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Industry Trends

The Gifts that Keep on Giving: eDiscovery Holiday Wishes and Webcasts

Not only have we had a very successful year in presenting CLE-accredited webcasts this year, we’re already getting started on next year with a new webcast in January!  If you want to see how key case law decisions in 2017 may affect how you conduct discovery in 2018 AND how you can still get CLE credit for 2017’s webcasts, read on.

I thought I’d start by taking a look back at the webcasts we conducted this year.  A couple of days ago, I met with a client prospect who had attended a couple of our webcasts and had requested (and received) CLE credit for attending them.  She had very complimentary things to say about the webcasts she attended, which was a great feeling, and seemed to appreciate how easy it was to obtain CLE credit for attending.

We’ve conducted several CLE-accredited webcasts this year, covering such topics as what attorneys (and other legal professionals) need to know about eDiscovery in 2017, best practices for eDiscovery searching, how to avoid 20 different “pitfalls” and “potholes” that could derail your eDiscovery projects, what you need to know about cybersecurity and privacy in 2017, how cloud automation is revolutionizing eDiscovery for solo and small firms as we speak, considerations for selecting on-premise and/or off-premise eDiscovery solutions, what to do (or what you should have already done) when the case is actually filed, lessons learned from recent eDiscovery disasters and how to thwart Murphy’s Law and keep what could go wrong from actually going wrong.  And, because we couldn’t wait until the end of the year to analyze key case law, we took a look at key eDiscovery case law decisions for the first half of 2017.

These are just some of the twenty-three webcasts that are currently up on our webcasts page (launched less than a year ago, I might add), that also includes some product demonstrations and educational and additional informative webcasts (some of those CLE-accredited as well) that we’ve conducted through our partnership with ACEDS.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that CLE-accreditation is not just available for those who attended these webcasts live, it’s also available for those who view the webcasts on demand.  They are truly the gift that keeps on giving – CLE credits.  While each of these webcasts were accredited in selected states, CLE accreditation is available in additional states via reciprocity credit.  So, if you want to ask about CLE credit on any particular webcast, feel free to email me at daustin@cloudnine.com.

Also, feel free to sign up for our first webcast of 2018: Important eDiscovery Case Law Decisions of 2017 and Their Impact on 2018.  Tom O’Connor and I will cover key 2017 case law decisions covered by the eDiscovery Daily blog and what the legal profession can learn from those rulings – which is one reason why I was “catching up” on a couple of cases earlier this week.  :o)  To sign up for the webcast, click here.  You won’t want to miss Tom and I talking case law – there will be plenty to talk about and we can hopefully fit it all into one hour.

I want to thank everyone who participated in the webcasts this year, including Karen DeSouza, Julia Romero Peter and (of course) Tom O’Connor.  And, thanks to BrightTalk for being a terrific channel on which to conduct our webcasts.  And, a special thanks to Rob Robinson for coordinating the webcasts, including posting and promoting them (literally thousands of you have signed up for them) and kicking them off with introductions of the speakers.

Most of all, thanks to you for attending our webcasts and reading our blog (and a special thanks to those who’ve provided feedback and comments).  We’re into our eighth year for eDiscovery Daily, and (other than the couple of weeks I take off from blog writing at the end of each year to “recharge my batteries”), still going strong.  As we always say, please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.  We love your feedback!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!  eDiscovery Daily will resume with new posts after the new year on January 3.

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

Start Planning for Next Year, This Year: eDiscovery Trends

We’re getting close to the end of another year.  What do organized people in eDiscovery do when that happens?  Start planning for next year.

On his excellent Complex Discovery blog, Rob Robinson helps you get a “running start” in your planning for next year, with a preliminary list of eDiscovery-related industry events for 2018.  From Legalweek (a.k.a., Legaltech) at the end of January to The Masters Conference Orlando event in November, Rob has identified 41 initial eDiscovery and cybersecurity related events (with links to each) to consider adding to your calendar for next year.  Here are a few highlights:

These are just a few of the cool events related to eDiscovery and cybersecurity for next year.  In addition, you have terrific regional events, like The Masters Conference, which has events planned next year for Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, New York, London, Washington DC and (as mentioned above) Orlando.

Of course, other events will undoubtedly be added to the calendar as the year progresses (for example, I would guess there would be another E-Discovery Day in December, though I doubt it will be on December 1 as that falls on a Saturday next year – consider it a “floating” holiday, haha).  Regardless, Rob’s list (once again) provides a great eDiscovery and cybersecurity related event list by which to plan your 2018 event activities.  Click here to access the list.

So, what do you think?  Do you have a favorite eDiscovery or cybersecurity event you like to attend every year?  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. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

It’s E-Discovery Day! Here are Some Great Webcasts to Check Out Today!: eDiscovery Best Practices

It’s December 1st, which can only mean one thing – it’s E-Discovery Day 2017!  This (now third) annual event includes a combination of webcasts and in-person events to promote discussion and education of eDiscovery (that’s the way I prefer to spell it, by the way).  Here are some of the webcasts to consider checking out today.

According to Exterro, the organizer of the event, there were over 1,500 webinar participants in 12 webinars last year and 7 in-person events.  So, things are hopping and happening.  Webcasts for today include:

Key E-Discovery GDPR Considerations: Advice from Across the Pond: (10am ET, 9am CT) With only six months to coming into force, legal teams are left with serious GDPR questions in relation to US e-discovery activities.  Presented by: Sr. Master Steven Whitaker (Ret.) (Queen’s Bench Division); Ralf Sauer (Head – International Data Protection, EU Commission).

The Case is Done but the Data’s Still Everywhere. What’s a Client To Do?: (11am ET, 10am CT) Join members of the Twin Cities ACEDS chapter, and Mary Mack,  for a panel discussion regarding the appropriate disposition of client data.  For many clients this can be the biggest headache.  What do they need to consider when looking at the security of their data once that data gets to law firms and providers?  What measures are taken to protect data held by those organizations and how do you vet those measures?  And, how does the client ensure appropriate disposition of data by their law firms and vendors at the end of a matter?  Our panel will offer a 360 perspective, including that of the client, the vendor, and the law firm.  Presenters include: Caroline Sweeney, Global Director, E-Discovery & Client Technology, Dorsey & Whitney LLP; Heidi J.K. Fessler, Counsel, Barnes & Thornburg LLP; Frank Krahn, Director, Investigative/Legal Discovery, Office Of Risk Management; George Socha, Co-Founder, EDRM, Managing Director, BDO; Mary Mack, Executive Director, ACEDS.

Authentication of Social Media Evidence: A New Twist on the Old Rules: (12pm ET, 11am CT) Social Media has become a hotbed of potential evidence in many cases nationwide over the past several years. The more prevalent cases involving social media as evidence are in the field of personal injury, family law, criminal law, labor law and Workman’s Compensation. How can the researcher best access this invaluable data? How to get the information into evidence? Must one preserve the social media sites where the data resides? What about private data versus public data? How do the Federal Rules of Evidence apply to social media when introducing it as evidence? Don’t miss this session on one of the most exciting areas of the law and come away with good, practical knowledge on how you can capitalize on this potential evidence for your next case. Presented by: Gayle O’Connor, Marketing Manager, Social Evidence; Tom O’Connor, Consultant, Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center.

Murphy’s eDiscovery Law: How to Keep What Could Go Wrong From Going Wrong: (1pm ET, 12pm CT) As data complexity, discovery costs, and regulatory challenges increase in volume and impact, the pulse rate of publicly highlighted eDiscovery mistakes continues to build. While these mistakes are unfortunate for those who experienced them, they can be beneficial to the rest of us in highlighting mistakes you can avoid in your own cases.  Here’s your chance to learn from their mistakes and keep what could go wrong from going wrong. Presented by: Doug Austin, VP of Products and Professional Services, CloudNine; Tom O’Connor, Special Consultant, CloudNine.

Is it Malpractice Not to Get a FRE 502(d) Order?: (3pm ET, 2pm CT) With so few cases going to trial, lawyers may be unaware of provisions in the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) that protect privilege during discovery.  In this edTalk, Judge Peck will discuss why every lawyer should use FRE 502(d) in every case to prevent waiver of privilege.  Presented by: Hon. Andrew Peck, United States Magistrate Judge, Southern District of New York.

Updating Your E-Discovery Toolkit: Experts Discuss: (4pm ET, 3pm CT) There’s a lot of noise out there when it comes to what’s hot or new in e-discovery technology. In this roundtable discussion, four e-discovery technology thought leaders will cut through the noise and identify what new e-discovery technology you should be paying attention to in 2018.  Presented by: Craig Ball (Craig D. Ball PC); Ralph Losey (Jackson Lewis); Maura Grossman (University of Waterloo); George Socha (BDO).

These are just some of the excellent webcasts on tap for today.  Here is a link to all of them.  There are also several in-person events and networking opportunities around the country – here is a link to those.

So, what do you think?  Are you “celebrating” E-Discovery Day?  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. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

What I’m Thankful for in Thanksgiving 2017: eDiscovery Thanks

Three years ago, I wrote about what I’m thankful for this holiday season from an eDiscovery standpoint.  I’m even more thankful and blessed now, so I thought I would do it again.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Great Team: It’s been a great year so far at CloudNine and I get a chance to work with all of the departments, from our terrific Client Services team that provides the hands on services that our clients need to meet their deadlines to our wonderful Support team that enables our clients to get the most out of our software products.  Thanks to our Marketing program, our blog is more popular than ever, we now conduct one to two webcasts a month and I’ve had the opportunity to speak at several conferences, including ILTA and The Masters Conference.  And, our Sales team has enabled us to continue to grow and expand our client base and set new company records!

Our Webcast Attendees and Participants: Speaking of webcasts, we’ve already done sixteen(!) of them this year and still have a couple more to conduct, including this one on eDiscovery Day.  Thanks to all of my co-presenters, including Karen DeSouza, Julia Romero Peter and, of course, Tom O’Connor.  And, thanks to everyone who has attended, many of whom have received CLE credit!  There are literally thousands of you!  :o)

Our Clients: Believe it or not, I have a day job over and above the blog – providing services to our clients.  Our services offering is one of the factors that makes CloudNine unique and I’m grateful to our clients for choosing us to assist them with their litigation and eDiscovery needs.  Not to mention that providing professional services to our clients gives me great ideas for blog posts!

Great eDiscovery Resources: As always, I’m thankful for the great resources that keep me up to date on eDiscovery trends, and they’re also great sources for blog topics!  Here are some of my favorites:

  • Ball in Your Court: Craig Ball always has the more interesting and compelling eDiscovery takes;
  • e-Discovery Team®: Ralph Losey’s blog still covers topics in more depth than any other;
  • Ride the Lightning: My go to site for data security info, courtesy of Sharon Nelson of Sensei Enterprises;
  • ACEDS: The Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) site provides regular industry updates that keep me informed and give me additional topics to cover;
  • eDiscovery Assistant: Kelly Twigger’s site is my new go to site for eDiscovery case law, giving me one place to go to check out the latest case law decisions;
  • Complex Discovery: As always, my colleague Rob Robinson is still the master at compiling stories and statistics related to eDiscovery topics, ranging from business confidence surveys to industry acquisitions to interesting articles that I may have otherwise missed (and lots more).

Our Readers: I’m also thankful for all of you who continue to read and follow this blog.  And, especially thanks to those who provide interesting and insightful comments on our posts.  We’re at over seven years now and over 1,800 posts (and counting)!  Thanks to all of you for reading and following us!

Personally, I’m very blessed and most thankful for my family, particularly my wife Paige and our kids Kiley and Carter.  I love you guys!

So, what do you think? What are you thankful for in eDiscovery or in general?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Daily will resume with new posts next Monday.

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

Here are Some More Up to Date Fun Facts on Big Data: eDiscovery Trends

For many of the webcasts that we’ve conducted at CloudNine this year, we’ve noted several big data fun facts that illustrate the challenges that many organizations face in managing increasing volumes of data.  But several of those facts are three years old.  So, we thought it would be fun to take a look at some more up to date facts about big data that you can share with your family at your annual Thanksgiving gathering!

It was just a little over three years ago that we shared these fun facts with you, courtesy of Bernard Marr.  Here are some of my favorite facts from that article back then:

  • Every 2 days we create as much information as we did from the beginning of time until 2003;
  • Over 90% of all the data in the world was created in the past 2 years;
  • The total amount of data being captured and stored by industry doubles every 1.2 years;
  • And, my favorite one – If you burned all of the data created in just one day onto DVDs, you could stack them on top of each other and reach the moon – twice.

Here are some of the more recent facts, again from Bernard Marr.  They may be dated April 2016 (OK, they’re not completely up to date), but they’re still interesting:

As always, we’ve provided the links to enable you to check out the source of each interesting big data stat.  One thing is certain about the growth of big data in the world today – the extent to which it’s growing will continue to be amazing!

So, what do you think?  What is your organization doing to combat increasing volumes of data?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Image Copyright © Dilbert.com

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

Here’s a Chance to Keep What Could Go Wrong from Going Wrong: eDiscovery Best Practices

Today, I’m in Orlando, at The Master’s Conference Orlando event, which is a full day of educational sessions covering a wide range of topics.  Here is a link with more information about today’s conference and our panel discussion due up at 10:00 am today local time.  If you’re in the Orlando area, come check it out!

As data complexity, discovery costs, and regulatory challenges increase in volume and impact, the pulse rate of publicly highlighted eDiscovery mistakes continues to build. While these mistakes are unfortunate for those who experienced them, they can be beneficial to the rest of us in highlighting mistakes you can avoid in your own cases.  Here’s your chance to learn from their mistakes and keep what could go wrong from going wrong.

On the third annual E-Discovery Day, Friday, December 1 at noon CST (1:00pm EST, 10:00am PST), CloudNine will conduct the webcast Murphy’s eDiscovery Law: How to Keep What Could Go Wrong From Going Wrong. In this one-hour webcast that’s CLE-approved in selected states, we will discuss examples of recent eDiscovery disasters and highlight the common characteristics of those disasters and what can be done to avoid them in your own cases.  Topics include:

  • Attorney Duty of Competence
  • Avoiding the Mistake in Assuming that Discovery Begins When the Case is Filed
  • How to Proactively Address Inadvertent Privilege Productions
  • Up Front Planning to Reduce Review Costs
  • How to Avoid Getting Stuck with a Bad Production from Opposing Counsel
  • Understanding Your Data to Drive Discovery Decisions
  • Minimizing Potential ESI Spoliation Opportunities
  • How to Avoid Processing Mistakes that Can Slow You Down
  • Common Searching and Redaction Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
  • Checklist of Items to Ensure a Smooth and Accurate Production
  • Managing Communications: Attorney and Vendor Responsibilities

I’ll be presenting the webcast, along with Tom O’Connor, who is now a Special Consultant to CloudNine!  If you follow our blog, you’re undoubtedly familiar with Tom as a leading eDiscovery thought leader (who we’ve interviewed several times over the years) and I’m excited to have Tom as a participant in this webcast!  To register for it, click here.  Even if you can’t make it, go ahead and register to get a link to the slides and to the recording of the webcast (if you want to check it out later).  This is your opportunity to avoid mistakes that others have made.

So, what do you think?  What do you do when things go wrong?  Scream?  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. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

It’s NOT a Small World (After All) at the Masters Conference in Orlando: eDiscovery Trends

If you’re going to be in the Orlando area next Tuesday, November 14, join me and other legal technology experts and professionals at The Master’s Conference Orlando event.  It’s a full day of educational sessions covering a wide range of topics!

The Master’s Conference brings together leading experts and professionals from law firms, corporations and the bench to develop strategies, practices and resources for managing eDiscovery and the information life cycle.  This year’s Orlando event covers topics ranging from big data to privacy to cybersecurity to evaluating technology to the latest in Florida rules, among other things.

The event will be held at Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, 14651 Chelonia Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32821.  Registration begins at 9am, with sessions starting at 10:00am.

Speaking of starting at 10am, CloudNine will be sponsoring the session It’s NOT a Small World After All at that time.  I will be moderating a panel that includes Chris Dix, Shareholder with Smith Hulsey & Busey, Matthew Detzel, Attorney with Akerman LLP and Neil Etheridge, Vice President of Marketing with CS Disco.

Our panel will discuss how big data and the variety of data sources are forcing a greater emphasis on pre-litigation data discovery, as well as integration and automation of enterprise on-premise platforms and cloud platforms before and during legal discovery.  It should be a very informative discussion with a very knowledgeable panel!  Hope you can join us!

Click here to register for the conference.  If you’re a non-vendor, it’s only $175 for the entire day!  So, if you plan to attend and haven’t registered yet (why not?), now is the time to do it.

This may be the last event for the year, but The Master’s Conference is already beginning to list events for next year.  Click here for more information on the first couple of events for next year.

So, what do you think?  Are you going to be in Orlando next Tuesday?  If so, come join us!  And, 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. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Is VC Investment in the Legal Tech Market on the Decline?: eDiscovery Trends

Last week, we took a look at whether the eDiscovery market is growing, shrinking or shifting.  This week, let’s take a look at whether venture capital investment in the legal tech market is rising or falling.

That’s what Kevin O’Keefe, CEO and founder of LexBlog, examines in this Above the Law article (Investment In Legal Tech Is Slowing While Legal Tech Is Booming).

Kevin noted that he was surprised to read Holden Page’s story at Crunchbase that investment in legal tech startups “hit a hard peak in 2015 and has since been on the decline.”  Here is the graphic from the Crunchbase article that illustrates the trend:

Of course, as Kevin notes from the Crunchbase article, 2015’s peak was made by a couple big investments. $125 million in Chicago-based Relativity and $71.5 million in Avvo.  So, if you take that out of the equation, 2015 is pretty much in line with the other years (at least dollar wise).

On the other hand, in the Crunchbase article, Page notes that seed-stage funding (smaller investment until business can cash flow or until it is ready for further investment) in legal tech companies has risen in 2017.  “From 2011 to 2014, over 50 percent of the funding rounds made in legal startups were in the seed stage. And while the percentage of seed-stage deals dropped from 2015 to 2016, 2017 YTD has seen a rebound with nearly 45 percent of known funding rounds being made in the seed stage. This is bucking the overall trend seen in 2017, especially in the US, where seed-stage investment has experienced declines in favor of late-stage deals.”

As I’ve noted before, Rob Robinson keeps track of the eDiscovery mergers, acquisitions and investments in his excellent Complex Discovery blog (here is the link to all of those transactions he has tracked since November 2001).  While 2017 has been a relatively quiet year (so far) from an investment standpoint, 2016 was certainly a busy year.  And, this year isn’t over yet.  :o)

So, what do you think?  Is investment in the eDiscovery market growing or shrinking?  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. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

IT Will Scare You – eDiscovery Horrors!

Today is Halloween!  Hard to believe, but for eight years now, we have identified stories to try to “scare” you with tales of eDiscovery and cybersecurity horrors because we are, after all, an eDiscovery blog.  Let’s see how we do this year.  Will IT scare you?

Evidently, until just a few days ago, this firm failed to acknowledge a data breach that occurred last year (involving some of Britain’s wealthiest people) until international journalists had a chance to see the leaked information.

What about this?

More rich people compromised.  When you’re a lawyer and you find out that you’ve inadvertently produced client confidential information in litigation, it’s a bad day. When you find out that confidential information is personal information on thousands of the wealthiest investors in your client’s portfolio, it’s an even worse day. And, when you find out that disclosure is being covered by The New York Times, it’s a lawyer’s worst nightmare.

Or this?

Did you know that everything you’ve learned about how to create secure passwords for the past few years is wrong?

How about this?

You probably think that using three different evidence wiping programs before turning over a laptop for inspection will certainly lead to sanctions for spoliation.  Not necessarily.

Or maybe this?

Think data breaches are expensive?  Try this one.  A major data breach cost this health insurance provider over $100 million to settle the class-action lawsuit against it.

Have you considered this?

On this Halloween, a real tale of murder (no joke) and how the victim’s Fitbit may have blown her husband’s story of what happened apart.  Then again, maybe it’s not so surprising, considering how much data each of us generates every minute.

Finally, how about this?

If you want to fire a whistleblower and then put together a bad performance review of him afterward, it could cost you $10.8 million.

Scary, huh?  If the possibility of expensive data breaches, embarrassing inadvertent disclosures and more data being tracked about you than ever scares you, then the folks at eDiscovery Daily will do our best to provide useful information and best practices to enable you to relax and sleep soundly, even on Halloween!

Of course, if you seriously want to get into the spirit of Halloween and be scared, check out this video about some clown in the IT department.  This will really terrify you!

What do you think?  Is there a particular eDiscovery issue that scares you?  Please share your comments and let us know if you’d like more information on a particular topic.

Happy Halloween!  And, Go Astros!

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

The Relativity Conference was “Fest-ive” This Year: eDiscovery Trends

As I’ve noted for most of the week, Relativity Fest ’17 was held this week in Chicago at The Hilton Chicago.  Having not been to a Relativity Fest before, it was an eye opening experience.  Here are a few of the highlights.

Attendee Breakdown: According to the opening keynote (below), there were 1,003 Litigation Support attendees, 232 IT & Security attendees, 224 “Executives”, 148 Attorneys, 135 Sales and Marketing attendees, 80 Paralegals, 58 Developers, 31 Academics, 19 Press and Analysts attendees and 4 Judges (see below for those) for a total of 1,934 attendees overall.

Opening Keynote on Monday Morning: In a style and size similar to an Apple product launch, Andrew Sjeja (Founder and CEO of Relativity) kicked off the main conference with an opening keynote address that discussed the conference and (of course) covered key Relativity current and upcoming features.  As part of the 90+ minute(!) presentation, Andrew called up several clients to discuss their case study experiences with various Relativity features.  Here’s a pic of Andrew on the massive stage (I was too close to the front to get all of it):

Judicial Panel on Monday Afternoon: Not surprisingly, this panel – moderated by David Horrigan, e-Discovery Counsel and Legal Content Director at Relativity, along with Judge Nora Barry Fischer of the Western District of Pennsylvania, Judge Andrew Peck of the Southern District of New York, Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the Western District of Texas and Justice Peter Vickery of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Australia – did not disappoint.  The panelists discussed their opinions on several cases, including the spoliation case involving Taylor Swift, the Texas Supreme Court decision involving State Farm and the dispute over form of production, the murder cases involving evidence from IoT devices Amazon Echo and Fitbit, a discussion of the state of Technology Assisted Review and, of course, the ubiquitous advice from Judge Peck to always get a 502(d) non-waiver of privilege order.  Here’s a pic of that panel:

ACEDS Happy Hour on Monday Evening: ACEDS had a terrific happy hour on Monday, gave a shout out to Tom O’Connor on his birthday, and I visited with everybody from my CloudNine colleagues to Kelly Twigger to Bill Hamilton to Andy Sjeja to Tom and Gayle O’Connor to David Horrigan to George Socha to Jim Gill.  I’m sure I’m missing a few names.  But, getting a chance to better know your colleagues is always fun!

eDiscovery in the Cloud Panel on Tuesday Morning: You didn’t think I was going to forget the panel I was on, did you?  The session was moderated by David Horrigan of Relativity and we were joined by Ari Kaplan, Principal at Ari Kaplan Advisors, Kelly Twigger, Founder of ESI Attorneys and Rachi Messing, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft.  Rachi’s name is pronounced like “Rocky” and the hotel must have thought the real “Rocky was there because the temperature was like a meat locker in our session!  Anyway, we talked about a variety of topics, ranging from defining different types of cloud implementations to using the cloud to security and privacy in the cloud (spent a lot of time there, especially given the recent cases involving Microsoft).  Zach Warren of LegalTech News wrote an article about our session here (free subscription required), which I appreciate (even though there’s a typo in one of my quotes – see if you can find it!) and I was honored and excited to be part of the panel discussion.  Here’s a pic of us:

A Practical Roadmap for EU Data Protection and Cross-Border Discovery on Tuesday Afternoon: Presented by Jason Priebe and Natalya Northrip of Seyfarth Shaw.  With only about 7 months to go before General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) hits on May 25 of next year, the presenters provided a very thorough discussion of the differences between the EU Data Privacy Directive and the GDPR, the requirements for GDPR, privacy rights under GDPR, requirements for a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and how (of course) GDPR will affect cross-border discovery.

Extra Stuff: Relativity provided breakfast and lunch each day and also hosted a terrific speakers’ dinner on Monday night.  From what I understand, their networking event/party on Tuesday night at the Museum of Science and Industry was a blast!  Sadly, I had to leave to come back to Houston to do a webcast on Wednesday (which is also why I don’t have any Wednesday highlights).

Suggestions for Improvement: The sessions were great, but it would be great to allow a little more time in between sessions to get to the next one.  Fifteen minutes is not a lot of time when the previous session runs long AND you need to take a bio break AND you have no idea where the next session is.  Which leads me to my next suggestion: please post the floor number next to the name of the room to help us locate the session room more quickly.  Sessions were on at least four different floors and were sometimes difficult to find.  Minor gripes in an otherwise excellent conference.

As a development partner in the Relativity ecosystem, CloudNine was at the conference and was there to provide demonstrations of our Outpost for Relativity that automatically ingests and loads data into Relativity based on your specified criteria.  If you missed it and would like a demo, please request one at info@cloudnine.com.

So, what do you think?  Did you attend Relativity Fest this year?  If so, what did you think?  As always, please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Also, I’m excited to report that eDiscovery Daily has been nominated to participate in The Expert Institute’s Best Legal Blog Contest in the Legal Tech category!  Thanks to whoever nominated us!  We’re fading fast, but if you enjoy our blog, you can vote for it and still help it win a spot in their Best Legal Blogs Hall of Fame.  You can cast a vote for the blog here.  Thanks!

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