof.
In the case of R & R Sails, Inc. v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, Case No. 07-cv-0998-H (POR) (S.D.Cal., Apr. 18, 2008), the court held that overlooking e-discovery information due to honest mistake may serve to avoid court-imposed sanctions. Though, the court found proper to impose sanctions upon the party claiming to have omitted production due to honest mistake when a reasonable inquiry into the nature of the requested material might have prevented the mistake from occurring.
In R & R Sails, Inc. v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, Case No. 07-cv-0998-H (POR) (S.D.Cal., Apr. 18, 2008) (R&R Sails), plaintiff requested several documents from defendant in the course of litigation. Plaintiff defined "document" as including every other means of recording any tangible thing and form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols or combinations thereof.
Upon plaintiff's notification that electronic and handwritten daily activity records were missing from defendant's response, defendant explained that it did not maintain daily logs or telephone records. Subsequently, the defendant realized that the requested records existed in an AEGIS computerized database and sent the electronic notes to plaintiff, conceding that his previous declaration was incorrect and was an honest mistake, and that a claim log was maintained electronically.
Software capable of reassembling deleted photos
Interesting article in TG Daily yesterday that discusses technology that allows users to recover deleted photos - even those that have been cleared out of a recycling bin.
As the article notes, this has implications for individuals as well as legal and law enforcement officials:
This software serves not only the purpose of recovering photos which have accidentally been deleted by consumers, but also could aid law enforcement in the restoration of photos which have been purposefully deleted -- for instance in child pornography cases, where forensic analysis by police officers could help gather information for cases.
The full article can be found here
Practical eDiscovery Blog
We found a new eDiscovery Blog to track: Practical EDiscovery (published by Hinshaw and Culbertson). This looks to be a great addition and resource for those in the industry.
Guidance Software eDiscovery Lawsuit Demonstrates Challenges for its Clients
Fascinating story on AP: Guidance Software Inc. bills itself as the leading provider of technology that helps companies dig up old e-mails and other electronic documents that might be evidence in a lawsuit. Yet when Guidance itself had to face a judge, it was accused of bumbling its internal digital search.
Whether Guidance intentionally hid documents or just couldn't find them is a matter of dispute. The company said it did all that was required. But its inability to cough up certain e-mails, even over several months, led an arbitrator to accuse it of gross negligence and proceeding in bad faith.
At the very least, the case shows how thorny electronic evidence searches can be, even for a specialist.
The full AP story can be found here.Avoiding Sanctions in Ediscovery
White Paper: In today's society, the storage of documents is increasingly in electronic form. To search these documents requires some knowledge of technology and the best application of this technology to find the important facts in the tsunami of electronic information.
The complete paper can be found on the TERIS website or JDSupra.com
The complete paper can be found on the TERIS website or JDSupra.com
Divorces Just Got A Little More Technical
Over the past decade, forensics experts have seen an increased use of digital evidence during family law proceedings. Given how much our lives have become increasingly tied to the many digital devices that make day-to-day living more efficient, we don't realize that the electronic trail left behind becomes a record of the way we live. This includes:
* Desktop/Laptop computers
* Cell phones, BlackBerry, iPhone, and PDA
* Digital cameras/recorders
* iPod/digital music/video players
* GPS systems
The electronic evidence extracted from the digital devices is increasingly making its way into divorce court cases as more and more couples want to learn about their partner's digital activities, plotting almost indefensible maps of a cheating spouse's footprints.
What Digital Evidence Can Be Found?
Information that can be obtained includes:
* E-Mail and instant messages
* Names and address of financial institutions
* Asset and /or fund transfers
* Debt information and account activities
* User names and passwords
* Traces of Website visited/Internet history
* Deleted or encrypted files
Many of these sources include time-specific information, which can help build time lines in investigations. Digital evidence can be powerful, but it is often perishable and transient, and can be misleading. The key is to quickly identify and retrieve the pertinent facts before they are erased forever, and to subject the data to a fair and rigorous review by a trained expert.
In a world of increased dependency on electronic and computer-based technologies, evidence does not necessarily present itself as it has in the past. Digital evidence is critical in these cases and many times is the difference between settling a case and winning a case.
A growing number of firms such as TERIS provide these and related digital and eDiscovery services to law firms.
* Desktop/Laptop computers
* Cell phones, BlackBerry, iPhone, and PDA
* Digital cameras/recorders
* iPod/digital music/video players
* GPS systems
The electronic evidence extracted from the digital devices is increasingly making its way into divorce court cases as more and more couples want to learn about their partner's digital activities, plotting almost indefensible maps of a cheating spouse's footprints.
What Digital Evidence Can Be Found?
Information that can be obtained includes:
* E-Mail and instant messages
* Names and address of financial institutions
* Asset and /or fund transfers
* Debt information and account activities
* User names and passwords
* Traces of Website visited/Internet history
* Deleted or encrypted files
Many of these sources include time-specific information, which can help build time lines in investigations. Digital evidence can be powerful, but it is often perishable and transient, and can be misleading. The key is to quickly identify and retrieve the pertinent facts before they are erased forever, and to subject the data to a fair and rigorous review by a trained expert.
In a world of increased dependency on electronic and computer-based technologies, evidence does not necessarily present itself as it has in the past. Digital evidence is critical in these cases and many times is the difference between settling a case and winning a case.
A growing number of firms such as TERIS provide these and related digital and eDiscovery services to law firms.
A $6M eDiscovery Mistake
Very interesting post on the Information Week blog yesterday by Andrew Conry-Murray outlining how:
A recent court ruling shows how easy -- and expensive -- it can be to screw up the e-discovery process.
Attorney Ralph Losey writes a detailed analysis of a recent case that demonstrates the perils of e-discovery. I've summarized here, but check out the post for the full details.
A government agency was compelled to spend $6 million on an e-discovery exercise for a case in which it wasn't even a party. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) was subpoenaed for documents in litigation involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The full post is hereALC Legal Technologies Named Top 20 Electronic Discovery Service Providers in the prestigious 2008 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey Report
ALC Legal Technologies Named Top 20 Electronic Discovery Service Providers in the prestigious 2008 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey Report
Ranking validates ALC's reputation as top
electronic discovery service provider to the legal industry
electronic discovery service provider to the legal industry
Seattle, WA - August 5, 2008 - ALC Legal Technologies (ALC) announced today that it has been named one of the top 20 electronic service providers to the legal industry in the prestigious Socha-Gelbmann Survey Report. The 2008 Survey examines the state of electronic discovery in 2007, compares this year's results with results from the preceding five years, and makes projections for 2008 through 2009.
This marks the first time ALC has been included and ranked in this survey, which is used by law firms, corporate counsel, and executives to help drive purchase decisions when searching for the best firms to manage litigation support services. ALC earned its ranking as one of the top 20 Electronic Discovery Service providers in the Corporate Rankings category. This category includes the assessment from actual clients that use ALC.
"We are honored to be ranked so highly in our first year in the survey," said Stefan Wikstrom, Founder and CEO of ALC Legal Technologies. "This provides us an opportunity to showcase what our clients have known about our firm for the past 12 years - ALC Legal Technologies is committed to providing world-class service and settles for nothing less than total satisfaction with our clients. We anticipate moving up the rankings in coming years."
"This is an impressive showing for ALC Legal Technologies," said George J. Socha, Jr., Esq., Founder Socha Consulting LLC. "They are one of the firms that are successfully making the transition from the old paper-only service world into the new era of electronic data services. We look forward to tracking their growth and progress in the future."
The Annual Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey Report provides the most comprehensive view of the legal services industry, by carefully examining the state of electronic discovery; the rankings are based on a detailed evaluation of more than 350 qualitative and quantitative factors. The survey comprises data from more than 155 organizations on the forefront of e-discovery, including leading law firms and Fortune 1000 inside counsel.
About ALC Legal Technologies
ALC Legal Technologies is an industry leading document and data services company providing innovative software solutions, state-of-the-art hardware technologies, and highly experienced personnel to deliver top quality and consistent results to the legal and corporate communities. The company provides products and services across several disciplines; including Consulting & Project Management, Electronic Discovery, Repository/Hosting, Imaging, and Traditional Reprographics.
ALC supports clients throughout the US and internationally, through its six offices - Seattle, San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Diego, Phoenix and Austin.
Media Contact:
David R. Kaufer
Director of Marketing
206.521.8717
david@alcweb.com
When should you look at an e-discovery platform?
Good post here about how corporations can lean on partners to identify and implement the best and most appropriate solution when (not if) the need arises for e-discovery.
The writer discusses what he had to do when approached by corporate counsel to pull together documents relating to a specific subject (3 times in one year).
He writes:
Instead of pulling valuable resources off of projects, I relied on a local partner to come in and perform the searches for me. The first one cost $10k, the second about $22k and the third was close to $35k and I still had to pull people off of projects to help out. These lawsuits plus the various human resources issues that IT is asked to help perform discovery on (i.e. insider information or sexual harassment) started adding up and threatened to revert my proactive IT team back to a reacting group of firefighters. There had to be a better way.
The rest of the post can be found here...
A new e-Discovery worry to consider: Virtual Machines
From EnterpriseStorageForum.com comes an article about Virtual Machines and the impact they may have on e-discovery.
First things first. What are Virtual Machines? EnterpriseStorageForum.com defines them this way:
A self-contained operating environment that behaves as if it is a separate computer. For example, Java applets run in a Java virtual machine (VM) that has no access to the host operating system. This design has two advantages:
• System Independence: A Java application will run the same in any Java VM, regardless of the hardware and software underlying the system.
• Security: Because the VM has no contact with the operating system, there is little possibility of a Java program damaging other files or applications.
The second advantage, however, has a downside. Because programs running in a VM are separate from the operating system, they cannot take advantage of special operating system features.
Companies such as Kazeon Systems are offering solutions for the problem. In Kazeon's case, they claim support for VMware (NYSE: VMW) in its Information Server product line. Version 3.1 of the software supports VMware instances and VMware images so users can discover unknown or hidden virtual instances on servers, laptops and desktops.
Taneja Group founder and consulting analyst Arun Taneja noted that the rise of server virtualization has led to more and more information being stored in virtual machines.
"Traditional e-discovery products and methods have not evolved sufficiently and can potentially miss out on important, relevant and incomplete information associated with a legal matter that is contained in unknown or deliberately hidden virtual environments," Taneja said.
The bottom line? While not as obvious as email, text and instant messages, this is yet another area that law firms and corporate counsel alike need to consider when developing and implementing their e-discovery plans and processes.
Is E-Discovery overwhelming the American Justice System?
Interesting article in the most recent Economist that asserts "A deluge of electronic information may overwhelm American civil justice"
The article's author points out that it was not long ago when "In the rare event that electronic evidence was requested, 100 gigabytes (GB) was considered a large amount." Today, "almost every case involves e-discovery and spits out "terabytes" of information--the equivalent of millions of pages."
In an ordinary case, 200 lawyers can easily review electronic documents for four months, at a cost of millions of dollars, he says.
Not surprisingly, given the huge costs associated with these cases, many large corporations are trying to bring e-discovery in house and are building their own teams. Verizon is one company taking this step - and they project that they will save well over $11M per year once their team and technology is firmly in place.
Whether or not this prediction comes true, this does seem to be a trend among companies. And until limits are placed on the amount (and type) of information that can be requested during discovery, it seems this will only continue to grow.
Managing E-Discovery: The CIO Perspective
Today's online version of Computerworld includes some good insight for IT managers and executives regarding the growing role of E-Discovery in their roles.
Author Benjamin Barnett describes a "call to arms in an electronic discovery battle" for IT professionals.
His top 3 rules:
Rule 1: Managing e-discovery is now part of your job.
Rule 2: E-discovery (for the most part) is a one-way street.
Rule 3: Legal landmarks in the e-discovery minefield are few and far between.
You can read the rest of his rules and the article here.
