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Tom Gelbmann of Gelbmann & Associates, LLC – eDiscovery Trends

This is the third of the 2013 LegalTech New York (LTNY) Thought Leader Interview series.  eDiscoveryDaily interviewed several thought leaders at LTNY this year and generally asked each of them the following questions:

  1. What are your general observations about LTNY this year and how it fits into emerging trends?
  2. If last year’s “next big thing” was the emergence of predictive coding, what do you feel is this year’s “next big thing”?
  3. What are you working on that you’d like our readers to know about?

Today’s thought leader is Tom Gelbmann. Tom is Principal of Gelbmann & Associates, LLC.  Since 1993, Gelbmann & Associates, LLC has advised law firms and Corporate Law Departments to realize the full benefit of their investments in Information Technology.  Tom has also been co-author of the leading survey on the electronic discovery market, The Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey; in 2011 he and George Socha converted the Survey into Apersee, an online system for selecting eDiscovery providers and their offerings.  In 2005, he and George Socha launched the Electronic Discovery Reference Model project to establish standards within the eDiscovery industry – today, the EDRM model has become a standard in the industry for the eDiscovery life cycle.

What are your general observations about LTNY this year and how it fits into emerging trends?

{Interviewed the first morning of LegalTech}  The most notable trend I have seen to lead up to LegalTech is the rush to jump on the computer assisted review bandwagon.  There are several sessions here at the show related to computer assisted review.  In addition, many in the industry seem to have a tool now some are promoting it as an “easy” button.  There is no “easy” button and, if I can mention a plug for EDRM, that’s one of the things the Search group was concerned with, so the group published the Computer Assisted Review Reference Model (CARRM) (our blog post about CARRM here).

To help people understand what computer assisted review is all about: it’s great technology and, if well used, it can really deliver great results, save time and save money, but it has to be understood it’s a tool.  It’s not a substitute for a process.  The good news is the technology is helping and, as I have been seeing for years, the more technology is intelligently used, the more you can start to bend the cost curve down for electronic discovery.  So, what I think it has started to do and will continue to do is level off those costs on the right hand side of the model.

If last year’s “next big thing” was the emergence of predictive coding, what do you feel is this year’s “next big thing”?

I think one of the “next big things” which has already started is the whole left side of the model which I would characterize as information governance.  Information governance is on the rise and a lot of people in the industry believe that information governance today might be where electronic discovery was in about 2005 or 2006.  We need a lot of understanding, standards and education on effective approaches to information governance because that’s really where the problems are.  There are significant expenditures by organizations trying to work with too much data and not being able to find their data.  Associated with that, will be technology that will help and I also anticipate a significant increase in consulting services to help organizations develop effective policies and procedures.  The consulting organizations that can get it right and communicate it effectively will be able to capitalize on this aspect of the market.  Related to that, from a preservation standpoint, we have been seeing more software tools to help with litigation hold as more organizations get serious about preservation.

Another big trend is education.  EDRM is involved with the programs at Bryan University and the University of Florida (Bill Hamilton deserves a lot of credit for what is happening there).  I think you are going to see that continue to expand as more universities and educational facilities will be providing quality programs in the area of electronic discovery and perhaps information governance along the way.

The last trend I want to mention is a greater focus on marketing.  From a provider’s standpoint, it seems that there has been a flood of announcements about organizations that have hired a new marketing director, either overall for a specific region (west coast, east coast, South America, etc.).  Marketing is really expanding in the community, so it seems that providers are realizing they really have to intelligently go after business.  I don’t believe we saw that level of activity even two or three years ago.

What are you working on that you’d like our readers to know about?

With regard to EDRM, we had a very productive mid-year meeting where we asked our participants to help us plan for the future of EDRM.  As a result, we came up with several changes we are immediately implementing. One change is that projects are going to be much smaller and shorter duration with as few as one to five people working on a particular item to get it done and get it out to the community more quickly for feedback.  One example of that which we discussed above is CARRM.  We just announced another project yesterday which was the Talent Task Matrix (our blog post about it here).  We already have 91 downloads of the diagram and 87 downloads of the spreadsheet in less than a day. The matrix was very good work done by a very small group of EDRM folks.  We also dropped the prices for EDRM participation and there are also going to be additional changes in terms of sponsorships and advertising, so we are changing as we are gearing up for our 10th year.

Also, we’re very excited about the additions we have made to Apersee in the last six months.  One addition is the calendar which we believe is the most comprehensive calendar around for eDiscovery events.  If it is happening in the eDiscovery world globally, it’s probably on the Apersee calendar.  For conferences and webinars, the participating organizations will be listed, with a link back to their profile within Apersee.  We are also tracking press releases related to eDiscovery, enabling users to view press releases chronologically and also see the press releases associated within organization to see what they have said about themselves through their press releases.  These are examples of what Apersee is doing to build the comprehensive view of eDiscovery organizations to show what is happening, what they are doing and what services and products they offer.

Thanks, Tom, for participating in the interview!

And to the readers, as always, please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic!

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Pro Football Players Aren’t the Only Ones with Talent – eDiscovery Trends

In football, each team member has responsibilities.  For example, the quarterback throws the football (and sometimes changes the plays at the line of scrimmage), the receivers catch the football, the offensive line blocks and the defense tackles the guy with the ball.  Each player has responsibilities that align with their talents.  Likewise, the members of a litigation team have responsibilities that align with their talents.  Now, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) has created a new tool to align talents with their associated tasks.

Last week, EDRM announced the release of the EDRM Talent Task Matrix diagram and spreadsheet. As noted in their press release, the Matrix, collaboratively developed by EDRM’s Jobs Project Team, is a tool designed to help hiring managers better understand the responsibilities associated with common eDiscovery roles. The Matrix maps responsibilities to the EDRM framework, so eDiscovery duties associated can be assigned to the appropriate parties.

The EDRM Talent Task Matrix Spreadsheet is available in XLSX or PDF format.  It shows the EDRM Stage and Stage Area, the Responsibility within each stage, followed by the various positions that have responsibilities within the eDiscovery life cycle, as follows:

  • CXO
  • Senior Attorney
  • Attorney
  • Paralegal
  • Litigation Support
  • Discovery Analyst
  • Document / Data Analysis
  • Forensic
  • Records Management
  • Information Technology
  • Review Lead
  • Review Quality Control

The Matrix shows a “Yes” for each responsibility that each position participates in the responsibility.  There are 130 responsibilities listed in the Matrix, covering the entire EDRM life cycle.

EDRM’s Talent Task Matrix represents the joint efforts of the entire EDRM Jobs Project Team, spearheaded by co-leaders Maria Montoya of Bryan University and Keith Tom. Wade Peterson of Bowman & Brooke LLP led the development of the Talent Task Matrix diagram.

Comments on the EDRM Talent Task Matrix Diagram and the EDRM Talent Task Matrix are now being accepted and can be posted at the bottom of the page here. The comment period continues until February 28.  It’s quite in-depth, so they might have to consider extending it.

Of course, when it comes to football, only one team can apply their talent best to accomplish their task – winning the game!  Congrats to the Baltimore Ravens – winners of Super Bowl XLVII!  Not even a power outage could keep them from accomplishing their goal.

So, what do you think?  Could this Matrix be useful to managing the resources in your litigation project?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

eDiscovery Training Valued More Than eDiscovery Certification – eDiscovery Trends

According to a survey conducted by eDJ Group and reported on by Barry Murphy within eDiscovery Journal (eDiscovery Education? Yes! eDiscovery Certification? Maybe…), almost all respondents believe that eDiscovery and education and training are important and three fourths of them believe that good eDiscovery education and training programs exist today.  However, when it comes to the importance of eDiscovery certification programs and whether good programs exist today, slightly more than half of respondents responded favorably to eDiscovery certification programs.

In the story by Murphy, eDiscovery Journal displays graphs representing the results of each of the four questions, as follows:

  • In general, do you believe that good eDiscovery education and training are necessary for the betterment of the industry?: 98.3% of the respondents said yes, 1.7% of the respondents said no.
  • In general, do you believe that good eDiscovery education and training programs exist? : 74.9% of the respondents said yes, 25.1% of the respondents said no.
  • In general, do you believe that good eDiscovery certifications are necessary for the betterment of the industry? : 58.1% of the respondents said yes, 41.9% of the respondents said no.
  • In general, do you believe that good eDiscovery certification programs exist? : 54.8% of the respondents said yes, 45.3% of the respondents said no.

Based on the small footer in each of the graphs, it appears that there were 179 respondents to the four question survey.

Murphy’s eDiscovery Journal also notes several of the organizations that provide eDiscovery education, training and/or certification programs – two of which, the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists® (ACEDS™) and The Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP) have had programs featured on this blog.  In addition to the ones that Murphy mentioned, Magellan’s Law Corporation offersDiscovery Project Management classes, conducted by our own Jane Gennarelli.

eDiscovery Certifications Compared to Other Industries

With nearly everybody saying that eDiscovery education and training is important, but less than 60% saying that eDiscovery certification is important, that’s quite a disparity, especially since many training programs offer some sort of recognition for completing the training and passing a test (either a written test or practical exercise, or both) to “certify” knowledge of the material.  In his article, Murphy notes that “eDiscovery is a process made up of many tasks, most of which are performed by various team members.  What I hear from eDiscovery professionals when it comes to certification is that there is simply not enough definition as to what it means to be a certified eDiscovery professional.”

When you look at other industries; however, the certifications are more specialized.  For example, in IT, Microsoft has certification programs for IT Professional (MCITP), Professional Developer (MCPD) and Technology Specialist (MCTS) – in each case, the “MC” stands for “Microsoft Certified”.  From a Project Management standpoint, there is the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), among others.  These certification programs all appear to be widely accepted.  Maybe specialization is the key to creating eDiscovery certification programs that are widely accepted, with each certification based on the expertise that each team member should possess?

So, what do you think?  Will eDiscovery certification programs ever become widely accepted?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Want to be an eDiscovery PM? Roll Up Your Sleeves. – eDiscovery Trends
 

I received an intriguing announcement from The Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP) regarding a new five month intensive certificate course in eDiscovery Project Management.  The first course begins on November 13 and runs through the end of April, meeting essentially weekly with all classes recorded so that you can catch up if you miss one.  Here are some details about the program.

It’s a seven course program that focuses on the “practical application of legal, IT and project management skills to interactive scenarios in an interactive, web-based, live simulation environment.”  The seven courses cover the following topics:

  • Fundamentals of eDiscovery
  • Advanced eDiscovery
  • eDiscovery Project Management
  • Legal Project Management
  • The Phases of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM)
  • Design and Implementation of eDiscovery Cost Controls
  • International eDiscovery, eDisclosure and Information Governance

There is also an eDiscovery Case Management Lab following completion of the seven courses, a hands-on workshop which “reviews the student’s knowledge of the framework, models and practices for managing a real-life case”.

I contacted Chere Estrin, Managing Administrator for OLP and asked her how this training program differs from other programs out there and what are OLP’s goals for the program.  Here are some of her comments:

  • OLP has its roots in eDiscovery.  Our core business is eDiscovery and legal technology.
  • Our program is designed around the eDiscovery practical assignments that students are most likely to receive.
  • OLP's instructors are well-known in the eDiscovery field and are experienced teachers.
  • OLP offers students a free one-year membership to OLP that gives students approximately 100 free webinars throughout the year plus other valuable benefits.
  • OLP students can return throughout their lifetime to audit any of the eDiscovery certificate courses at no charge.
  • OLP has an outstanding Board of Governors and Advisory Council comprised of top experts in eDiscovery who work to promote quality continuing legal education.
  • OLP certificate students can take the eDiscovery Certification Exam (CeDP) and prep course at a significant discount as long as they meet the requirements to sit for the exam such as the necessity of having a minimum of 3 years hands-on eDiscovery experience.
  • OLP offers a job placement assistance program for life.

Chere noted that “[t]here is only one other program that I know of that is similar”, which is the program at Bryan University; however, according to her, there is a “huge difference in price” ($4,000 for the 5-month OLP program compared to $20,000 for the 8-month Bryan University program).  She also notes that there is a no-interest payment plan available for the OLP program.  As for the goal of the program, she notes that it is the same as the goal for all OLP programs – “to offer top, quality education to as many legal professionals as possible at reasonable and affordable costs.”

It will be interesting to see how the program is received and perhaps talk to a few of the students from the initial program, so hopefully we’ll be able to follow up in a few months.

So, what do you think?  Do you need eDiscovery project management training?  If so, would a program like this be of interest to you?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

eDiscovery Daily is Two Years Old Today!
 

It’s hard to believe that it has been two years ago today since we launched the eDiscoveryDaily blog.  Now that we’ve hit the “terrible twos”, is the blog going to start going off on rants about various eDiscovery topics, like Will McAvoy in The Newsroom?   Maybe.  Or maybe not.  Wouldn’t that be fun!

As we noted when recently acknowledging our 500th post, we have seen traffic on our site (from our first three months of existence to our most recent three months) grow an amazing 442%!  Our subscriber base has nearly doubled in the last year alone!  We now have nearly seven times the visitors to the site as we did when we first started.  We continue to appreciate the interest you’ve shown in the topics and will do our best to continue to provide interesting and useful eDiscovery news and analysis.  That’s what this blog is all about.  And, in each post, we like to ask for you to “please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic”, so we encourage you to do so to make this blog even more useful.

We also want to thank the blogs and publications that have linked to our posts and raised our public awareness, including Pinhawk, The Electronic Discovery Reading Room, Unfiltered Orange, Litigation Support Blog.com, Litigation Support Technology & News, Ride the Lightning, InfoGovernance Engagement Area, Learn About E-Discovery, Alltop, Law.com, Justia Blawg Search, Atkinson-Baker (depo.com), ABA Journal, Complex Discovery, Next Generation eDiscovery Law & Tech Blog and any other publication that has picked up at least one of our posts for reference (sorry if I missed any!).  We really appreciate it!

We like to take a look back every six months at some of the important stories and topics during that time.  So, here are some posts over the last six months you may have missed.  Enjoy!

We talked about best practices for issuing litigation holds and how issuing the litigation hold is just the beginning.

By the way, did you know that if you deleted a photo on Facebook three years ago, it may still be online?

We discussed states (Delaware, Pennsylvania and Florida) that have implemented new rules for eDiscovery in the past few months.

We talked about how to achieve success as a non-attorney in a law firm, providing quality eDiscovery services to your internal “clients” and how to be an eDiscovery consultant, and not just an order taker, for your clients.

We warned you that stop words can stop your searches from being effective, talked about how important it is to test your searches before the meet and confer and discussed the importance of the first 7 to 10 days once litigation hits in addressing eDiscovery issues.

We told you that, sometimes, you may need to collect from custodians that aren’t there, differentiated between quality assurance and quality control and discussed the importance of making sure that file counts add up to what was collected (with an example, no less).

By the way, did you know the number of pages in a gigabyte can vary widely and the same exact content in different file formats can vary by as much as 16 to 20 times in size?

We provided a book review on Zubulake’s e-Discovery and then interviewed the author, Laura Zubulake, as well.

BTW, eDiscovery Daily has had 150 posts related to eDiscovery Case Law since the blog began.  Fifty of them have been in the last six months.

P.S. – We still haven't missed a business day yet without a post.  Yes, we are crazy.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

eDiscovery Careers: Achieving Success as a Non-Attorney in a Law Firm: Find/Make the Right Environment, Part 1
 

Last week, I introduced a new series regarding achieving success as a non-attorney in a law firm.  One key to achieving success is being in an environment that permits it. In the next posts I’m going to talk about the type of environment that fosters growth and success. Let me make it very clear, however, that I am NOT suggesting you look at these posts and decide that it’s time to call a recruiter! There are a few things you should keep in mind as you read the first few posts in this series:

  • It is unlikely that any firm is going to be the perfect environment.
  • Even if you determine your firm may not be the best place to attain your ultimate goals, it may be exactly what you need today.  It may be the right place to develop essential skills that you’ll need.
  • If things aren’t in place at your firm today that would make it the right environment, that could be an opportunity rather than a negative. I’ll expand on that a bit later in the series.

So, my purpose in talking about “the right environment” is not to encourage you to start shopping around.  I’m discussing this so that if and when the time does come for you to move on, you can use these points as a guide for assessing firms you are considering:

  1. How significant is the litigation practice to the firm?  If litigation is a small part of the firm’s overall practice, that could hinder your chance for senior level status.  You’ve got a better chance of being noticed if you are working in a practice area that is very significant to the firm.
  2. How widely used is technology in the firm?  This is becoming less and less of an issue — especially at large firms.  Occasionally, however, I still run into firms that have a fair number of attorneys who just don’t want to use technology.  Don’t be concerned specifically about the use of litigation support technology.  If the attorneys are technically solid otherwise, this could be an opportunity rather than a negative.
  3. How aggressive is the firm’s marketing?  This is an indication that the firm recognizes the need to be competitive and has taken steps to do so.  Does the firm highlight litigation support and electronic discovery services in its marketing to potential clients?  If it doesn’t, this might be an opportunity rather than a negative.

Tomorrow, we’ll continue with additional things to look at when assessing an environment. So, what do you think?  Do you have suggestions for what to look for?  Please let us know or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

eDiscovery Careers: Achieving Success as a Non-Attorney in a Law Firm — Introduction
 

In the 30+ years that I’ve been working in litigation, I’ve seen a dramatic change in law firm culture and operations.  Let me start with what it was like way back when:

  • Law firms thrived simply by having talented attorneys with winning records.
  • Law firms got business based almost exclusively on the relationships that partners had with clients.
  • It didn’t matter if law firms were behind the rest of the world with regard to technology use.  Clients didn’t care.
  • Clients didn’t pay too much attention to bills.  Attorneys were expensive and that’s just the way it was.

This meant that law firms didn’t have to operate efficiently.  They did legal work, they billed their clients, they got paid, and they got more business.

How times have changed!  Here’s what it’s like today:

  • Clients pay close attention to the costs of legal representation. 
  • Clients want to know how much legal services will cost.  They want to know what they’ll be paying for.  They want to know what type of people will be working on their cases and how much those people cost. 
  • Clients dictate what they will pay for and what they won’t.
  • Clients want to know what technology will be used.   
  • Clients scrutinize bills and they question costs that they think are excessive or didn’t expect

In short, clients have forced law firms to be competitive, to do marketing, and – most significantly – to be efficient.  Clients are forcing law firms to operate like the rest of the business world.

This shift in operations and culture means more opportunities for non-attorney professionals.  Law firms today need more than talented attorneys.  They also need talented business, technology, and marketing professionals.

Today, I see more and more non-attorneys attaining senior level positions and high compensation levels in law firms.  I see non-attorneys treated as equals by senior partners in law firms.  I have also, though, seen very talented people who haven’t climbed that ladder of success in a law firm.  The difference doesn’t always come down to knowledge and skills.  To achieve that success, we have to do more than be good at our jobs.  That’s what I’ll be focusing on in this blog series.  I’ll walk you through some steps you can take and techniques you can employ that will increase your odds of grabbing that brass ring. Specifically, we’ll cover six general topics:

  1. Find/make the right environment
  2. Know your stuff
  3. Make yourself well-known
  4. Make yourself critical
  5. Expand what you do
  6. Master some good habits

Next week, we will begin talking about finding/making the right environment.  See you then!

So, what do you think?  Have you gotten to the position you’ve sought in your firm?  Do you have tips you can share?  Please let us know or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.