Inside eDiscovery

Inside eDiscovery Digest - Weekly Top 3

Must see articles for the week of July 6;

Progress on Data Protection in the European Union by Rachel Teisch. The EU is in the process of amending its data protection regulations and any modification will have a significant impact on US entities doing business in the Eurozone. Teisch’s post gives us an update on the proposed changes.

eDiscovery Update: Know your Court's Local eDiscovery Rules by McGuire Woods. eDiscovery expertise and standards remain inconsistent across the legal profession as well as within jurisdictions. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) allow for significant flexibility during the discovery process so, it is helpful that individual jurisdictions are developing their own guidelines to assist parties in meeting eDiscovery expectations. This article provides some examples of courts that have promulgated local rules for eDiscovery.

How Paralegals can drive a Proactive eDiscovery Process by Mike Hamilton. Often, we do not discuss paralegals with respect to the eDiscovery workflow and as eDiscovery has developed, there has been a tension between technology professionals and traditional paralegal resources. It is a benefit to any firm or GC's office to integrate paralegals into the eDiscovery process and Hamilton’s article speaks to how paralegals may be critical to successfully orchestrating efficient discovery.

Inside eDiscovery Digest - Weekly Top 3

Must see articles for the week of February 16:

For this week’s articles, I have bundled four articles into subject-matter specific pairings focused on the technology challenge for attorneys and the left side of the EDRM.

Disruptive Change Needed for Lawyers to Become Competent in E-Discovery According to New Federal Judges Survey by Exterro and It's Time to Love Technology by Jim Calloway. At LegalTech NY 2015 this year, there was quite a bit of discussion about the continuing disconnect between attorneys and the technology that has invaded the practice of law. Exterro released their new judges’ survey during LegalTech and it is an eye-opening opportunity for eDiscovery professionals to appreciate a different perspective; a perspective that reveals how significant a barrier technology is for the “average” attorney. In that vein, Calloway’s article reviews the historic resistance to legal technology and explores the practical motivation for adoption.

Navigating Early Stages of the EDRM: Identification and Collection by Emily Collins and Mark Lindsey and Custodial Interviews: You’re Doing it Wrong by Tara Emory. The early stages of a discovery project are not glamorous but, they are essential in creating an efficacious foundation on which the remainder of the EDRM landscape must stand. Collins and Lindsey focus our attention on exploiting technology to better understand our technology and using a data map to identify information for collection. Emory turns our focus to the principles of performing custodial interviews and how they form the building blocks of the discovery process.

Inside eDiscovery Digest – Weekly Top 3

Must see eDiscovery articles for the week of November 3:

Connecting Information Governance and eDiscovery Principles and Defensible Disposition and the Convergence of IG, Compliance and eDiscovery an Exterro double-header by Andrew Bartholomew and Jim FitzGerald. More and more, I believe that we need to “re-brand” eDiscovery, IG, big data, etc. as “legal data management” to represent the converging principles, processes and best practices under the larger umbrella of holistic information management and control. In these two articles from Exterro, Bartholomew walks us through the synergy between eDiscovery and IG and FitzGerald brings record management to the conversation.

New Metrics Reveal Dichotomy in eDiscovery Market - Technology Reduces the Number of Data Custodians, While Big Data Drives up Overall Case Data Volumes by Kroll Ontrack. While we may have an understanding of our own organization’s discovery statistics (hopefully), we don’t often get a broader look at the market. Kroll’s high-level information regarding how technology is affecting matters is a fascinating peek into eDiscovery and what is “normal” at this moment in time.

Back to Basics: Court Orders Compliance with Rule 34 by KL Gates. For eDiscovery professionals who recall the “box warfare” approach of yesteryear, it is always heartening to see a court reassert the basic requirements of FRCP Rule 34. In Venture Corp., the Court implicitly affirms the importance of the meet and confer and discovery agreements as well as explicitly focusing on the fundamentals of production.

Inside eDiscovery Digest - Weekly Top 3

Must see articles for the week of September 29;

Analysis Paralysis: Realistically Assessing Your eDiscovery Needs by Chris DiMarco. Choosing the best eDiscovery technology for your organization can be a daunting task and requires an institutional, strategic assessment of your workload, process, and human resources. DiMarco provides a common-sense description of the major issues to consider when looking at technology options. This article pairs well with my earlier post on the same subject; Inside Focus: What Factors Impact eDiscovery Technology Decision-making?

Law Firms Facing Disruptive Changes Impacting eDiscovery Legal Services by Andrew Bartholomew. I think that it is always fascinating to read/hear about the health of the broader legal services industry and how eDiscovery is impacting (or has been impacted) by larger market conditions. Most eDiscovery professionals have been effected by the changing relationship between clients and counsel and emerging demands for greater efficiency and cost consciousness. Exterro’s article questions three lawyers who are deeply involved in their firm’s eDiscovery offering and who describe both how firms can develop evolved best practices and where the industry may be headed.

Corporate Counsel Identify Significant Improvement when Evaluating-E-Discovery Effectiveness. This brief synopsis of the findings from BDO’s Inside eDiscovery Survey provides a window into the practice of corporate counsel and how they are managing eDiscovery within their organizations. The survey polls in-house counsel on issues related to technology, data privacy, social networking data, cost efficiency and institutional eDiscovery progressiveness.

Inside eDiscovery Digest - Weekly Top 3

Must see articles for the week of September 8;

2014 Shaping up to be "Year of Technology" in eDiscovery by Exterro. Gibson Dunn recently released its 2014 Mid-Year Electronic Discovery Update and in this post, Exterro provides a link to the full report, summarizes its most salient points and speaks with two GDC partner contributors. The content focuses on predictive coding and the use of cloud-based solutions.

A Rose by any Name by Simon Michael. The possibilities of legal technology have exploded in the past five years (or so) and it has expanded the scope of practice to include enterprise strategies including IG, big data, etc. Michael focuses his comments on recent analysis that explores why legal technology has been so slow to fully integrate into review practice and he waxes poetic on the impact of a name on adoption…predictive coding, TAR, CAR, machine learning. I think that this discussion is meaningful because it helps eDiscovery professionals assess their own best practices, it draws attention to how the “market” affects (positively or negatively) client expectations and it highlights the power of perception on the legal services industry.

Nine Tips Controlling Discovery Expenses and Risks by Dante A. Stella. Stella provides a very helpful checklist of strategies to create efficiencies during the discovery process. Though intended for inside counsel, the content is a great resource for anyone tackling an eDiscovery project with topics including information governance, legal holds, IT, collection, preservation, etc. It is always productive to use thoughtful tips such as these to reaffirm your existing best practices.

Inside eDiscovery Digest - Weekly Top 3

Must see eDiscovery articles for the week of July 14;

Rise of the Agile Super-Lawyer by Nina Knierim. Following law school and licensing, lawyers are often amazed at how poorly legal education prepares them for the modern practice of law. Although this brief article does not specifically relate to eDiscovery, legal technology is a component of developing an “agile super-lawyer” and a significant part of how practice has evolved. eDiscovery is also representative of an increasing “do-it-yourself” environment that focuses on the business of law and for which recent law grads are largely unprepared.

Ten Characteristics of an Ideal Managed Services Provider by Rachel Tiesch. Outsourcing document review may prove to be a challenging decision for an organization because it affects more than just a single case team/client. From a firm’s perspective, the choice requires collaboration with professional responsibility departments (conflicts), billing, and litigation support and it may impact policies created by the firm’s OGC. Also, a critical question with a managed review provider is who will manage the relationship. However, as practice continues to be more competitive, law firms should provide as many options as possible and outsourcing should be one solution as part of a holistic, strategic client data management menu. Tiesch provides a good starting point for vetting providers. For individual matters, practice groups, or firms, decision-making will require you to drill down into the ten characteristics to assure that vendors are capable of meeting specific needs.

A Case for Insourcing eDiscovery Data Management by Andrew Bartholomew. Having worked in an environment where the size of cases ranged from single plaintiffs to massive class actions as well as regulatory investigations, I have always appreciated the flexibility of in-house data management solutions. Although institutional efficiency and cost-sensitivity is paramount in this market, a firm must also be prepared to provide a solution that meets a client’s specific expectations, resources and needs. Law firms must balance what theoretically makes the most business sense with what serves their stable of clients and best positions them among their competitors. Another consideration with the insourcing question is staffing. Firms are making widely different decisions with respect to their eDiscovery/litigation support human resources and strategies and in some cases, staff has been eliminated to reduce costs. Insourcing requires a commitment to technical staffing.

An Inside Share: Exterro Focuses on Significant eDiscovery Cases

In a completely unsolicited recommendation, I would like to highlight the industry commentary and training materials produced by Exterro; their eDiscovery editors, contributors and professionals. I have frequently used articles from Exterro’s E-Discovery Beat (available here) in my Inside Digests. Exterro strikes a dynamic balance at the intersection of marketing and continuing education that re-defines “service provider.” In Significant eDiscovery Cases - Lessons Learned and Technology Considerations , Scott Giordano briefs three recent cases that impact our eDiscovery practice expanding on the facts, context and implications.