Trends in Information Governance From ARMA 2012

ARMA International's 57th Annual Conference and Expo was held from September 23 to 25 at McCormick Place in Chicago with LTN Technology Editor Sean Doherty on hand to gather information.

One session titled "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Information Governance Leaders," drew upon the experience of a panel of information professionals — all certified records managers at IBM — to discuss best practices for ILG. Panelists worked together to define a strategy to meet the risks posed by stored information and mitigate the burdens that lawsuits bring to organizations.

In another session, "Content Assessment: Kick-Starting Your IG Program With Content Analytics," Kristi Perdue, ERMS (AIIM Electronic Records Management Specialist) and director of marketing at Viewpointe, delivered a presentation about applying advanced technologies such as predictive coding to records management to locate content with value to businesses. As Doherty reports, use of content analytics extends beyond e-discovery, just as the number of vendors offering analytics extends well beyond the floors of LegalTech New York.

Image courtesy of ARMA

Predictive Coding Vendors Duel for 'Dummies'

Legal professionals seeking a predictive coding primer have two free competing guides to choose from, both with the same title, "Predictive Coding for Dummies." The dueling "for Dummies" are being distributed by e-discovery vendors Symantec (Clearwell) and Recommind.

So which one's authentic? The answer, it appears, is ... both.

E-Discovery Product News Update

New products and upgrades in the e-discovery industry include a software to authenticate digital photographic evidence, improvements for legal holds, and an updated vendor directory from the folks who brought us the EDRM.

Fourandsix announced FourMatch, an extension for Adobe Photoshop CS5 and above that authenticates "signatures" on JPEGS from cameras and mobile devices. According to the company, when a JPEG is stored on hardware or software it results in a unique product signature. When an image is edited and saved on software, the file signature changes to match the software rather than the original device that captured it. Fourandsix can detect whether a JPEG's signature has changed — and whether the image has likely been altered.

LEDES Adds Activity, Expense to E-Discovery Billing Codes

The Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standards organization is following up last year's work on e-discovery billing codes with codes for e-discovery activity and expense, reports Evan Koblentz.

The codes are intended to provide greater insight into the e-discovery billing process by providing a uniform standard for law firms, corporate legal departments, vendors, and clients to itemize and evaluate e-discovery work. They align with the Electronic Discovery Reference Model and the EDRM Metrics Cube, the organization's model to represent how metrics codes fit into the e-discovery process. The new codes include the A100 series for activities and X300 for expenses; last year's billing codes are known as the L600 series.

Although industry experts welcome the effort to provide greater transparency into e-discovery costs, the LEDES codes have only seen modest adoption by e-discovery vendors.

Read the full article on LTN online.

Image by LEDES

Legal Tech Day Today in SF!

Need to rack up some continuing legal education credits, especially those hard-to-find ethics hours? Concerned about the changes to the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct that now mandate that lawyers must be cognizant about legal technology? Want to learn more about how to effectively use trial technology?

Well, if you'll be in the San Francisco Bay Area today (Wednesday, September 19), have we got a program for you! Our sister publication, The Recorder, is sponsoring Legal Tech Day 2012 in San Francisco at the Commonwealth Club, located on the second floor of 595 Market Street. (BART/Muni: Montgomery Street station). Walk-ins are welcome!

Mark Michels Joins Deloitte Financial Advisory Services

Attorney Mark Michels, a frequent contributor to LTN as well as the EDD Update blog, has joined Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, as a director, specializing in e-discovery. Michels, former litigation manager and discovery counsel at Cisco Systems, will be based in San Jose, Calif, reports Monica Bay

"I am excited to join the Deloitte Discovery team because of the breadth and depth of its resources, focus on innovation, and commitment to clients," Michels told Law Technology News.

Read the full article on LTN online.

Image courtesy of Deloitte

N.Y. E-Discovery Pilot Program Puts Order in the Court

New York state courts are following in the e-discovery footsteps of federal court pilot programs such as the state's Southern District, according to a post by Paul E. Asfendis on Gibbons E-Discovery Law Alert, putting state court litigators on notice in at least one courtroom.

Under the aegis of New York's Electronic Discovery Working Group, Justice Jeffrey J. Oing's Part 48 of the State Supreme Court's Commercial Division in New York County will pilot the use of a new electronic discovery order (EDO) form. Participation in the program and completion of the order is mandatory for all cases filed in Part 48 after June 15, 2011.

AlixPartners Taps Two E-Discovery Veterans

AlixPartners has added more e-discovery heft to its information management services group with the addition of David White, former commercial litigation partner at Seyfarth Shaw, and Cynthia Bateman, director of evidence and discovery management and forensic technology services at KPMG.

According to Bateman, AlixPartners is showing tremendous growth helping companies develop repeatable processes for mitigating the risks associated with the identification, preservation, and collection for potentially relevant data for legal matters. She brings her own background to bear on this, having worked as a consultant at KPMG and in-house for Georgia-Pacific focused on the business processes of corporate legal and IT departments.