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Project Management

eDiscovery Best Practices: Data Mapping Doesn’t Have to be Complicated
 

Some time ago, we talked about the importance of preparing a data map of your organization’s data to be ready when litigation strikes.

Back then, we talked about four steps to create and maintain an effective data map, including:

  • Obtaining early “buy-in” with various departments throughout the organization;
  • Document and educate to develop logical and comprehensive practices for managing data;
  • Communicate regularly so that new data stores (or changes to existing ones) can be addressed as they occur;
  • Update periodically to keep up with changes in technology that create new data sources.

The data map itself doesn’t have to be complicated.  It can be as simple as a spreadsheet (or series of spreadsheets, one for each department or custodian, depending on what level of information is likely to be requested).  Here are examples of types of information that you might see in a typical data map spreadsheet:

  • Type of Data: Prepare a list and continue to add to it to ensure all of the types or data are considered.  These can include email, work product documents, voice mail, databases, web site, social media content, hard copy documents, and any other type of data in use within your organization.
  • Department/Custodian: A data map is no good unless you identify the department or custodian responsible for the data.  Some of these may be kept by IT (e.g., Exchange servers for the entire organization) while others could be down to the individual level (e.g., Access databases kept on an individual’s laptop).
  • Storage Classification: The method(s) by which the data is stored by the department or custodian is important to track.  You’ll typically have Online, Nearline, Offline and Inaccessible Data.  A type of data can apply to multiple or even all storage classifications.  For example, email can be stored Online in Exchange servers, Nearline in an email archiving system, Offline in backup tapes and Inaccessible in a legacy format.  Therefore, you’ll need a column in your spreadsheet for each storage classification.
  • Retention Policy: Track the normal retention policy for each type of data stored by each department of custodian (e.g., retain email for 5 years).  While a spreadsheet won’t automatically identify when specific data is “expired”, a regular process of looking for data older than the retention time period will enable your organization to purge “expired” data.
  • Litigation Hold Applied: Unless of course, that data is subject to an active litigation hold.  If so, you’ll want to identify the case(s) for which the hold is applied and be prepared to update to remove those cases from the list once the hold obligation is released.  If all holds are released on normally “expired” data and no additional hold obligations are expected, that may be the opportunity to purge that data.
  • Last Update Date: It’s always a good idea to keep track of when the information in the data map was last updated.  If it’s been a while since that last update, it might be time to coordinate with that department or custodian to bring their portion of the data map current.

As you see, a fairly simple 9 or 10 column spreadsheet might be all you need to start gathering information about the data stores in your organization.

So, what do you think?  Has your organization implemented a data mapping program?  If not, why not? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Rewind: Eleven for 11-11-11
 

Since today is one of only 12 days this century where the month, day and year are the same two-digit numbers (not to mention the biggest day for “craps” players to hit Las Vegas since July 7, 2007!), it seems an appropriate time to look back at some of our recent topics.  So, in case you missed them, here are eleven of our recent posts that cover topics that hopefully make eDiscovery less of a “gamble” for you!

eDiscovery Best Practices: Testing Your Search Using Sampling: On April 1, we talked about how to determine an appropriate sample size to test your search results as well as the items NOT retrieved by the search, using a site that provides a sample size calculator. On April 4, we talked about how to make sure the sample set is randomly selected. In this post, we’ll walk through an example of how you can test and refine a search using sampling.

eDiscovery Best Practices: Your ESI Collection May Be Larger Than You Think: Here’s a sample scenario: You identify custodians relevant to the case and collect files from each. Roughly 100 gigabytes (GB) of Microsoft Outlook email PST files and loose “efiles” is collected in total from the custodians. You identify a vendor to process the files to load into a review tool, so that you can perform first pass review and, eventually, linear review and produce the files to opposing counsel. After processing, the vendor sends you a bill – and they’ve charged you to process over 200 GB!! What happened?!?

eDiscovery Trends: Why Predictive Coding is a Hot Topic: Last month, we considered a recent article about the use of predictive coding in litigation by Judge Andrew Peck, United States magistrate judge for the Southern District of New York. The piece has prompted a lot of discussion in the profession. While most of the analysis centered on how much lawyers can rely on predictive coding technology in litigation, there were some deeper musings as well.

eDiscovery Best Practices: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?: Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? OK, it’s an old song by Chicago (back then, they were known as the Chicago Transit Authority). But, the question of what time it really is has a significant effect on how eDiscovery is handled.

eDiscovery Best Practices: Message Thread Review Saves Costs and Improves Consistency: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. But, in ESI review, it can be even worse when you get a different result. Most email messages are part of a larger discussion, which could be just between two parties, or include a number of parties in the discussion. To review each email in the discussion thread would result in much of the same information being reviewed over and over again. Instead, message thread analysis pulls those messages together and enables them to be reviewed as an entire discussion.

eDiscovery Best Practices: When Collecting, Image is Not Always Everything: There was a commercial in the early 1990s for Canon cameras in which tennis player Andre Agassi uttered the quote that would haunt him for most of his early career – “Image is everything.” When it comes to eDiscovery preservation and collection, there are times when “Image is everything”, as in a forensic “image” of the media is necessary to preserve all potentially responsive ESI. However, forensic imaging of media is usually not necessary for Discovery purposes.

eDiscovery Trends: If You Use Auto-Delete, Know When to Turn It Off: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(f), adopted in 2006, is known as the “safe harbor” rule. While it’s not always clear to what extent “safe harbor” protection extends, one case from a few years ago, Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington v. Washington Metrop. Trans. Auth., D.D.C. June 2007, seemed to indicate where it does NOT extend – auto-deletion of emails.

eDiscovery Best Practices: Checking for Malware is the First Step to eDiscovery Processing: A little over a month ago, I noted that we hadn’t missed a (business) day yet in publishing a post for the blog. That streak almost came to an end back in May. As I often do in the early mornings before getting ready for work, I spent some time searching for articles to read and identifying potential blog topics and found a link on a site related to “New Federal Rules”. Curious, I clicked on it and…up popped a pop-up window from our virus checking software (AVG Anti-Virus, or so I thought) that the site had found a file containing a “trojan horse” program. The odd thing about the pop-up window is that there was no “Fix” button to fix the trojan horse. So, I chose the best available option to move it to the vault. Then, all hell broke loose.

eDiscovery Trends: An Insufficient Password Will Thwart Even The Most Secure Site: Several months ago, we talked about how most litigators have come to accept that Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) systems are secure. However, according to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute, the chance of any business being hacked in the next 12 months is a “statistical certainty”. No matter how secure a system is, whether it’s local to your office or stored in the “cloud”, an insufficient password that can be easily guessed can allow hackers to get in and steal your data.

eDiscovery Trends: Social Media Lessons Learned Through Football: The NFL Football season began back in September with the kick-off game pitting the last two Super Bowl winners – the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers – against each other to start the season. An incident associated with my team – the Houston Texans – recently illustrated the issues associated with employees’ use of social media sites, which are being faced by every organization these days and can have eDiscovery impact as social media content has been ruled discoverable in many cases across the country.

eDiscovery Strategy: "Command" Model of eDiscovery Must Make Way for Collaboration: In her article "E-Discovery 'Command' Culture Must Collapse" (via Law Technology News), Monica Bay discusses the old “command” style of eDiscovery, with a senior partner leading his “troops” like General George Patton – a model that summit speakers agree is "doomed to failure" – and reports on the findings put forward by judges and litigators that the time has come for true collaboration.

So, what do you think?  Did you learn something from one of these topics?  If so, which one?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscoveryDaily would like to thank all veterans and the men and women serving in our armed forces for the sacrifices you make for our country.  Thanks to all of you and your families and have a happy and safe Veterans Day!

Our First Birthday! eDiscovery Daily is One Year Old Today!
 

Break out the birthday cake and the noisemakers!  eDiscovery Daily is now a year old!  One year ago today, we launched this blog with the ambitious goal of providing eDiscovery news and analysis every business day.  And, we haven’t missed a day yet!  Knock on wood!

Since we last reported, during our “sixmonthiversary”, we’ve almost doubled viewership (again!) since those first six months, and have increased our subscriber base over 2 1/2 times over that span!  Clearly, there is no shortage of topics to write about regarding eDiscovery and we appreciate your continued interest and support!

We also want to thank the blogs and publications that have linked to our posts and raised our public awareness, including Pinhawk, Litigation Support Blog.com, The Electronic Discovery Reading Room, Litigation Support Technology & News, eDiscovery News, InfoGovernance Engagement Area, Ride the Lightning, ABA Journal, ABC's of E-Discovery, Above the Law, EDD: Issues, Law, and Solutions, Law.com and any other publication that has picked up at least one of our posts for reference (sorry if I missed any!).

Finally, a quick “thanks” to all who contributed to the blog in the past year, including Jane Gennarelli, Jason Krause and Brad Jenkins (my boss, got to thank him, right?), as well as Melissa Rudy for assisting with several of the posts.

For those of you who have not been following eDiscovery Daily all year (which is most of you), here are some topics and posts you may have missed.  Feel free to check them out!

Case Law:

eDiscovery Daily has published 50 posts related to eDiscovery case decisions and activities over the past year!  Victor Stanley v. Creative Pipe, commonly referred to as the “Victor Stanley” case was followed throughout the year, including our very first post, as well as here, here and here.  More recently, the eDiscovery malpractice case involving McDermott, Will & Emery has captured considerable interest, with recent posts here, here and yesterday’s post here.

Also among the case law posts is Crispin v. Christian Audigier Inc., which seems to reflect growing interest in discoverability of social media data, as this post was the most viewed post of the year on our blog!

Project Management:

Project management in eDiscovery is a popular topic and Jane Gennarelli provided a couple of series of posts to address best practices in this very important area.  The eDiscovery Project Management series was published over the October, November and December months of 2010, while the Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team series ran over January, February and into March.

Thought Leaders:

eDiscovery Daily was able to sit down with numerous industry thought leaders, including George Socha, Craig Ball, Tom O’Connor, Tom Gelbmann, Jack Halprin, Deidre Paknad, Jeffrey Brandt, Alon Israely, Jim McGann and Christine Musil to get their “takes” on the state of the industry and where it’s headed.  Thanks to all of those individuals who agreed to speak with us this past year!  We will continue to bring you more perspectives throughout the industry in the coming year.

Search Best Practices:

There were several posts on search best practices, including don’t get “wild” with wildcards, these posts on how to look for misspellings, a case study for using term lists, these posts on handling exception files and this post on the benefits of proximity searching.  We also talked about the “STARR” approach for defensible searching and published this three part series on best practices for sampling and revising searches.

Cloud Computing:

As cloud computing has become a major organizational driving force (overall and as part of eDiscovery), we have addressed several topics related to it, including the importance to be able to load your own data, benefits of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for eDiscovery, the truth about security of SaaS and cloud-based systems, the Forrester and Gartner forecasts for tremendous growth in cloud computing, and even Craig Ball’s thoughts on the benefits of cloud computing for eDiscovery.

And many more posts over the past year on various other topics that are too numerous to mention…

Finally, it’s important to mention that we have yet to archive any old posts, so every post we have ever published is still currently available on this site! (I can see the Information Governance buffs cringing at that statement!)  I believe that we are in the process of building an impressive knowledge base of information spanning all sorts of eDiscovery topics as well as the entire EDRM life cycle.  If there’s an eDiscovery topic you wish to research, chances are that it’s been discussed here at some point.  So, feel free to make eDiscovery Daily one of your first stops for your eDiscovery information needs!

So, what do you think? Do you have any topics that you would like to see covered in more depth? Please share any comments you might have or if you'd like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Best Practices: 6 Project Management Practices to Apply to eDiscovery Cases
 

We’ve discussed project management as it relates to eDiscovery many times on this blog and even discussed whether there is any difference in managing legal projects vs. other types of projects.  This article published on Law Technology News yesterday, written by David Kearney of Cohen & Grigsby provides a good summary of six best practices to apply not only to eDiscovery projects, but to any project.

Everybody loves lists, right?  At least I do.  Here are the six best practices the author listed, with some of my own observations:

  1. Identify stakeholders and manage expectations. Every project has one or more people who have a stake in the end result (i.e., stakeholders).  That could be counsel, end clients, third parties or all of the above. It’s important to communicate expectations and time frames clearly (and, personally, I try to follow up with written documentation of all communicated expectations to minimize the chance of misunderstandings).  It’s also important to have a champion of the project to keep everyone on the same page.
  2. Communicate and report. Did I get ahead of myself and already mention communications?  The author advocates a communication plan and reporting methods, which is vital for keeping people on the same page.  It should include regular, periodic reporting (e.g., a weekly status report) and a plan for communicating ad-hoc updates (including key decisions made).  The means for communicating decisions may depend on the importance of the decision – for key decisions, I’ve been known to meet with or call the key players and follow up with an email to make sure that everyone is informed.
  3. Define the scope. The author discussed defining the scope to minimize the impact to costs, schedules, quality and resources.  This is certainly true and an important up-front step.  But, guess what?  Scope frequently changes.  Collections are larger than you thought, you have more custodians than you thought, additional services are requested, etc.  So, it’s important to gather as much information up front as possible to define the scope as accurately as possible, but also be prepared to adjust scope as things change and communicate (there’s that word again!) any changes in scope to the project team.
  4. Create the plan. The author talks about defining “what needs to happen, when it needs to happen, how much it's going to cost, the risks, how risks will be managed, how long project activities will take, and who will perform the work”. I especially like addressing how risks will be managed.  On projects I’ve worked on before, we’ve actually done a “pre-mortem” to brainstorm what can go wrong (i.e., risks) and identify a plan for mitigating each of those risks up front.  This exercise can avoid a lot of headaches during the project.
  5. Manage costs. Two words: budget and track.  You should prepare a budget at the beginning of a project and track costs against that budget throughout the project.  And, if scope changes, the budget should be updated to reflect those changes.
  6. Document lessons learned. The author discusses the importance of maintaining historical data on projects to track decisions, resources, etc., and then conducting a “post-mortem” (my words, not his) to learn from your mistakes and also your successes(!).  You’ll hopefully be managing more projects in the future, so you want to make sure you can learn as much as you can from each previous project you’ve managed.

So, what do you think? Have you managed any eDiscovery projects?  Did you learn any valuable lessons from those experiences? Please share any comments you might have or if you'd like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Trends: Same Old Story, Lawyers Struggling to “Get” eDiscovery
 

A couple of days ago, Law Technology News (LTN) published an article entitled Lawyers Struggle to Get a Grasp on E-Discovery, by Gina Passarella, via The Legal Intelligencer.  Noting that “[a]ttorneys have said e-discovery can eat up between 50 to 80 percent of a litigation budget”, the article had several good observations and quotes from various eDiscovery thought leaders, including:

  • Cozen O'Connor member David J. Walton, co-chairman of the firm's eDiscovery task force, who observed that “I'm afraid not to know [eDiscovery] because it dominates every part of a case”;
  • LDiscovery General Counsel Leonard Deutchman, who noted that the younger generation comfortable with the technology will soon be the judges and attorneys handling these matters, asked the question “what happens to those people that never change?”.  His answer: “They die.”
  • K&L Gates eDiscovery analysis and technology group Co-Chairman Thomas J. Smith noted that “A lot of the costs in e-discovery are driven by paranoia because counsel or the party themselves don't really know the rules and don't know what the case law says”.
  • Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner Stephanie A. "Tess" Blair heads up the firm's e-data practice and hopes that in five years eDiscovery will become more routine, noting “I think we're at the end of the beginning”.
  • Dechert's e-discovery practice guru Ben Barnett said, “Technology created the problem, so technology needs to solve it.”  But, David Cohen, the head of Reed Smith's eDiscovery practice, said that the increasing amount of data sources are keeping ahead of that process, saying “You have to make improvements in how you handle it just to tread water in terms of cost”.

There are several other good quotes and observations in the article, linked above.

On the heels of Jason Krause’s two part series on this blog regarding the various eDiscovery standards organizations, and the controversy regarding eDiscovery certification programs (referenced by this post regarding the certification program at The Organization of Legal Professionals), where do attorneys turn for information?  How do attorneys meet the competency requirements that the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules set forth, when an understanding of eDiscovery has become an increasing part of those requirements?

One common denominator of the firms quoted above is that they all have one or more individuals focused on managing the eDiscovery aspect of the cases in which they’re involved.  Having an eDiscovery specialist (or a team) can be a key component of effectively managing the discovery process.  If you’re a smaller firm and cannot devote a resource to managing eDiscovery, then find a competent provider that can assist when needed.

In addition to identifying an “expert” within or outside the firm, there are so many resources available for self-education that any attorney can investigate to boost their own eDiscovery “savvy”.  Join one of the standards organizations referenced in the two part series above.  Or, participate in a certification program.

One method for self-education that attorneys already know is case law research – while there is always variety in how some of the issues are handled by different courts, case decisions related to eDiscovery can certainly identify risks and issues that may need to be addressed or mitigated.  Subscribing to one or more resources that publish eDiscovery case law is a great way to keep abreast of developments.  And, I would be remiss if I didn’t note that eDiscovery Daily is one of those resources – in the nearly 11 month history of this blog, we have published 43 case law posts to date.  More to come, I’m sure… 😉

So, what do you think? Do you have a game plan for “getting” eDiscovery?  Please share any comments you might have or if you'd like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Budgeting, Part 3: Understanding the Elements Contributing to Cost
 

We've spent some time in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series discussing the factors and assumptions that go into eDiscovery budgeting, but what about the concrete eDiscovery process itself? In addition to understanding the factors that go into budgeting, it's important to recognize the elements that contribute to eDiscovery costs.

There are five primary factors that contribute to the costs of eDiscovery in progress:

  • Collection: Collection of ESI can be simple and effortless, conducted by the client itself, or it may require the assistance of a hired third party to gain access to the ESI. The cost of collection can go up depending on the level of travel required. Forensic investigation and custodian interviews are not always necessary, but also increase the cost in cases requiring them.
  • Volume: The raw volume of ESI is one factor in the cost of eDiscovery, but not necessarily the one that counts. What's most important is the volume that must be reviewed by human eyes—and that can mean all of it, or only a fraction of the total ESI retrieved. It's possible to filter eDiscovery data by removing unwanted file types, limiting a search to a particular date range, or searching for relevant key words and phrases in documents. In order to moderate cost, it's usually wise to start with a more limited eDiscovery scope and expand it to cover a larger volume if necessary.  Many eDiscovery service providers offer free early cost assessment services to help attorneys estimate the volume of potentially responsive data that needs to be processed and reviewed. 
  • Number of Custodians: The number of sources involved in the collection of data can increase exponentially the amount of time and effort involved in eDiscovery, thereby increasing the cost accordingly.
  • Human Review: This is the most expensive factor in eDiscovery, requiring as much as 80% of the total eDiscovery budget.  It requires not only human beings working on an hourly wage, but time spent on training and the learning curve as they become more adept at recognizing and refining the key elements and terms required to be produced in a particular case. The more people and time involved in data review, the greater the probable expense.
  • Case Complexity: While a simple case may require a limited scope and review process, complex court cases can involve searching the same documents for multiple types of information for discovery. As a result, complex cases require more time spent on a document review strategy, as well as on a more elaborate review process.

So, what do you think? Are there any other major factors in eDiscovery budgeting or expense? Please share any comments you might have or if you'd like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Budgeting, Part 2: Key Assumptions and Choices That Affect eDiscovery Budgeting
 

Friday, we talked about assumptions and elements that contribute to cost that need to be considered when budgeting for eDiscovery activities.

Now that you know a bit about the factors surrounding the cost of eDiscovery, let's take a look at budgeting and the estimates that attorneys provide to a client before beginning eDiscovery work. The first step in budgeting is to prepare an estimate based on your and your client’s best guesses and assumptions. What are some of these assumptions?

  • Volume: Volume is almost always the largest driver of cost, as it will affect not only the quantity of data to be collected and processed, but also the amount of time human beings must spend reviewing discovery documents for relevance and privilege. Volume is also one of the more ambiguous factors. The most accurate estimate of volume is in megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB), but you won't always have access to these kinds of size descriptions. Instead, a client may tell you that there are "50,000 or so pages" of data, or "about 10,000 emails". The size of pages can vary widely depending on whether they are in an email, a PDF, or a word document, so it can be very difficult to estimate volume with any degree of accuracy.
  • Scope: It's wise to start with the smallest possible scope and expand if necessary, but that can be an inefficient way to review documents for eDiscovery, as it may mean going over the same files twice for different aspects of your eventual scope.
  • Efficiency: Whenever possible, it's important to plan an eDiscovery strategy in advance that will allow for a more efficient review of documents and data. The ability to maintain an efficient process of eDiscovery is largely dependent on timing and the ability to plan.
  • Timing: More time for eDiscovery activities means that the scope and search details can be refined, optimizing efficiency and minimizing costs. If the eDiscovery must be done in a hurry, efficiency suffers and costs rise.
  • Risk: Risk tolerance is a factor in cost, determining how much attention must be paid to refining every aspect of document review and data access. Mitigating risk up front through agreement and cooperation with opposing counsel can clearly define the risk so that you know where you stand.
  • Location: Where the data is located can affect costs and so can the jurisdiction of the case.  For example, different courts have provided different rulings on spoliation claims, so it’s important to consider location as part of the budgeting process.

So, what do you think? Have you found any of these assumptions to be especially problematic in your own eDiscovery budgeting estimates? Please share any comments you might have or if you'd like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Budgeting, Part 1: Assumptions and Elements that Contribute to Cost
 

While attorneys may struggle with the regional and international regulations surrounding eDiscovery, your client is likely to be less concerned with the practical legal details of your discovery request, and more concerned with the financial cost.

Whether you're working with the plaintiff or the defense, one of the most important considerations in preparing for eDiscovery is presenting the expense accurately and completely to the client – and that means understanding for yourself the factors that go into budgeting for eDiscovery. There are two main sets of elements to consider: those that affect budgeting and estimates, and those that will have a direct impact on the ultimate cost of eDiscovery.

Understanding Assumptions in eDiscovery

Because so much of the eDiscovery process cannot be predicted without accurate information, it's important to confirm any estimates from a client or from opposing counsel before proceeding with a budget.

Does your client really know the volume of data that is likely to be contained in certain files or backups, or are they providing generalized figures that may not be accurate? Do you know for certain the precise scope of the information you need to examine for discovery? Attorneys need to verify as many estimates as possible, noting any and all assumptions in their estimates so that the client can prepare for potential changes in eDiscovery costs if those early assumptions prove to be inaccurate.

eDiscovery budgeting is predicated on guesswork and assumptions that may include:

  • Volume
  • Scope
  • Efficiency
  • Risk
  • Timing

Each of these factors will be discussed in an upcoming blog post next week detailing the assumptions that go into estimating a budget for eDiscovery.

Breaking Down the Cost of eDiscovery

Once the estimate is complete and you’re ready to tackle the real work of eDiscovery, there are particular elements that contribute to the cost, while others are more minimal.

Some of the major elements comprising the cost of eDiscovery include:

  • Collection: including factors such as travel, retrieval, custodian interviews, and forensic collection (if necessary)
  • Volume of data
  • Number of custodians
  • Human review: the most expensive factor in eDiscovery costs
  • Case complexity

I'll discuss more on each of these factors in an upcoming blog post, as well.

The cost of eDiscovery can also be affected by the degree of open communication with opposing counsel. A cooperative relationship with the opposition can streamline discovery, while a contentious relationship makes it likely that discovery-related motions and court appearances will increase the total cost of this process.

So, what do you think? How much up front effort goes into your eDiscovery budgeting process? How do you monitor progress against the budget?  Please share any comments you might have or if you'd like to know more about a particular topic.

eDiscovery Best Practices: Legal Project Management is the Same as Project Management
 

I found this article (Holy semantics Batman! There is no such thing as ‘legal project management’) which provides a good look at legal project management on the Legal IT Professionals site from Jeffrey Brandt, a previous thought leader interviewee of eDiscovery Daily.  I like this article for two reasons:

  • References to the Old Batman TV Series: Like the author, I watched every episode of the show back in the day, so I had to appreciate the analogy of putting the prefix “Bat” on everything (e.g., “Batcave”, “Batmobile”, “Shark Repellent Bat Spray”, etc.) to adding “legal” to “project management”.  It also gave me the opportunity to re-link to one of very first posts, which has a link at the bottom to a snippet from the old Batman series that always makes me laugh.
  • Clarification as to the Differentiation of ‘Legal Project Management’: According to the author, there is no differentiation.

The author notes that “The underpinnings and basic tenets of project management are 1) accomplishing a defined goal or set of goals; 2) working within a specific time line; and 3) working within a set of defined resources (most often personnel and cost). That can be applied to literally anything.”

True.  While I don’t necessarily believe that an experienced project manager can just “waltz” into managing legal-related projects with no knowledge of the legal industry and what the issues are, the best practices of project management are the same, regardless of the type of project being managed.

For example, I manage rollout coordination for our review platform, OnDemand®.  In a past life, I used to develop, but now I’m too far removed from the process to write web code, implement server configurations or fully understand all of the differences between the different versions of SQL Server.  My primary focus in the rollout management role is to coordinate communication between the developers, testers and support staff to make sure we stay on schedule for each software release to get as many of the proposed features as ready for rollout as possible.  Every time I try to get too much into the details of development, I get in trouble.  Just ask the development staff!  😉

So, what do you think?  Is there a difference between ‘legal project management’ and ‘project management’?   How much legal industry experience do you need to have to manage legal-related projects?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Full disclosure: I work for Trial Solutions, which provides SaaS-based eDiscovery review applications FirstPass® (for first pass review) and OnDemand® (for linear review and production).

eDiscovery Best Practices: Avoiding eDiscovery Nightmares: 10 Ways CEOs Can Sleep Easier
 

I found this article in the CIO Central blog on Forbes.com from Robert D. Brownstone – it’s a good summary of issues for organizations to consider so that they can avoid major eDiscovery nightmares.  The author counts down his top ten list David Letterman style (clever!) to provide a nice easy to follow summary of the issues.  Here’s a summary recap, with my ‘two cents’ on each item:

10. Less is more: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2005 in the Arthur Andersen case that a “retention” policy is actually a destruction policy.  It’s important to routinely dispose of old data that is no longer needed to have less data subject to discovery and just as important to know where that data resides.  My two cents: A data map is a great way to keep track of where the data resides.

9. Sing Kumbaya: They may speak different languages, but you need to find a way to bridge the communication gap between Legal and IT to develop an effective litigation-preparedness program.  My two cents: Require cross-training so that each department can understand the terms and concepts important to the other.  And, don’t forget the records management folks!

8. Preserve or Perish: Assign the litigation hold protocol to one key person, either a lawyer or a C-level executive to decide when a litigation hold must be issued.  Ensure an adequate process and memorialize steps taken – and not taken.  My two cents: Memorialize is underlined because an organization that has a defined process and the documentation to back it up is much more likely to be given leeway in the courts than a company that doesn’t document its decisions.

7. Build the Three-Legged Stool: A successful eDiscovery approach involves knowledgeable people, great technology, and up-to-date written protocols.  My two cents: Up-to-date written protocols are the first thing to slide when people get busy – don’t let it happen.

6. Preserve, Protect, Defend: Your techs need the knowledge to avoid altering metadata, maintain chain-of-custody information and limit access to a working copy for processing and review.  My two cents: A good review platform will assist greatly in all three areas.

5. Natives Need Not Make You Restless: Consider exchanging files to be produced in their original/”native” formats to avoid huge out-of-pocket costs of converting thousands of files to image format.  My two cents: Be sure to address how redactions will be handled as some parties prefer to image those while others prefer to agree to alter the natives to obscure that information.

4. Get M.A.D.?  Then Get Even: Apply the Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) principle to agree with the other side to take off the table costly volumes of data, such as digital voicemails and back-up data created down the road.  My two cents: That’s assuming, of course, you have the same levels of data.  If one party has a lot more data than the other party, there may be no incentive for that party to agree to concessions.

3. Cooperate to Cull Aggressively and to Preserve Clawback Rights: Setting expectations regarding culling efforts and reaching a clawback agreement with opposing counsel enables each side to cull more aggressively to reduce eDiscovery costs.  My two cents: Some parties will agree on search terms up front while others will feel that gives away case strategy, so the level of cooperation may vary from case to case.

2. QA/QC: Employ Quality Assurance (QA) tests throughout review to ensure a high accuracy rate, then perform Quality Control (QC) testing before the data goes out the door, building time in the schedule for that QC testing.  Also, consider involving a search-methodology expert.  My two cents: I cannot stress that last point enough – the ability to illustrate how you got from the large collection set to the smaller production set will be imperative to responding to any objections you may encounter to the produced set.

1. Never Drop Your Laptop Bag and Run: Dig in, learn as much as you can and start building repeatable, efficient approaches.  My two cents: It’s the duty of your attorneys and providers to demonstrate competency in eDiscovery best practices.  How will you know whether they have or not unless you develop that competency yourself?

So, what do you think?  Are there other ways for CEOs to avoid eDiscovery nightmares?   Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.