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

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.

Profiles & Pontifications

Many thanks to Christy Burke, (left) president of New York City-based PR and marketing firm Burke & Company, for inviting me to participate in her series of essays about/from industry leaders that has been running in Burke's "Legal Technology Observer" blog. Burke's blog is part of the Legal IT Professionals website.

Her series of guest observers — some write, some are interviewed — includes attorney/consultant/special master Craig Ball (LTN's EDD columnist); attorney/consultant Robert Ambrogi (LTN's "Web Watch" columnist and Lawyer2Lawyer podcaster on the Legal Talk Network); Randi Mayes, ILTA's executive director; and many other luminaries, including Jeffrey Brandt, Mary Abraham, Ron Friedmann, Kevin O'Keefe, Sharon Nelson and John Simek. Next week, Burke, will post a "time capsule PDF containing all the posts" that will be available for free download.

For my essay, Burke send me a list of questions and then opened the starting gate. Here's the end result, with themes you will probably recognize from some of my prior rants commentaries.

Meanwhile, speaking of the Legal Talk Network, Lu Ann Reeb and the gang have created a "Featured Lawyers" section its website, with mini-podcasts and profiles of the attorneys who host podcasts. Already produced: Tom Mighell, Dennis Kennedy, Jared Correia, Marsha Kaazarosian, and moi; others will be added in the near future.

Image: Christy Burke

Applied Discovery Adds to Its Talent Pool

Kelli Clark has been named vice president of solutions and services at Applied Discovery, a provider of e-discovery services and software based in Bellevue, Wash.

"The 'new' Applied Discovery has a three-pronged approach to any project based on technology, data flow, and process workflow. We offer a wide technology palette that includes our proprietary solutions as well as best-of-breed, off-the-shelf software," Clark said.

Read the full report.

Image courtesy of Applied Discovery.

Syngence Hires New VP of Client Services

Syngence Software, a provider of search and clustering technology for e-discovery management -- which recently tapped LTN's own Joseph Howie -- is adding to its executive hires, reports Brendan McKenna. Tammy Doss has joined the Laguna Niguel, Calif.-based company as vice president of client services.

Read the full story on LTN online.

Image courtesy of Syngence

Albert Barsochinni Bound for NightOwl

Albert Barsocchini, a member of LTN's editorial advisory board and co-author of LTN's EDD Update blog, is joining Minneapolis-based NightOwl Document Management Services on Monday as director of strategic consulting services and will oversee the launch of its professional consulting services group, reports Monica Bay.

"Al brings to NightOwl a deep understanding of the electronic discovery and information governance issues that corporations and law firms need to address." says St. Paul, Minn., consultant George Socha, co-prinicipal of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model. Barsochinni will remain in his office in San Francisco's financial district and serve the Twin Cities company from afar.

Photo courtesy of Albert Barsochinni

Act Two: Graham Smith & William Bice

In LTN's April cover story, we profile two entrepreneurs who accomplished the dream of 99% of legal technology vendors: to create a product and/or company that caught the eye of one of the industry giants, and to see it for a lot of money. In most cases, the principals cash the check and head for exotic locations.

But at LegalTech 2012, two men who hit the jackpot decided they weren't done with our community. William Bice, founder of ProLaw practices management software, and Graham Smith, founder of LiveNote litigation support software, came back for "act two" after selling to Thomson Reuters (then, Thomson West). Both launched new web-based products that compete with their original offerings -- Bice's LiquidPractice (and a second product, Exemplify, that is a document creation and comparison tool for transaction lawyers), and Smith's Opus Magnum, with integrates with other EDD software and helps uses develop their cases after they have processed their data collections.

Will they triumph twice? Check it out here.

 

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!

Tom O'Connor Joins Avansic

Tom O'Connor has returned to the vendor-side of e-discovery, joining Avansic E-Discovery & Digital Forensics as director of professional services.

He will serve as "the primary consultant for complex cases, providing professional services supporting data identification and preservation with an emphasis on litigation hold obligations and preparation for FRCP Rule 26(f) meet and confer sessions," said Avansic's president and CEO Gavin Manes. O'Connor "will also be instrumental in developing strategies for corporate clients in all markets to help them be more proactive in controlling their e-discovery costs," said Manes. O'Connor also will support the company's marketing and sales efforts nationwide.

Read more about what O'Connor sees as his top challenges in the new gig, here, including why O'Connor compares Avansic to LexisNexis.

Image: My favorite shot of O'Connor, taken several years ago in New Orleans, at a conference co-sponsored by his Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center, which helps practitioners affected by hurricanes and the British Petroleum oil spill adapt legal technology.

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).

Friedmann Leaves Integreon Consulting Job

Ron Friedmann is leaving his job at Integreon, which sells e-discovery services and software. Friedmann's role was senior vice president of consulting, he assumed that post in September, 2007. In an e-mail to friends and colleagues, which he allowed to be excerpted here, he wrote:

October 7th will be my last day at Integreon. In July, Integreon appointed a new CEO, who has re-aligned the management organization and has appointed some new executive team members. Please be assured that I am leaving on good terms and I have excellent references from the company.

My goal is to find a full-time position; in the interim, I am available for consulting projects, and I likely will consult part-time for Integreon until I find a permanent position.

Janet Taylor-Hall, Integreon's senior vice president of transition and transformation consulting, issued this statement:

George Rudoy Gets New Gig

Our colleague, George Rudoy, has a new gig, as a partner at Hagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro, which offers forensic technology and accounting consulting. 

Here's Brendan McKennan's report. 

Image: Monica Bay 

Jack Halprin Expected to Jump to Google

Jack Halprin, who recently resigned from his post as Autonomy's vice president, e-discovery and compliance, is expected to land at Google to manage its electronically stored information, for both legal and information governance purposes, in its Apps/Postini wing, according to the 9TO5Google blog.

What's the significance? LTN editorial board members Tom O'Connor, Craig Ball, Ralph Losey, Robert Owen, and George Rudoy analyze the move here.

Image courtesy of the Digital Government Institute. 

The "Most Valuable Player" Is Not Technology

We hear much about the value of technology and we are continuously inundated with technology at all the e-discovery trade shows.  A March article in The New York Times reported that armies of expensive lawyers will soon be replaced by cheaper software. A recent malpractice lawsuit against McDermott law firm demonstrates that technology is not the MVP; rather it is the people who make the decisions along the way.

E-Discovery is now a discipline and we need trained professionals who can take charge and navigate through these often difficult waters avoiding sanctions, malpractice, loss of client goodwill, and damaged reputations. Reading sanction decisions over the last two years reveals that in almost 100 percent of the cases, it was bad decision making, lack of communication, not understanding technology and/or failure to properly follow-up that caused the problems. 

Deborah Jillson New VP at LexisNexis

 
 Marc Osborne checks in to advise us that LexisNexis has hired Deborah Jillson as vice president for litigation tools, services and hosting.  

 Her responsibilities also include management of the company’s flagship litigation products and services, including Concordance and Law PreDiscovery, he says. She joined LexisNexis from Wolters Kluwer where she wasa  business leader for iSummation software. Under her direction, the Summation hosting division earned back to back LTN awards. She previously served as director of litigation support project management for Doar Litigation Consulting. She also worked at Milberg, and Clifford Chance.

Image: LinkedIn

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

Reed Smith Raids K&L Gates for New EDD Team

Man oh man, I'm offline on a six-hour flight to LA (for LegalTech West Coast) and land to tons of news!

First, Reed Smith snagged 14 professions and formed a new e-discovery and records practice. See next post for #2.

Jamie Moss brings us the 411 about Reed Smith (unedited): (Link to press release here)

"Reed Smith LLP today announced the addition of 14-members to its new e-Discovery practice.  The group will work from the firm’s Global Customer Care Center in Pittsburgh. A majority of the group begins  working today, the remaining members are wrapping up current projects and  facilitating the transition and are expected to be in-house shortly."

"The  Practice Group is led by David R. Cohen, who joined Reed Smith in early May  from K&L Gates, where he formerly co-founded and served as co-chair of  that firm’s e-Discovery Analysis and Technology Practice. Cohen has more  than 25 years of complex commercial litigation experience, with a long-term  focus on e-discovery, automated litigation support and records management  issues All members of the team were formerly  part of the e-Discovery Analysis & Technology (e-DAT) Group at K&L  Gates in Pittsburgh.

Reed Smith Hires David Cohen, Launches EDD Unit

Reed Smith today announced that it has established  a new practice group that focuses on e-discovery and records management, lead by David Cohen, who joins the firm today as a partner. He previously was co-chair of K&L Gates' e-discovery and technology practice group.

"With the increased prominence of e-discovery issues in litigation, we determined that the addition of an e-discovery practice group would both complement our existing litigation practice and provide additional value to our clients," said Colleen Davies, chair of the firm's  global litigation department.

Cohen is based in the firm's Pittsburgh office, and will now serve as national discovery counsel in many cases, represent companies in complex litigation matters and counsel clients on records management and litigation readiness, the firm explains.

He is past chair of the Allegheny County Bar Association's Technology Utilization Committee and past chair of the litigation technologies subcommittee of the litigation section of the American Bar Association. He serves on the advisory board of Georgetown's Advanced E-discovery Institute.

See also: Reed Smith Creates E-Discovery Practice With Hire of K&L Gates Partner (The Legal Intelligencer)

Photo: Reed & Smith

Yeah, Right: EDD Took Down Howrey

Our former ALM colleague, Ashby Jones, has been tracking Howrey's implosion for the Wall Street Journal on its Law Blog. A recent post caught my eye, with the headline "CEO Ruyak Partly Blames Contingency-Fees, Discovery Vendors, for Howrey's Fall."  Whaaaaat? 

Jones reports that his colleague Vanessa O'Connell interviewed Robert Ruyak (right) last March, shortly before the firm voted to dissolve. The firm, at its peak, had a roster of about 750 lawyers, and used the slogan "In Court Every Day," to frame itself as a "go-to" lit and IP practice in the U.S. and Europe, she reported.

Ruyak said the slowdown in the litigation market in 2008-09 brought swings in firm profits, triggering defections, and with clients looking to trim costs, the firm tok on more contingency cases, she noted. Another factor was the rise of third party EDD specialists offering lower rates. With the firm's urban operations, it couldn't compete, he told O'Connell.

Commenters weren't kind:

"Shouldn't the Journal be analyzing some of these answers? If what he says in true, every big firm would be collapsing."  —dc

"Funny, I thought it was these big firms that hired the e-discovery consultants." —Utilto

Mary Mack Joins ZyLab

Mary Mack, considered by many to be the "face" of Fios, has defected to join ZyLab, as its "enterprise technology counsel," and becomes part of its leadership team charged with developing their North America business. She will work from the company's California  offices, and start her new post on  November 7,  after more than a decade with the Portland, Ore.-based e-discovery provider as its corporate technology counsel. In addition to working with Fios' clients, she wrote the influential blog, Sound Evidence, and was a frequent speaker on the legal technology circuit. 

A Happy Sort of (EDD) Sanction

A virtual Who's Who of e-discovery jurists, junkies, consultants and counsel turned out in Washington, D.C.  on Saturday, September 25th to witness and celebrate the wedding of e-discovery uber-thought leader and The Sedona Conference  Director of Judicial Education and Content, Ken Withers.  The banns between Ken and Harry W. Henry, Jr. were sealed by Judge John Facciola with his customary eloquence and humor, and a fine, fun reception followed at the Dupont Circle manse of EDD consultant Dan Regard and his bride, Liz, jointly hosted by John & Whitney Rosenthal.  Dan Regard, also a newlywed, is the Managing Director of Intelligent Discovery Solutions, Inc., and Dan and Liz's home--The Cajun Embassy--has served so long and well as a meeting (and drinking) site for EDD enthusiasts that there was consensus that it should sport a "Cradle of E-Discovery" historical marker.   The happy couple (and their families) expressed that they were "overwhelmed with the outpouring of good wishes from the EED community."  All best wishes for lifelong happiness to Ken and his better half!

Mary Pat Poteet Interview

Mary Pat Poteet, formerly of DLA Piper, has a new gig -- vice president of e-discovery at RiverGlass. She was recently interviewed by David Cowen of The Cowen Group.

She says she was "a bit nervous" about moving to the vendor side, but finds the end goal is the same -- serving the client's needs. (Now, law firms and  corps.  are among her clients).

Asked what advice would you give to lit support job seekers, she says, "Be patient.  Be open to possibilities.  Don't take things too personally. Network!!"

"I can't stress enough how important it is to talk to your colleagues; put yourself into situations where you can meet new people; be confident in your skills; look for ways to enhance your abilities; read every opinion that comes down and those that came down in the past couple of years that have to do with e-discovery issues.  Be prepared!"

Check out  the full interview  here.

Isom & Santalesa join InformationLawGroup

InfoLawGroup reports that David Isom and Richard Santalesa have joined the firm as senior counsel. Isom was formerly co-chair of Greenberg Traurig's EDD practice group. Santalesa, based in New York City and Fairfield, CT., focuses on electronic commerce, internet, privacy issues and other commercial arrangements involving intellectual property and technology-savvy companies.

More here.

 

Old Wine in New Bottles

Sunday affords the leisure to read the obituaries of the late Gen. Alexander Haig, who regrettably will be best remembered for his humiliating, Constitutionally-clueless 'coup' when President Reagan was shot in 1981.  I was in the University of Texas Law School Library where they'd set up a TV by the circulation desk when Gen. Haig  announced, "“I am in control here, in the White House.”  He seemed anything but, and one had to wonder what calamity had befallen the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tem of the Senate while we waited for the Vice President to take the helm. 

But thinking of General Haig (who ascended from colonel to four-star general in just five years in the Nixon White House), brings to mind the Nixon Watergate experience, the Reagan Iran-Contra Scandal and their parallels to modern e-discovery.

I posit that Nixon's Watergate gave birth to e-discovery, and Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal cemented its power.  Each demonstrated how storing self-immolating communications electronically--and subsequent efforts to eradicate them--will prove a litigant's undoing.

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.

An Impromptu Talk with the Hon. Carl J. West

This blogger is on the scene 24 hours a day, looking for the tidbits we rarely get.  Here's what happened when, by chance, I found myself in a buffet line this past Wednesday evening with Sedona Conference Advisory Board member, L.A. Superior Court judge, the Hon. Carl J. West.

That's true social networking!

LTN Awards: Voting Open!

Vote! Yes, it’s that time again — for you to tell us which vendors should receive our 2009 LTN Vendor Awards! The online ballot is survey style, and will take just a few minutes to complete! Deadline: November 15. (You will need your account number, from your mailing label — e-mail Kerry Kyle kkyle@alm.com if you can’t find it.) Click here to vote.

We are also accepting nominations for our juried LTN Awards, which honor law firms, law departments, and consultants. Categories include: IT Director of the Year, IT Champion of the Year, Consultant of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Law Firm, a Law Department, a Trial, and Pro Bono Project.

This year, for the first time, we will be present the LTN Lifetime Achievement Award — I will be making the selection of that individual. Candidates must be 55+, and I welcome nominees. There are no restrictions: it can be a lawyer, a paralegal, a vendor, a CIO — anyone in our wonderful legal technology community is eligible.

As is our tradition, the remainder of the juried awards will be selected by three distinguished members of our LTN Editorial Advisory Board: Andrew Adkins III, of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law; Fredric Lederer, of the William & Mary School of Law; and David Whelan, of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Deadline: November 13. Click here for nomination forms. 

Junker Named Fios CEO

Fios has named Christopher Junker as its new CEO. He succeeds Gerald Massey, who departed the company after six years, as part of its sucession plan, the company says.
Junker most recently served as GM of the iManage business unit for Autonomy.

Deacon & Reichenbach Land New Gigs

Babs Deacon has joined Integreon, Mark Reichenbach's aboard Capital Legal Solutions. 411 here

Jason Baron & Carl Sagan

Remember Carl Sagan? He was probably the most famous astronomer of the modern era, known for the phrase "Billion and Billions" when describing stars and other cosmic phenomena. Now this phrase is coming back into vogue to describe the ESI Universe.

The man responsible for managing and sorting a cosmic storm of email, Jason Baron, often talks in terms of the Billion or more e-mails he expects the Obama administration will turn over to his agency, the National Archives and Records Administration. Thus it is only fitting to note that Jason met Carl as a child and is a big fan of astronomy. Just one of many things I learned last week when presenting with Jason to NASA.

For more on Jason and the problem of astronomical numbers in e-Discovery, see the blog I posted yesterday: Jason Baron on Search - How Do You Find Anything When You Have a Billion Emails?

Jason Baron & Search

I am late on my blog this week in part because I spent two days last week with Jason Baron presenting with him at NASA and then introducing him at the University of Florida School of Law. There he gave a two hour presentation on e-discovery search to a well-prepared class of over 60 law students.

I have just posted a 4,000 word blog attempting to summarize his work on search entitled Jason Baron on Search - How Do You Find Anything When You Have a Billion Emails? 

Bateman, Mighell & Giordano Join Fios

Cynthia Bateman, Tom Mighell, & Scott Giordano have joined Fios. Bateman's from Georgia-Pacific, Mighell from Cowles & Thomson, and Giordano was in private practice. Details here.

CaseCentral Names Steven d'Alencon New CMO

CaseCentral has named Steven d’Alencon as vice president of product management and marketing and Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining CaseCentral, d'Alencon was vice president of product marketing at Kazeon Systems, and is the co-chair of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Evergreen working group. Read more here.

Clearing Out the In-Box

Some old news that got buried in my in-box:

* Rick Wolf of Lexakos posts on While Legal Hold Management is an Important Internal Control, on The Datakos Blog, here.

* Jonathan Maas of DLA Piper UK reports that UK judges are now getting training in edisclosure/ ediscovery and their long-awaited use of LiST work product.  An independent consultant, Chris Dale ... is leading the charge (and I have had a small part in it) and has a web site and blog full of stuff relevant to what is going on (and technology in law generally)."

* Chris Kruse, of CaseCentral, reports that the company has brought on Tom Thimot as CEO. "Tom is the perfect choice to help lead CaseCentral through our next phase of growth. He brings a wealth of experience and an incredible portfolio of success at both public and private technology companies.

MoFo CIO Haraf Departs

The fabulous Jo Haraf, CIO of MoFo and a member of LTN's edit board, has decided to pursue life, liberty and happiness outside of legal tech. Details here, and yes, contact her if you are interested in her job and  live either in SF Bay Area or on airplanes.

Bye Bye Rob

Rob Robinson is shuttering his Info Governance blog. See his adios here.

Lone Star State of Technology

Greetings from Texas! Having an amazing time in the beautiful  Lone Star state...

It's been non-stop EDD, with visits to Stored IQ, Renew Data, Liquid Litigation Management , IEDiscovery and Message One in Austin, along with a chance to visit with LTN's EDD columnist Craig Ball and his wonderful wife, Diana Ball.

We also had a great lunch with Trisa Thompson, of Dell Inc.'s legal department, who has graciously agreed to join LTN's editorial advisory board!

The only sour note: our ALM  colleague Joe Pavone took a spill and shattered his achilles tendon and limped back to Phoenix -- send him a get well message to cheer him up!

We had planned to drop in and surprise ILTA's Randi Mayes -- but Joe's adventure unfortunately curtailed THAT plan.

Then it was off to Houston, where we met with Bridgeway Software Inc.,  and the gang at DataCert before we dove into Chere Estrin's Litigation Support Leaders SuperConference, at the Crowne Plaza.

If you are in the Houston metropolitan area, don't miss this conference. The faculty roster is loaded with LTN's "usual suspects,"  including keynote speakers Mike Arkfeld and George Socha, along with LTN edit board members Brett Burney and Tom O'Connor. We'd love to see you.

It's a great crowd, with top firms and corporate legal departments, including Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Bingham McCutchen, Howrey, Thompson Hine, Ropes & Gray, et al. Come join us! The fun starts at noon today.

Chere has kindly offered a FOF (friend o' faculty) discount of 10% -- so just tell them you saw it in EDD Update to claim your not-really-early-bird discount. Pop her an e-mail at for details or visit the website.

(Click to enlarge photos)

New CMO for LexisNexis

LexisNexis Group has signed Joe Eberhardt to the new position of Global Chief Marketing Officer. He joins LexisNexis from DaimlerChrysler and is based in the company’s New York City headquarters reporting directly to Andy Prozes, Chief Executive Officer.

Press release here.

Cataphora expands sales team

Cataphora Inc., which sells evidence analytics and review software, has added five employees to its sales and business development teams. Read more about the new hires here.

Our very own Craig Ball is in The New York Times

Craig Ball is featured in today's edition of The New York Times, in its "Fresh Starts' column by Barbara Whitaker (page 19 of the Sunday Business section for those of you with hard copies). "On the Trail of Digital Secrets" details his forensics work, discussing how this area has opened up as a new job market. Congrats, Craig!!!

Realllly kewl photo by Benjamin Sklar, for The New York Times. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Cataphora Adds Int'l Executives

Cataphora Inc. has added two executives to its European team. Markus Morgenroth is managing director of European operations, based in Germany. Mathieu Feulvarc’h, based in France, is vice president of customer support. Press release here.

Apple GC Rosenberg Bolts to Qualcomm

Our colleagues Zusha Ellison and Jessie Seyfer at The Recorder  report that Apple Inc. has lost general counsel Donald Rosenberg (top right) to troubled tech giant Qualcomm after less than a year in the role.

He will be replaced at the helm of Apple's legal team by Daniel Cooperman, (bottom right) previously general counsel at database management system company Oracle. Cooperman is due to start at Apple on 1 November and will report to chief executive Steve Jobs.

Full story here. (Sub req'd)

Photos: Jason Doiy, The Recorder.

Littler Hires Weiner as National EDD Counsel

Littler Mendelson has hired Paul Weiner as its national e-discovery counsel, reports Vesna Jaksic of The National Law Journal: (subscription req'd).

"Weiner will provide guidance on electronic discovery and knowledge management issues. The firm said Weiner, an expert on e-discovery, will bolster expertise in the firm's privacy and data protection group. Weiner, who was previously a partner in Pittsburgh's Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, will be based in Philadelphia," reports Jaksic.

Arkfeld Pens Deal with LexisNexis

Congratulations to Michael Arkfeld, (one of our new blog's co-authors), who has just signed a deal with LexisNexis to publish his popular EDD treatises and newsletter, including the just-released second edition of his Arkfeld on Electronic Discovery and Evidence.

For more info, click here and here.