Unified Information Access: Viva Las Vegas

The Data Warehousing Institute held its Business Intelligence Executive Summit this week in Las Vegas. This conference is all about developing an enterprise strategy on handling data and recommended for anyone wanting to see the future of predictive coding.

The buzz is UIA — unified information access — tools that integrate search, text analysis, and buiness intelligence. Bringing previously separate information ecosystems together helps reduce the chaos of multiple interfaces and adds power to analysis.

As we move toward UIA functionality, organizations can reduce the time and difficulty involved in working with different types of data. To that end, we are seeing predictive coding become part of the UIA platform.

Cowen Group Leadership Roundtable on IG, the Cloud

The Cowen Group returned to San Francisco this week for its breakfast leadership roundtable series. David Cowen organizes these events around the country to bring together thought leaders to share and exchange ideas on major e-discovery issues.

Corporate participants from Google, Apple, Genentech, McKesson, and major law firms focused on the specific challenges of information governance and e-discovery in the cloud.

The consensus was that the cloud (private, hybrid, and public) is a complex environment with a host of legal issues including security, privacy, and e-discovery. Many companies have been operating private clouds for years and are just now starting to put a legal wrapper around it.

Ralph Losey at LegalTech

Legal Tech New York is the big event of the year in the world of e-discovery and I am happy to be a part of it. If you see me around, please stop and say hello. I like to meet all of of my e-Discovery Team blog readers whenever possible. Please forgive me if you catch me at a time during the day when I don’t have time to chat, but I always have time to shake hands and say hello.

This year I will be presenting at four events. I am thinking of preparing for them the way Pat Sajak prepared to host "Wheel of Fortune."

1. On Monday the 30th, I present at 12:30 on "The Promise and Challenge of Predictive Coding and Other Disruptive Technologies" with Judge Andrew Peck, Maura Grossman, and Dean Gonsowski (sponsored by Clearwell/Symantec).

True Grit: Finding the Right EDD Formula

With LegalTech New York on our doorstep, we've putting our February issue of Law Technology News online a few days early. Around 5 p.m. EST tonight, it should be "live" at www.lawtechnologynews.com (scroll down to the "LTN Magazine" Box).

Check out our cover story about how BigLaw is trying to find just the right formula for handling e-discovery. We profile efforts at Littler; Winston & Strawn; WilmerHale; Fenwick; Pillsbury; K&L Gates; and several other firms. Littler's Paul Weiner is our "cover boy"!

Our EDD Showcase also includes Cecil Lynn III's annual Year in Review, analyzing the most important 2011 EDD opinions; Patrick Oot's Rules Road Map, explaining how EDD rules are amended:  and my report from Georgetown (yes, I know that was a while back, but the conference was the day after we closed the December issue!) And of course, Craig Ball's column, addressing how to cure over-preservation.

The print edition will be at the show — if you see me, I'll show you the unintended "Easter Egg" that made me laugh out loud when I got the magazine today. Hint: it's on page 75.

You can also listen to an interview with Weiner and Winston's John Rosenthal, on the February edition of my Law Technology Now podcast, which is already live at www.lawtechnologynow.com.

Cya at the Hilton New York!

Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck to Keynote ALSP Event

The Association of Litigation Support Professionals has announced that Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York — winner of the 2011 LTN Innovation Award for IT Champion of the Year — will be the keynote speaker at its annual conference, March 12 and 13, at the Sheraton New Orleans in Louisiana.

Read full story here.

ALSP Annual Convention

United States District Court Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck — winner of the 2011 LTN Innovation Award for IT Champion of the Year — will be the keynote speaker at the Association of Litigation Support Professionals’ annual conference, March 12 & 13, at the Sheraton New Orleans.

Among the offerings are panels on forensics, litigation holds, mobile devices, career planning, certification, trial presentations, and more.

Further information: www.alsponline.org

Image: Monica Bay

Brussels EDD Sessions

Monique Altheim checks in to report that she will has organized and will moderate January 26  e-discovery sessions at the Computers, Privacy & Data Protection Conference. The three sessions address

• Principals of EDD in U.S. Civil Litigation
• Cross-border EDD in the European Economic Area
• Hot Topics in EDD

Speakers include consultants Chris Dale and George Rudoy, Amore Esteban (Shook Hardy), Natascha Gerlach (Cleary Gottlieb), Nigel Murray (Huron), and others.

Altheim is a lawyer admitted in the New York and Belgian bars. Her practice focuses on privacy; she is also the principal of EDiscoveryMap.  

Vendors: Early Bird Alert

As the holidays approach, our ALM team is already preparing for LegalTech New York (Jan. 30-Feb. 1, Hilton New York). The countdown is clock ticking away,  the LegalTech mobile app is available on Apple's App Store, and exhibitors are putting the finishing touches on the new products and services they will unveil at the show.

But as we all know, the showfloor competition is fierce for your attention, so Law Technology News wants to help you navigate the three floors of exhibits. So we'll will offer sneak previews of the most interesting, innovative, and important product launches and upgrades, on our website and our blogs (here on EDD Update, on LTN Products, and The Common Scold). And we'll have a preview article in the February edition of our print magazine, which will be available at the show to serve as your compass!

So vendors, don't dally! If you will introduce a new service, product, or upgrade at the show be sure to contact our reporter, Evan Koblentz, no later than Tuesday, Jan. 3 to make the print deadline. Send press releases to lawtech@alm.com, or contact Evan at 212-457-9601 — and be sure to include your booth number.

P.S. While most of you want to get the word out early about your launches and upgrades, we know from past experience that some of you will be tweaking products right down to the wire and may want to defer even the hint of an unveiling until Day One of the show. If you fall into that category, we'll be happy to negotiate an embargo. That way you won't miss the opportunity to get into the print edition. But remember, our space is very limited, and not every product will be mentioned — so early birds may well get the proverbial worms.

Image: Clipart.com

Growing Trend: EDD Special Masters

The use of e-discovery "special masters" — who help parties frame and execute the discovery of electronically stored information — is a growing trend. At last week's Georgetown Law Advanced eDiscovery Institute, there were podium discussions about court-related pilot programs as well as informal conversations among attendees about the new job opportunities.

On a Friday panel, Judge Joy Conti of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania outlined a pilot project in progress to help ligitants identify and use special masters. Conti, who chairs the court's Alternate Dispute Resolution Implementation Committee, said the court decided to create a list of approved special masters. Finalists were selected for the one year pilot effort, that began in May, she explained.

Acccording to the court's website, a subcommittee, led by Judge Nora Fischer, and including court IT personnel and local practitioners with EDD experience, provided recommendations to the ADR committee, ultimately resulting in approved application and selection criteria. "The final set of criteria approved by the ADR Committee includes active bar admission; demonstrated litigation experience, particularly with electronic discovery; demonstrated training and experience with computers and technology; and mediation training and experience."

Read more here.

Image: Courtesy of the U.S.D.C.

Patent Litigation and EDD Expertise Intersect in PA

Judge Joy Flowers Conti  from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania appeared last week at Georgetown’s Advanced eDiscovery Institute and discussed the positive impact of the district’s Electronic Discovery Special Master’s program , which has been in effect for a year.  The western district was also one of the first  to implement specific local electronically stored information rules after the 2006 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure amendments came into effect.  See W.D.P.A. Local Civil Rule 26.2, Discovery of Electronically Stored Information  

Conti also said that the director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts selected the western district to participate in the 10-year pilot project designed to enhance expertise in patent cases among federal courts, mandated by Pub. L. No. 111-349. The western district implementation order is published here. At the Georgetown conference, Conti commented that the western district will be considering, among other issues, the adoption of the Federal Circuit Advisory Council's E-Discovery Committee’s Model Ediscovery Order for patent cases in the district.   

The western district’s leadership in both electronic discovery and patent litigation make it one of the jurisdictions to watch for both e-discovery and patent litigation practitioners.

Image: Clipart.com

Yet Mo GT

Charles Ragan

 

 

Kathleen McKinney

 

 

Mark Michels

 

 

 

Robert Owen

 

 

Lee Rosenthal

 

 

 

Deborah Baron

 

 

Herb Roiblat

 

 

 

Images: MB

 

Still Mo' GT

David Kessler

 

 

Patrick Oot

 

 

 

Larry Center

 

 

 

Chris King

 

 

 

James Francis

 

 

Jules Polonetsky

Images: MB

 

 

Mo' GT

Allison Stanton

 

 

David Cowen

 

 

 

Andrew Peck

 

 

Maura Grossman

 

 

 

Dori Anne Kuchinsky

 

 

Michael Potter

 

 

Images: MB

Georgetown EDD Conference Case Law Update

The eighth annual Georgetown Law Advanced eDiscovery Institute opened Thursday morning with a fast-paced case law update presented by six of the most well-known jurists in the legal industry: John Facciola (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia); Lee Rosenthal (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas) (right); Andrew Peck (left), Shira Scheindlin, and James Francis (left below) — (all three from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York) — and David Waxse (U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas) (below, with moderator Ron Hedges). Baltimore's Paul Grimm was scheduled to participate, but had a conflict and was unable to attend.

The almost-two hour session at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, Va., covered cases that illustrated a wide range of issues that were in consideration during 2011.

Francis started with the long-litigated Rambus cases. (Micron Tech, Inc. v. Rambus Inc., 645 F. 3d 1336 (Fed .Cir. 2011), and Hynix Semiconductor, Inc. v. Rambus Inc., 645 F. 3d 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2011), which addressed the issue of when the duty to preserve kicks in, and what is reasonable anticipation of litigation. Francis described the "shredding parties" that Rambus held that were revealed during the litigation. "In some respects, [Rambus] was an easy case," he observed, because it was so dramatic.

Read more here.

Photos: Monica Bay

Nuix 2011 Exchange - Sydney

From Patrick Oot:

I was fortunate to attend Nuix's 2011 Exchange in Sydney, Australia this week. Special thanks to CEO Eddy Sheehy, and the entire Nuix team for putting on a stellar event.

Craig Ball opened the event with a technology focused keynote on the future trends of e-discovery. David Cowen, of The Cowen Group, provided a commentary, as well as a team-building exercise discussing career building opportunities in the legal technology space.

Chris Dale facilitated the highlight judicial session with U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck (S.D.N.Y.), Senior Master Whitaker (U.K.), and Justice Arthur Emmett (Australia).  

Computer-assisted review and proportionality were the main topics presented. The day continued with case studies facilitated by Matthew Miller (Ethemis) and Cowen, with case studies presented Paul Johnston (National Australian Bank), Paul D’Agosta (First Southwest Company), and Susan Jackson (Novelis).
 
The second day was filled with product road map discussions and the future of cloud computing in "enterprise." environments.

U.S Cyber Commander Declares Cyber War!

Keith Alexander, commander, U.S. Cyber Command, and director of the National Security Agency , spoke this week at the GEOINT 2011 Symposium in San Antonio, at one of the largest intelligence events of the year.

Cyber intrusions have caused the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of our nation. We need to change the way we guard our intellectual property, because most hacks are not discovered until months after the intrusion has occurred and the damage already done. Exploits against industry and the U.S. government are huge and easily exceed $1 billion a year.

Recommendations:

1. Go virtual and head to the cloud.
2. Migrate from thick to thin client.
3. Demand strong information governance.
4. Centralize data storage.
5. Use strong authentication.
6.Use open source software.

Companies should stop creating incompatible proprietary technology and start working together to create a unified defense.

Image: National Security Agency/Center Security Service

Cell Phone Symposium @ Whittier Law School

Cell phones will be the focus of a Symposium on November 3, 2011 at Whittier Law School.  More information can be found here.

The Symposium is sponsored by Whittier Law School's Center for Intellectual Property Law and Law Review.  Topics include "the privacy, regulation, economics, and intellectual property issues surrounding smart phone technology."

I will be speaking on the issue of whether the police can constitutionally compel a person to provide a password or encryption key for cell phones.  This issue has been discussed previously on this blog.  If you are in California, please stop by and join the discussion.  CLE credits are also available.  

Here is the basis for my talk:

The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination protects a person from being compelled to provide a testimonial communication that is incriminating in nature.  Most verbal statements that reveal the contents of a person’s mind are considered to be testimonial. 

Sunday in D.C.: LitCon'11 kicks off ARMA

The International Legal Technology Association is again partnering with ARMA to offer the Legal Information Technology Conference 2011. (The ARMA acronym doesn't stand for anything anymore, but this is the group that focuses on information governance, née records management.)

LitCon'11 kicks off ARMA's 56th annual meeting, with a daylong program Sunday at the Gaylord National Hotel & Conference Center near Washington, D.C. (Bring your sneakers, this hotel rivals its sister venue in Nashville, Tenn., for huge; at the end of each day, you'll feel like you ran a marathon.) LitCon'11 includes nine panels, ranging from "Knowledge Management & Universal Search" to "Records Management Judo" to "Attorney and Client Mobility -- Managing the Movement of Confidential Client Information In and Out of the Firm."

Command Culture Must Collapse

Warm thanks to the Colorado Association of Litigation Support Professionals for the invitation to participate in its fifth annual E-Discovery Summit — especially leaders Shari Bjorkquist Rich and Jeff Staal. It was a fascinating day, here's a link to my report from today's Law Technology News website. 

In addition to the presentations from U.S. District Court (Colorado) Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty, left, and Quarles & Brady partner William Hamilton (below right), that are detailed in the article, other panelists included Cheryl Proctor, director of client services at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz; and Patrick O'Rourke, of the Office of the University Counsel at the University of Colorado. Proctor detailed how her firm handles EDD decisions; O'Rourke offered tips to using technology to enhance jury presentations. 

Hamilton did double duty, subbing for Perkins Coie's Debra Bernard who had a last minute conflict and could not present her scheduled discussion of the 7th Circuit EDD pilot program -- a closely watched experiment that is generating raves, and is expected to be cloned in other jurisdictions. Hamilton is the new dean of Bryan University's online program that offers a graduate certificate in e-discovery, and has been chair of the advisory board of the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists.

I offered an overview of some of the key 2011 legal technology issues, including the controversy over e-discovery certification and the failure of law schools to educate students on law practice management and EDD; the EDD ramifications of the "consumerization" of technology (read: Apple) within legal organizations; associate insider trading; and more.

Images: Hegarty (Monica Bay), Hamilton (Courtesy of Quarles & Brady).

E-Discovery & Evidence Training Institute

Here's information about our upcoming conference:

Law Partner Publishing, the State Bar of Arizona Trial Practice section, and the Center for Law Science and Technology (which is part of the Sandra Day O'Connor ASU College of Law) will present its annual Electronic Discovery and Evidence Training Institute, Dec. 1-2, at Arizona State University, Mercado Center, in Phoenix.

The conference offers practical and structured technology and legal training from top experts, with 18 hours of on-demand instruction. Judges will provide their "views from the bench," clients will discuss their EDD concerns, and the event includes a mock 26(f) meet and confer session. Service providers will have an opportunity to respond to a mock EDD service proposal.

Among the faculty will be Vice Chief Justice Andrew Hurwitz, of the Arizona Supreme Court, and George Paul, of Lewis and Roca.

411: LawCLECenter (www.lawclecenter.com) .

Georgetown Gears Up

Lawrence Center checks in to remind us that the early-bird rate for the upcoming Georgetown Law CLE Advanced eDiscovery Institute expires Oct. 17 ($100 discount).  The conference will be held November 17-18 at The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City-Arlington, Va.

Chief Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court, District of Maryland Paul Grimm will deliver the keynote. He's one of at least 15 judges who are scheduled to speak at the annual "judge-fest" — others include high-visibility U.S. District Court jurists Lee Rosenthal, Shira Scheindlin John Facciola, James Francis, Andrew Peck, Nan Nolan, David Waxse, Elizabeth Laporte.

Francis will moderate a session on "Statistics and Sampling for Lawyers: How to Apply a Well-Accepted Methodology in the World of eDiscovery; Scheindlin is a panel on "Pragmatic Practices for Resolving eDiscovery Cross-Border Conundrums." Other conference topics range from the opening session, "E-Discovery Case Law Update," to corporate approaches to electronic information management; "The Business of e-Discovery," state approaches, social media, cloud computing, project management, and so much more.

LTN board member and frequent contributor Patrick Oot will moderate a panel on "E-Discovery in Investigations and Litigation Before Federal Agencies," (he is general counsel with The Electronic Discovery Institute and special counsel for e-discovery with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission).

If last year was any predictor, this is a "must-attend" conference. I will be there, hope to see you!

Brochure; website. Phone: (800) 241-3333.

Image: Clipart.com

High Technology Crime Investigation Association

About 400 people attended last week' High Technology Crime Investigation (HTCIA) annual conference in Indian Wells, California. Nuix and AccessData were the only two e- discovery vendors making an appearance and Craig Ball was there entertaining and educating attendees with his popular computer forensic jeopardy game show.

There was a big showing of vendors offering mobile forensic products that can search and extract mobile data including geo-location data. The lectures highlighted how mobile devices are quickly becoming a security nightmare for companies as their capabilities continue to expand. Additionally, forensic companies are having a hard time keeping up with all the iPhone and Android clones coming out of China on almost a weekly basis.

Speaking of China, great lecture by Camilla Herron who runs the world wide brand protection program for Monster Cable products on "Doing business in China: Why We Don't Belong There."  China continues to lead in software piracy, censorship, IP theft, pollution, product clones, bribery, and corruption — the list goes on and on.  A good reason to support "Made in the USA" products.

The 2012 HTCIA International Training Conference and Expo will be in Hershey, Pa.

Image: Clipart.com

Engel on Thursday Philly Panel

I will be speaking on the constitutional issues surrounding social media sites at Rosemont College's Constitution Day.

Here is the description:

We the Ppl of the Internet @ge:  The intersection of the Constitution and social media.

Presented by: Joshua Engel, J.D.

Thursday, September 15th at 7:00 p.m. in Lawrence Auditorium

If you have ever tweeted, flickred, statused, tumblred, liked, poked, checked in or linked in, you'll definitely want to be at this event! How far does your freedom of speech go? What constitutes unreasonable search and seizure online? Can law enforcement officials use your e-mail or social networking sites to get information they are looking for?  Join us for a discussion about law and ethics, and learn what role they play in how the Constitution interacts with your favorite social networking and social media sites.

 If you are in the Philly area, please stop by, say hello, and join in the conversation.

26(g) Atty Certification Includes Tech Used for Production

At the Carmel Valley eDiscovery Retreat panel discussion on "Defending Your E-Discovery Process," the scope of the attorney certification to a document production was discussed in detail. 

FRCP 26 (g) requires every disclosure under Rule 26(a)(1) or (a)(3) and every discovery request, response, or objection must be signed by at least one attorney of record certifying they have done a reasonable inquiry and it is complete and correct. The consequences of an an attorney not doing a reasonable inquiry was painfully addressed in Qualcomm v. Broadcom Corp.  

Legal Technology Leadership Summit - Amelia Island

More than 50 speakers will be joining the faculty at our upcoming  Electronic Discovery Institute's Legal Technology Leadership Summit, Sept. 6-8, at the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island. The program targets corporate counsel, records management, judges, IT and litigation support professionals.

Details:  http://www.legaltechnology2011.com

We are offering scholarships for a limited number of qualified in-house corporate attendees that have budget shortfalls this year. Among the many corporate counsel speakers is Microsoft's Nishan DeSilva, who oversaw the winning project in the 2010 Law Technology News Award for Best Use of Technology in a Law Department. (See "Eat Your Own Dogfood," LTN April, 2010.)

Also, if you work in an a corporate legal, records management, or IT department, and have a compelling story to to tell on one of our panels, please contact info@ediscoveryinstitute.org for details.

Disclaimer: I am involved in the event!

Image: Ritz Carlton/Electronic Discovery Institute

Compliance, Mobile Devices, & Comedy

These are three words that are generally never spoken in the same sentence, but we have two links that you will find extremely useful covering them. 

First, a group of compliance officers got together in New York recently to find out who is the funniest compliance officer in the United States. Hearing that others lay awake at night worrying about compliance, believe it or not, is pretty funny.  Check out the article and video at the Wall Street Journal:  If You Think Accountants Are Hilarious, Try These Guys Search for America's Funniest Compliance Officer Is Tough; a Whoop for Dodd-Frank.

After seeing how much fun compliance can be, sign up for Virtual Legal Tech, taking place on Thursday, June 16, 2011 and hear a very frank (no pun intended) discussion about the use of mobile devices and smart phones by lawyers. LTN's editor-in-chief Monica Bay and I discuss the tipping point of law firm use of mobile devices, the need for policies and protocols to protect attorney-client communications and offer tips on how law firms can protect against lost or stolen mobile devices.  More information about the program is available here: Compliance and Mobile Computing: What Happens When Your Staff Takes the Firm Home? (CLE Eligible).

Georgetown Academy Wrap Up

We wrapped up the Georgetown E-Discovery Training Academy (or EDTA as it came to be called) on Friday with a final exam and closing remarks from judges John Facciola and Paul Grimm (right, click to enlarge). 

There were two striking differences between this course and other continuing legal education presentations I have both presented and attended. The first was the mix of technical and legal material. The second was testing: Michael Arkfeld and I both took the “pre-test” given by Craig Ball on Monday morning and even we struggled with the answers. Craig then spent the first two days covering forensic acquisition and review of documents at a technical level that was difficult for even accomplished e-discovery veterans to follow, but was highly successful in conveying the necessary level of information. 

That was followed by two days of lectures from Arkfeld using his outstanding material in his Electronic Evidence and Discovery treatise, which comes with his renowned e-discovery checklists, a set of documents I find invaluable in my consulting practice. And throughout those four days we had additional presentations by  Facciola, Grimm, Jason Baron, and Maura Grossman. (See prior posts below.)

Baptisms & Reunions

Los Angeles — One of the joys of LegalTech is finally getting to meet some of our new writers who are contributing to Law Technology News and the EDD Update blog. Joshua Engel (left) vice president and general counsel of the Lycurgus Group, has been an enthusiastic contributor to our recently revived blog, and has already penned two articles for our LTN website, all addressing his favorite topic: the Fourth Amendment.

Here's a link to his April 29 article about police searches of cell phones incident to arrest; this link takes you to his article about police using GPS devices.

I was delighted to see Engel in action today, as he provided a grand tour of recent case law to an intrigued audience during his very first LegalTech presentation. Congrats, Joshua, on your "baptism" into the LegalTech speakers' cult!

It was also a special treat to finally meet John Waid, tax counsel with California's State Board of Equalization. We've had some great "pen-pal" e-mail conversations and his suggestions and comments have always been a delight. Of course, having a chance to brainstorm about potential articles with our "usual suspects" — George Rudoy, Al Barsocchini, John Jablonski, and  Tom O'Connor, just to name a few —  is always relished. (Watch out, we just might start singing Kumbaya any minute now :)

Today's sessions also included a thoughtful keynote from Manny Medrano, right, who has both prosecuted high profile cases as a trial lawyer, and covered high profile cases (starting with the O.J. Simpson trial) as a legal analyst for KNBC. His presentation reminded me of the early days of ALM's Court TV, as he recapped many of the arguments for live cameras in courtrooms, and detailed how social media tools have been wrecking a little havoc on voir dire. (See  my LTN website commentary here.)

Finally a quick tip from our for those of you who have downloaded the LegalTech mobile app from our support team: "Be sure to click on the 'Data Sync' button at the top right of the Home screen. This will ensure that you have all of the latest information."

So as we wrap up LTWC, special thanks to all the wonderful speakers who helped educate attendees about trends and developments, and to the vendors who demonstrated new products and services in the busy exhibit hall, and to everyone who took time off from busy schedules to attend. We hope you enjoyed all the synergies.

No matter how many social media and devices we embrace, you can never replace good old-fashioned social networking. There's just nothing better than sharing a coffee, a beer, or a tasty meal with new or well-established colleagues and friends.

Safe travels home.

Photos: Monica Bay/LTN  Click images to enlarge

Back to the Future: LegalTech @ the Bonaventure

There's an upbeat mood at LegalTech West Coast, both on the show floor and in the conference halls. The medium may be the message all right, but being in a comfortable venue seems to enhance our ability to receive and process all that information!

Everybody seems really happy to be back in the cozy confines of the Westin Bonaventure hotel, rather than the cavernous halls of the L.A .Convention Center — where we always seemed to share the building with the happy occasion of the swearing in of hundreds of ecstatic new citizens. LTWC 2011 changed its dates somewhat abruptly, so some of the usual EDD suspects had scheduling conflicts (most significantly with the Guidance Software über user group meetings in Orlando) but the exhibit hall was jumping and the keynotes and plenary sessions were crowded.

 
The kick off keynote address was presented by Meetup.com's top lawyer, David Pashman (left, with ALM's senior vice president Kevin Vermeulen who introduced him). See LTN's associate editor Michael Roach's report here. 

I was honored to moderate the plenary session, "The Corporate Perspective: Why the Legal Industry Needs to Embrace Technology," featuring Tim Hart (below left), of McKesson, and Brian Renken (below right) of Dell. Both offered  sage insight from Hart's large "enterprise" perspective to Renken's small-and-midsized business  services point-of-view. We focused primarily on how organizations struggle to provide users with the most beneficial technology, while keeping work environments secure to minimize risks and keep the organization agile enough to respond to e-discovery and compliance demands.

During the discussion I gave the audience a "sneak preview" of our upcoming June issue cover story, "Catch Me If You Can," about how CIOs and other law firm leaders are rethinking security protocols in the wake of the recent insider trading charges filed against attorney Matthew Kluger, who allegedly made $32 million in profits by trading on information he acquired while working at  Wilson Sonsini;  Skadden; and Cravath. Pashman, in attendance at the plenary panel, told the group he had been aboard Wilson Sonsini when Kluger was there, generating a gasp from the audience. Of course, he immediately assured everyone that he did not participate in any of the mischief. 

If you are in the Los Angeles area, it's not too late to head over the LTWC Day 2! This morning's 9 am keynote speaker is Manny Medrano, and you can get an hour's worth of CLE credit for his presentation," Trial by Sound Byte: Law in the New Millennium." And EDD Update regulars Joshua Engel, Tom O'Connor, John Jablonski, Bobby Malholtra, and George Rudoy will be presenting today. Get your complimentary pass to the show. We'd love to see you!

Photos: Monica Bay/LTN  Click images to enlarge

 

LegalTech West Coast Presentation

I am glad that I don’t have to match George’s Conference Marathon.  Like George, I will be presenting at LTWC, but my flights from Ohio now seem easy in comparison.

I hope folks will stop in to the discussion on social media and electronic discovery.  The use of social media sites for both civil litigation and criminal investigations has been heavily in the news recently.   For example, an article in the May 15, 2011 New York Times discussed the use of Facebook and other social networks in divorce case.

My focus at LTWC will be on criminal investigations.  By way of a preview, news reports suggest that social media plays in large role in the current Grand Jury investigations regarding the Wikileaks case.  The government is apparently attempting to establish that Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, violated the Espionage Act by publishing military and intelligence secrets.  In order to make this case, the Government will have to show that Assange encouraged  government personnel to leak the classified information.   

Conference Marathon

It seems that a few times a year the e-discovery conference coordinators conspire to put their conferences so close to each other, they easily turn into a conference marathon.

I am on my way back home from this year’s London Information Retention & e-Disclosure Summit for a short break before heading to Guidance Software's Computer Enterprice and Investigations Conference (CEIC 2011) this Sunday, and will finalize my marathon with the long-planned and anticipated LegalTech West Coast in Los Angeles. At CEIC I will be discussing the ever-popular Early Case/Data Assessment topic with George Socha. At LTWC I am moderating three Wednesday (May 18) panels on the Integration of Legal Technology track, including "A Survival Lesson: Integration and Consolidation of Legal Technology as a Response to the Recent Economic Changes in Law Firms," with Hugh Todd (Gibson Dunn) and Jason Straight (Kroll Ontrack).

While the London Summit seemed a bit small by U.S. standards, it attracted quite a few instantly recognized names from the judges’ panel — U.S. judges Andrew Peck, (right), John Facciola, and Paul Grimm and U.K.-based Master Steven Whitaker and Judge Simon Brown. They presented on “What lies ahead?  Meeting judicial expectations and providing effective leadership in the face of emerging eDisclosure challenges” (moderated by Patrick Burke of Guidance Software).

Virtual LegalTech 26(F) panel 2:45 (E) today

Virtual LegalTech is live today, and attendees can receive CLE credit for all but the bizdev program.

The 2:45 pm (E) panel 411:

FRCP 26(F) All Access:  A Behind the Scenes View of the Current Requirements    

• Best practices and standards for 26(F) Conference preparedness
• Counsel are being held to a higher professional standard of knowledge of ESI by the Judiciary
• Discuss the fundamentals of what is considered “adequate knowledge” of client systems, information and data at the outset of a case
• Address ECA technologies and analytical tools to enable counsel to place their clients in an advantageous position at the beginning of litigation

Moderator: Howard Reissener (CEO Planet Data). Speakers; Judge Michael Baylson (USDC East.District, PA); Ian Hochman, special counsel of e-discovery, Willkie Farr & Gallager; James Stricker, partner, Kasowitz Benson Torres and Friedman

CEIC a Smash

The annual Computer and Enterprise Investigations Conference (CEIC) wrapped up this afternoon after four unseasonably and delightfully cool days in Las Vegas.  Sponsored by Guidance Software, CEIC has mutated from a largely guns-and-badges event focused on EnCase and forensic investigation to a principally corporate extravaganza with a growing emphasis on e-discovery.  It was a splendid conference, with some of the strongest EDD offerings I've seen of late. I wasn't there as a speaker, so I could relax and enjoy the parts of the conference that weren't focused on e-discovery, catching up on the latest developments in incident response and computer forensics. 

Imagine, a conference drawing top talent in BOTH computer forensics and e-discovery, with as much e-evidence talent and experience in the audience as at the podia.  What a networking bonanza! 

Latin: To Bring With You Under Penalty of Punishment

I like being deposed, but then, I've always liked taking tests.  Weirdo!  Lawyers are notoriously bad witnesses, and I'm probably no exception, but I really like the mental exercise of defending my opinions.  After so many years eliciting testimony, it's much more interesting to play from the hot seat.  Yesterday's deposition offered some lessons in e-discovery worth sharing.

No lawyer worth his or her salt will notice a deposition without appending a subpoena duces tecum demanding the witness bring documents.  The SDT served on me focused on e-mail and telephone communications, so the challenge was how best to produce e-mail threads and call records to a party who'd merely specified that ESI be produced in a "reasonable manner." 

Virtual LegalTech

Want to learn about the latest legal technology trends, issues, products, and services -- and earn CLE credit in the process? This Thursday (March 18) you can attend Virtual LegalTech, without all those annoying TSA security checkpoints, horrible coach seats, or worrying about the East Coast's eternal winter. And the best news: It's all free.
   Virtual LegalTech is our online complement to our live LegalTech shows in New York and Los Angeles. From the comfort of your office or home, you can enjoy a full day of free live webcasts and CLE-accredited seminars. Among the topics that are eligible for the grail of continuing legal education credits are panels on Amending the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; Use of E-Discovery Technology in Federal Court: A Case Study; Developing a Comprehensive and Legally-Sound Social Media Policy; and Outlook Integration: The Lawyer's Outlook.
  

Women in eDiscovery N.J. Mtg Postponed

With yet another snowstorm expected to hit the tri-state area today and tomorrow, the inaugural meeting of the New Jersey chapter of Women in E-Discovery has been postponed.

I'm so disappointed as I was looking forward to the event
(I was scheduled to speak on social networking.) But I'm also relieved because I've got the flu/cold bug that's traversing the area faster than the downhill skiers in Vancouver.

The fabulous Babs Deacon will speak at the March meeting, on data analytics. I'll be speaking in June. Hopefully, it won't be snowing in June.

Clinching the Concept of Concept Search

As a frequent speaker, I live for the "aha" moment that lights the eyes of an audience.  It's that magical turning point when you've made a daunting technical topic accessible.  You can almost hear the, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, for making something I've long wondered about but never fully grasped clear to me." 

Yesterday, at an e-discovery conference in Austin, I watched Ed Fiducia of Inventus earn his "aha" moment describing concept search.  It's a challenging topic--one that entails shoving a host of different approaches under a broad rubric, and more math than the average lawyer wants to recall.  Then, explanations are often laced with--or should I say lacerated by?--marketing-speak.  But Ed hit the bull's-eye.

LTNY: T-Minus 12 h

       

I've just navigated the chaos that is the LegalTech vendor floor (see photos, click each for larger images) and, after more than a decade watching these shows take shape on both coasts, I still marvel at how this mess morphs into the polished event that will emerge in a few hours.  It's going to be a great show for the vendors.  I can't predict the traffic won't be off in sheer numbers of warm bodies, but those who come will have budgets to buy that were nowhere to be seen last year.  Everyone tightened belts, but those compelled to do more with less now face doing more with less...that's now a year or two past its prime.  The fear factor has dissipated (even obscene Wall St. bonuses are back and Ford's turned a profit), so the checkbooks are coming out.  

Craig & Monica 2 Speak at Jan WiE NYC Mtg

Attorney/special master Craig Ball et moi  will be the featured speakers at the January 21 meeting of the New York City chapter of Women in E-Discovery. It will be held at 12:00 noon, at Credit Suisse, 11 Madison Avenue (Floor 2B-Club Room).

The topic: "2010 EDD Oddyssey" -- a review of 2009 trends and a predictions for 2010.

Hope you can make it!

RSVP: newyorkcity@womeninediscovery.com.

I will also be speaking for the New Jersey WiE chapter meeting on February 16, at 5 p.m. in Latham & Watkins' Newark office. Watch this space for more 411!

HTCIA Asia Pacific Chapter Training Conference

I'm still trying to recover from jet lag after my return from speaking at the HTCIA Asia Pacific Chapter Training Conference in Hong Kong.  The HTCIA is the High Technology Crime Investigation Association, the world's largest association of computer forensic examiners.  Though it has a decidedly law enforcement bent--to the point of forbidding its members from assisting in the defense of criminal cases--there are probably as many non-law enforcement members in the group as cops.  Accordingly, there's been a growing interest in electronic discovery among the ranks of computer forensic examiners, particularly since the local forensic examiner is often the only competent "e-discovery service provider" willing to take on smaller matters involving electronic evidence.

WorkProducts Webinars

WorkProducts, which provides MatterSpace ELM e-discovery software, will present two webinars on automating information governance with EDD software,  on November 24 and December 2. Full release here.

Join the Pizza After Party, Support eDiscovery Research!

The eDiscovery Institute is hosting its 5th Annual Gourmet  Pizza After Party* at the Newseum in Washington DC on Thursday, November 12th, 2009, after the Georgetown University Law Center Advanced eDiscovery Institute CLE  Program. It’s a great opportunity to interact and mingle with some of the leading e-discovery jurists, lawyers and providers. Last year’s party drew 150 participants, and it looks like this years party will have an even larger crowd.

This year’s sponsors include: Alix Partners, Aphelion Legal, BIA, Crowell Mooring, Encore Discovery, Epiq Systems, Guidance Software, Integreon Discovery Solutions, Jurinnov, Kroll OnTrack, Mayer Brown, Peak Discovery, Precision Discovery, Recommind, RenewData/Digital Mandate, Shook Hardy & Bacon, TCDI, UHY Advisors, and Winston & Strawn.

Women in eDiscovery Panel

Women in eDiscovery will hold a panel discussion, sponsored by CT Summation, at the upcoming Masters Conference October 13-14. Full release here.

#ILTA09: Recovering Litigation Support Expenses

In an economic downturn, a law firm, like any other business, has to recover expenses wherever possible to protect its bottom line. Mary Pat Poteet, director of litigation support at DLA Piper, David Lindley, e-discovery services manager at Winston & Strawn, and Cedya Tocsoy, manager of litigation technology service at Torys, are no strangers to managing IT and litigation support expenses and watching the bottom line. At a panel this afternoon at ILTA, they discussed, for a packed room, how law firms can recover costs through new technology.

First, you need the support from the decision-makers so that they won't write off litigation support expenses. At some firms, it could be the CIO; at other firms it could be the CFO. Once you have buy-in from the top of the food chain, Poteet says you should learn how the firm's billing system works, and the finance people need to understand how the litigation support folks work before they can bill for their services. 

#ILTA09: Brute Force vs. The New Way

To keep the attention of a roomful of conference goers right after lunch, you have to do something a little different. Rather than a typical moderator and panelist setup on the "Litigation Support Technology as a Value Foundation for Clients" panel, Nan Jefferies, national manager of litigation support at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, and Rebecca Morrison, director of litigation support at Williams & Connolly competed against each other today in a hypothetical situation to provide litigation support services for the fake company Mega Pharma, which had recently merged with NewCo. Christopher King, a partner at Sonnenschein, played the role of the general counsel at Mega Pharma, who knew nothing about e-discovery; the NewCo. GC, who knew e-discovery, had been laid off in the "merger."

In the scenario, a litigation hold had been issued for two pending lawsuits over the potency of a drug manufactured by NewCo. "You might want to check on what's going on with some of these computers," said King. "After the litigation hold, Smith and Jones called the help desk and asked how to delete some documents. The help desk didn't know about the litigation hold and let them delete them." Cost, of course, was a huge issue in the hypothetical.

Registration Open for Sedona Antitrust Conference

A bit off-topic, but a quick plug for our friends at The Sedona Conference. Registration is now open for its 11th Annual Conference on Antitrust Law & Litigation, to be held October 29-30, at the Sedona Hilton in Sedona, Az.

Faculty includes two FTC commissioners,a trial judge, a DOJ economist, in-house counsel, and renowned practitioners from both the plaintiff and defense bars from around the world.

This year’s antitrust conference will focus on a number of important and timely topics, including:
(1) The underpinnings and presumptions of antitrust enforcement.
(2) The new administration and antitrust enforcement.

The Aleynikov Affair: From Newark with Code

In D.C. last week, I spoke to a group of data security specialists and computer forensic experts about the type of case I see most frequently.  Unlike most in the audience, I work in civil litigation and see little of the child porn, identity theft and hacking cases that occupy them.  Much of my work concerns alleged employee data theft, so I addressed the prevelance and patterns of those cases, discussing incident response fundamentals, e.g., what to preserve and where and how to look to determine the whether, when, who and how much of proprietary data theft.

I was fortunate the day's big news story was of a lately-resigned senior programmer at Goldman Sachs arrested at Newark airport for allegedly spiriting away a copy of Goldman's trading program code.  My topic seemed ripped from the headlines.

SANS Summit Summary

I just returned from two days at the SANS What Works Summit in Washington, D.C.  The capital weather was gloriously, unseasonably cool, but the Summit was cooler still (and not just because the ballroom temperature hovered near absolute zero).  The talented presenters didn't disappoint.  The leading lights in forensics and information security shared their tips, tools and insights; but, excepting a splendid lightspeed discussion of registry analysis by the oracular Harlan Carvey, I'm struck by how far the discussions strayed from disk forensics and other matters of pressing, practical concern in e-discovery and civil litigation.   Certainly mobile devices are increasingly important and memory analysis is exciting and new, but it made me wonder if we aren't moving beyond "dead disks" too soon.  Has everyone mastered disk forensics?

e-Discovery Team Blog Posts 150th Blog

I just noticed that the e-Discovery Team blog posted last night was the 150th weekly article posted since the blog started in late 2006. In other interesting stats, the blog has received 676 Comments (not including ten gazillion spams, most of which were blocked). By chance, the 150th blog was not written by me, but by Jason R. Baron, and is entitled "DESI, Sedona and Barcelona: Reports from the DESI III Global E-Discovery/E-Disclosure Workshop at ICAIL 2009 and The Sedona Conference® International Programme on Cross Border E-Discovery and Privacy." 

Very few of the Team blogs are from guest bloggers, but the outside contributions I have accepted are always very good and very popular. Jason has contributed before and this blog is another excellent report on his latest international activities to help advance the world-wide quest to solve the key problem in e-discovery, Search. Jason is the leader in joining the talents of the academic scientific community to those of Law to tackle this issue. He is also the Energizer-Bunny with his non-stop efforts in this field, giving more presentations all over the world than anyone I know. Jason's blog gives a good overview of what happened at the latest two international e-discovery events he attended (DESI III and Sedona Cross-Border) in Spain a few weeks ago. The DESI events he organized as is explained in this lively read.

Jason also suggested his own graphics for this blog, Jpgs that he sent of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) architecture in Spain and other local sights. I love the photos of this wild architecture created a hundred years ago. Please take a few minutes to check it out and leave a Comment. The next large approaching blog stat will be the 1,000th comment and you are all invited to be a part of that.

DTI to Sponsor Ga-CLE Event for In-House Counsel

Document Technologies Inc. has announced that it will sponsor a Ga-CLE event called "Corporate ESI & E-Discovery" on June 26 in Atlanta at the Villa Christina resort. Six CLE credits may be earned at the event. Full release here.