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Industry Trends

Investment is Changing the eDiscovery Market as We Speak: eDiscovery Trends

Yesterday, we talked about how eDiscovery business confidence seems to tend to take a downturn every summer.  But, when it comes to private equity firms’ investment in eDiscovery companies, eDiscovery business confidence seems to be stronger than ever.

As reported in LegalTech News (E-Discovery Market’s Demand Attracting More Investors Than Ever Before, written by Rhys Dipshan), the author notes that over the past few years, private equity firms have invested in over a dozen eDiscovery companies.  Since January 2018, have played a leading role in reshaping the eDiscovery market.  Some examples:

  • Xact Data Discovery was acquired by private equity firm JLL Partners in January 2018;
  • San Francisco-based private equity firm GI Partners was behind the March 2018 merger of Consilio and Advanced Discovery;
  • In October 2017, Knox Capital led a funding round for eDiscovery and forensics provider HaystackID, which then supported HaystackID’s April 2018 acquisition of Envision Discovery and Inspired Review;
  • In late May 2018, another New York City-based private equity firm, Leeds Equity Partners, also moved into the e-discovery industry by investing in Exterro. While the exact investment amount was not disclosed, Exterro told Legaltech News it was a “nine figure deal”;
  • And yet another private equity firm, Peak Rock Capital, invested in eDiscovery company (and sponsor of this blog) CloudNine and helped fund its March 2018 acquisition of the LexisNexis eDiscovery product suite. A spokesperson for Peak Rock Capital said the firm invested in the CloudNine because it “saw great potential in CloudNine as a high growth software-as-a-service provider of processing and review solutions.”

So, what’s behind private equity’s appetite for all things eDiscovery? The author states that “[a]t its core, it stems from private equity’s belief that demand for e-discovery technology and services remain strong for years to come.”

Private equity firms seem not to be too worried that their eDiscovery picks will be crowded out of the market anytime soon. Peak Rock Capital, for instance, believes that there “is ample demand in the growing e-discovery segment. There’s been consolidation on the services side, but the market is quite large, and we continue to see robust demand from new customers.”

As I’ve noted several times on this blog, a great resource for a list of mergers, acquisitions and investments is Rob Robinson’s Complex Discovery blog where he lists industry transactions back as far as November 2001 – which is even before Kroll acquired Ontrack!  Now, both names are absorbed in acquisition.  We’ve certainly seen several large transactions over the years, but if you look at the most recent transactions (since May 1, 2018), we have at least three “nine figure deals” in the last nine months.  That’s big business!

So, what do you think?  Are you surprised in the amount of investment in the eDiscovery industry?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

Has eDiscovery Business Confidence Hit the Summertime Blues?: eDiscovery Trends

As the late, great Eddie Cochran would say (and sing), “there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues”.  The Complex Discovery eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey is into its third year and the results are in for the Summer 2018 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey!  As was the case for the 2016 Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall surveys, the 2017 Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall surveys and the 2018 Winter and Spring surveys, the results for the Summer survey are published on Rob Robinson’s terrific Complex Discovery site.  How confident are individuals working in the eDiscovery ecosystem in the business of eDiscovery?  Let’s see.

As always, Rob provides a complete breakdown of the latest survey results, which you can check out here.  He also provides his own analysis of the results here.  As I’ve done for the past few surveys, I will provide some analysis and, this year, I’ll take a look at all surveys conducted to look at trends over time.  So, this time, I will look at the results for all eleven surveys to date.

The Summer 2018 Survey response period was initiated on July 4 and continued until registration of 66 responses by last week.  Rob notes that this limiting of responders to 66 individuals is a change from previous surveys and reflective of an adjusted survey participant listing based on GDPR implementation by Complex Discovery and sensitivity to the increasing number of industry surveys.  Good to know!

Providers Back to the Top of the Heap: Software and/or Services Provider respondents were back on top this time, accounting for nearly 40% (39.4% to be exact) of all respondents.  Law Firm respondents were next at 28.8% and Consultancy respondents slid back to third at 22.7%.  As always, if you count law firms as providers (they’re technically both providers and consumers), this is a very provider heavy survey with over 90% of total respondents (which makes perfect sense as they would be most interested in eDiscovery business confidence).  Here’s a graphical representation of the trend over the eleven surveys to date:

This is another provider heavy survey yet at 91% of total respondents (yet, not a record).  So, how confident are providers in eDiscovery business confidence?  See below.

Just Over Half of Respondents Consider Business to Be Good: This time, only 53% of respondents considered business to be good, a big drop from the record 68% we had last quarter.  7.6% of respondents rated business conditions as bad, only slightly higher than last quarter’s 7.0%.  That may seem like a big slide, but it’s in line with the numbers of the past two summers (slightly worse than the 53.4%/5.0% of last summer, but considerably better than the 47.6%/13.7% of two summers ago).  Summer doldrums, anyone?  Anyway, here is the trend over the eleven surveys to date:

So, how good do respondents expect business to be in six months?  See below.

Revenue and Profit Expectations Are Still in Line: Nearly all respondents (95.5%) expect business conditions will be in their segment to be the same or better six months from now (a little bit higher than last quarter’s 94%), and the percentage expecting business to be better stayed flat at 50%.  Revenue (at combined 92.4% for the same or better) is over three points lower than the last quarter.  Profit expectations (combined 87.9%) rose nearly two points from last quarter, but with those expecting higher profits dropping 7.5 points from last quarter’s record high.  However, the percentage of those expecting higher profits is still significantly higher than either of the last two summers.     Here is the profits trend over the eleven surveys to date:

If you look at averages for the first three quarters this year, the profit sentiment overall is stronger than the past two years, so the trend is still positive overall.

Budgetary Constraints Are Still Considered to Be Most Impactful to eDiscovery Business: Budgetary Constraints was (once again) the top impactful factor to the business of eDiscovery over the next six months at 22.7%, but with Increasing Types (not Volumes) of Data next up at 21.2%.  Data Security was close behind again in third at 19.7%, with Increasing Volumes of Data (16.7%) at fourth, its lowest ranking ever.  Lack of Personnel was fifth at 13.6%, with Inadequate Technology bringing up the rear at 6.1%.  The graph below illustrates the distribution over the eleven surveys to date:

Once again, Budgetary Constraints is at or near the top, but it’s Increasing Types of Data that is a strong second this time.  I guess it’s all of those CLEs we’ve been doing (including this one, pats self on back)… :o)

Back to a Heavier Exec Influence: The Executive Leadership respondents were back up to near half (45.4%). Operational Management and Tactical Execution respondents were exactly even (27.3%).  So, this survey reflects a little more exec influence.  Here’s the breakdown over the eleven surveys to date:

Clearly, the variance in distribution shows that the respondents for this survey vary from quarter to quarter, so it’s not the same people giving the same answers each time.

Again, Rob has published the results on his site here, which shows responses to additional questions not referenced here.  Check them out.

So, what do you think?  What’s your state of confidence in the business of eDiscovery?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

ILTACON 2018 Preview Edition: eDiscovery Trends

Believe it or not, it’s almost time for another ILTACON!  ILTACON is the annual conference for the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA).  This year, it’s the 41st annual conference and it’s being held at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center at National Harbor, MD from August 19 to August 23.  eDiscovery Daily will once again be covering the show and CloudNine will exhibiting at the show and participating in a major way.   If you’re going to be in the Washington DC/National Harbor area, you may want to check out a few of these sessions regarding eDiscovery and Information Governance.

In addition to exhibiting at the show in booth 936, CloudNine will also host a happy hour on Tuesday, August 21 from 4:30 to 6:30pm ET at the National Harbor’s Public House (click here to register).  Come and get to know CloudNine, your provider for LAW PreDiscovery®, Concordance® and the CloudNine™ SaaS platform!  We’re also going to be the sunglass sponsor for the ACEDS Monumental Sunset Cruise on Wednesday, August 22 from 7:00 to 10:00pm ET! (online registration is closed, but you can still join the waiting list)…

Here are a few sessions to check out (including one that I’m speaking on at 1pm on Monday, just sayin’):

Monday, 08/20/2018:

The Future of eDiscovery: A Discussion Amongst Industry Leaders (11:00AM to Noon): What does the future of eDiscovery hold? Hear from industry leaders as they discuss their predictions of both the short and long-term future of the eDiscovery market. They’ll analyze anticipated disrupters and how their organizations are planning for change. Additionally, they’ll share practical steps for law firms to begin preparing themselves today.

Takeaways:

  • Hear from industry vision leaders on what they see as our future in the eDiscovery space will be and how they are planning for any change within their organization.
  • Learn about the market disruptors?
  • What should law departments or law firms be thinking and preparing for?

eDiscovery Training Roadmap (1:00PM to 2:00PM): In this interactive and informative session, we will walk through how to train and develop your eDiscovery staff. The discussion will help you determine who the stakeholders are and what skills do they need to succeed. We will also discuss eDiscovery best practices, training strategies, and defining work processes. The discussion will include types of training that won’t work and war stories from our veteran eDiscovery experts.

eDiscovery and Litigation Support for Small Firms: Which Hat Should I Wear Today? (1:00PM to 2:00PM): eDiscovery is a critical component of litigation these days. Learn how small firms can effectively manage eDiscovery and litigation support without a dedicated department and while juggling multiple tasks.  I’m honored to be speaking at this session, along with Dana Wesley Sarti  and Sherry Rather of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP, with Brett Burney of Burney Consultants moderating.

Managing Out-of-the-Ordinary Projects in eDiscovery (2:30PM to 3:30PM): How does your firm approach out-of-the-ordinary projects?  This session will provide hands on practical information on how to approach non-ordinary projects.  Every project should be approached in the same manner, using fundamental project management steps.  We will review these steps and provide insight on how some special projects were successful using these fundamentals.

And, of course, you don’t want to miss the Exhibit Hall Opening Reception from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM ET, where “there’s an open world of video games at ILTA’s Partner Video Game HQ” where attendees can play lots of video games while enjoying food and drink.

Tuesday, 08/21/2018:

O365 and eDiscovery: What’s New? (1:30PM to 2:30PM): Office 365, Microsoft’s current software suite, is often a “go-to” tool in e-Discovery. We’ll examine the strengths and weaknesses of each applications and get up to speed with all of the newest features. Additionally, we’ll examine the future of e-Discovery and what to expect from Microsoft as its products evolve.

EDiscovery Directors’ Roundtable: What Keeps You Up at Night? (3:30PM to 5:00PM): Litigation Support and eDiscovery Directors are tasked with running a business within a business.  The challenges you face go beyond the case specific:  From expanding services to other practice areas, how to best present your team’s value to clients and firm stakeholders, understanding your staffing and staff development needs and forecasting technology trends, to addressing evolving, complex data privacy and security concerns.  Your job is to keep your business model relevant and profitable in an increasingly competitive and consolidated industry.  This session will provide a forum for directors to share and learn from each other in a “safe” environment.  The session is for law firm professionals at the director level only.

Takeaways:

  • Gather, share, and identify growth opportunities for your department within your firm.
  • Learn what’s worked for others in gathering metrics and presenting those to firm management.
  • Compare and strategize how to overcome challenges and pain points unique to this role.

Information Governance Roundtable (3:30PM to 5:00PM): Come and enjoy a rich and detailed discussion among law firm information governance professionals. They will dive deep into current issues and future risks and issues of note.

Wednesday, 08/22/2018:

Litigation Support & Legal Operations: Ideas and Innovation Workshop (3:30PM to 5:00PM): Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and actively participate in this interactive session!  This will be a combination of a lightning-round expert panel, a town hall, and a peer-to-peer tabletop workshop. Attendees will have the opportunity to collaborate and solve some of the real world problems we face in litigation support and legal operations, today.  A recap of challenges and solutions will be provided to attendees at the end of the session.

Takeaways:

  • The opportunity to participate in collaborative problem solving.
  • Exposure to issues attendees may or may not be aware of.
  • List of collaborative solutions developed during the session for each of the scenarios identified.

Thursday, 08/23/2018:

Design Thinking in Litigation Support (9:00AM to 10:00AM): A practical workshop on how design thinking can be leveraged in litigation support to develop a solution that works for the legal teams. Hear real world examples of how design thinking improved customer service and deliveries, and improved processes and policies.

Takeaways:

  • Learn about the basic fundamental steps to design thinking
  • Hear about examples of how law firms have used design thinking to improve their legal services to clients.

Transforming Records Managers: Assessing and Adapting to the Changing Skill Needs for Information Governance (11:15AM to 12:15PM): Records management is a critical component of Information Governance (IG) but it is only part of the solution. IG is a multi-discipline, organization-wide strategy requiring collaboration and records managers are best positioned to lead the way. Learn how to assess and adapt your records team to the new, more broad skills needed to address information governance.

Takeaways:

  • Understand the key skills for Information Governance Program Managers vs. traditional Records Managers and how to assess current skills to identify gaps in skills needed to transition
  • Matrix of essential skills and relevant certifications
  • An action plan to develop the skills of your team

So, what do you think?  Are you going to ILTACON next month?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

Women in eDiscovery and South Texas College of Law Team Up for Another Houston Conference: eDiscovery Best Practices

Last year, I was honored to participate in the inaugural eDiscovery “Legal Technology Showcase & Conference” at South Texas College of Law in downtown Houston, hosted by the Women in eDiscovery (WiE), Houston Chapter.  The event was such a success they’re doing it again this year!

On September 27, WiE Houston, in partnership with South Texas College of Law and the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), will be hosting the second annual “Legal Technology Showcase & Conference”.  The one-day technology showcase will bring together legal thought leadership, innovative technology providers, practitioners, legal support staff and law school students in one venue to network and collaborate on current legal industry trends and innovative technology products.

Thanks to South Texas College of Law, ACEDS, conference sponsors and technology exhibitors, the event is free to attend and open to all professionals within the legal industry including attorneys, litigation support and legal operations professionals, paralegals, legal IT staff, court reporters, consultants, recruiters and vendors.

The conference will feature several educational sessions (with CLE credit!) led by industry experts and thought leaders along with a full day of technology exhibits from leading legal technology providers. The event agenda includes a continental breakfast, welcome keynote, 3 educational sessions, lunch, all day exhibitions, and a post-event happy hour.  Attendees will also have the opportunity to enter in a drawing to win a CEDS scholarship courtesy of ACEDS.

The agenda and speakers will be updated as they are finalized, though a preliminary agenda and speaker list are available.

I’m excited to be one of the speakers again this year on the panel discussion AI and TAR for Legal: Use Cases for Discovery and Beyond at 2:30pm and CloudNine is also a Premier Platinum Sponsor for the event (as well as an Exhibitor, so you can come learn about us too).

The conference runs from 8:30am to 5:00pm, with a networking happy hour from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.  Both events are at South Texas College of Law in downtown Houston.  If you’re in Houston (or could be on that day), click here to register for the event.  Based on last year’s turnout, it’s going to be BIG, so register early to save your spot!

So, what do you think?  Are you going to be in Houston on September 27?  If so, come join us!  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

As Blockchain Joins the Healthcare Profession, Are Legal Departments Prepared to Keep Up?: eDiscovery Trends

When we hear the word blockchain, most of us still think of Bitcoin, that mysterious new currency that seems to equally enthrall forward thinking investors and less-than-savory entrepreneurs who lurk around the darkest parts of the Dark Web. But blockchain technology is finding more and more practical uses, most recently in the healthcare industry.

In a recent Wall Street Journal Article, blockchain is presented as a low-cost, highly secure way to unify healthcare records, which to date has been a huge obstacle. As the article puts it, “In the current tangle of incompatible records systems that typifies U.S. health care, incorrect information can creep in when patient data gets re-entered multiple times by doctors’ offices, insurers and hospital staff. Big errors can seriously affect the quality of care that patients receive, small discrepancies can result in wrongful denials of insurance coverage, and errors of all types add to the system’s cost.”

In very simplified terms, Blockchain works like a giant Google Sheet: a single ledger that can be added to simultaneously by all users in the system, with each “transaction” creating an audit trail so that its data is nearly infallible. For healthcare records systems, this can put patients, insurers, and providers literally on the same page, providing secure and accurate information for all stakeholders across the board.

In January, Nashville-based Change Healthcare (a network of 800,000 physicians, 117,000 dentists and 60,000 pharmacies) introduced a blockchain system for processing insurance claims. The shared ledger of encrypted data gives providers a “single source of truth,” according to Emily Vaughn, blockchain product development director at Change Healthcare.

All parties can see the same information about a claim in real time, so that a patient or provider won’t have to call multiple parties to verify information. Each time data is changed, a record is shown on the digital ledger, identifying the responsible party. Any changes also require verification by each party involved, ensuring record’s accuracy.

Change Healthcare won’t reveal actual numbers about how much the new system (which processes roughly 50 million events daily) cuts costs, but the efficiencies, accuracy, and security will no doubt bring huge savings.

The question regarding the eDiscovery implications with this type of move are clear: How will this data be preserved, collected, and prepared for review? It’s not so much a question of a technical nature (though that will have to be answered by someone, but I’ll leave it to the software engineers to properly answer it). What I mean to say, is that anytime a new data source is introduced into the organization’s landscape, the question of preservation, collection, and production should already be on the minds of the legal department. Often, changes in a company’s technology infrastructure are driven by departments outside of legal: usually a combination of IT and business units looking for efficiency, security, and cost savings. Many times, large decisions will be made, leaving the legal team in the position of playing catch up when it comes to discovery should litigation arise.

So, even if your company isn’t moving to blockchain anytime in the near future, this story of what is happening in the healthcare space is important to consider, because, to quote the poet William Blake, “What is now real, was once only imagined.” And the potential uses for blockchain technology lately seems to be on everyone’s mind.

So, what do you think?  How do you see the increased use of blockchain technology affecting eDiscovery?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

Freedom of Information? Not Necessarily for Text Messages: eDiscovery Trends

What percentage of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests actually result in receiving all of the information requested?  75 percent?  50 percent?  You might be surprised.  Apparently, according to a recent survey, one part of the problem could be the lack of capturing text messages within government organizations.

According to the 2018 Public Sector Text & Mobile Communications Survey from Smarsh, 70 percent of federal, state, county and city government organizations surveyed report allowing SMS/text for official business communication.  But, almost half of those (46 percent) are not formally capturing and retaining these messages.  There were 236 total respondents in the survey.

Here are some other interesting findings from the report:

  • The vast majority of agencies allow organizational email (97 percent) on mobile devices, but right behind it is SMS/text messaging, with 70 percent allowing it for official government business. Social channels Facebook and Twitter are the next most frequently cited, with 58 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
  • Two-thirds of surveyed organizations allow employees to use their own BYOD devices for official business, for those devices, only 35 percent of respondents are retaining SMS/text messages (as opposed to 62 percent for Corporate Owned Personally Enabled (COPE) devices).
  • The top four reasons SMS/Text records are NOT captured are: 1) Don’t currently have budget this year, 2) SMS/text isn’t required to be retained by law, 3) Waiting for Capstone/FOIA guidance, 4) Existing capture technologies are too complicated.
  • The majority of respondents, 62 percent or nearly 2/3, lacked confidence that they could provide specifically requested mobile text messages promptly if responding to a public records or litigation request.
  • Agencies with no retention solution in place have very little confidence in their ability to fulfill requests. 23 percent reported that if requested, it was unlikely they could produce SMS/text messages from their organizational leader at all.

When you hear these stats, you might be surprised the numbers aren’t higher.  Last year, Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation jumped 26 percent over the previous year. In 2018, that number is on track to increase again. While an average of 2.08 lawsuits were filed each day in 2017, 2018 has seen the average increase to 2.72 lawsuits per day.  Last year, there were 823,222 Federal FOIA requests – 78 percent of those requests yielded censored files or no records at all.  In other words, only 22 percent of FOIA requestors got everything they asked for.  22 percent!  And, the Federal government spent $40.6 million in legal fees defending its withholding of files in 2017.  Freedom of information isn’t free, apparently.

I guess it isn’t surprising that government agencies are struggling with the same challenges of collecting and keeping mobile device data that other organizations are.  Maybe we should conduct a webinar on the topic?  Does two weeks from today work for you?  :o)

So, what do you think?  Is your organization able to produce text messages from your employees if needed?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

P.S. — Happy Birthday, Carter!

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

Could We Be Close to a Second State to Approve a Technology CLE Requirement?: eDiscovery Trends

In 2016, Florida became the first state to mandate technology training for lawyers, when it adopted a rule requiring lawyers to complete three hours of CLE every three years “in approved technology programs.”  We covered it here.  That requirement went into effect on January 1, 2017 and CloudNine has certainly been providing several CLE courses that are technology approved in Florida.  We’ve been wondering when a second state was going to follow suit and we may be close to an answer.

According to Robert Ambrogi and his Law Sites blog (A Second State Moves Closer to Mandating Technology Training for Lawyers), the North Carolina State Bar Council has approved a proposed amendment to lawyers’ annual CLE requirements that would mandate that one hour of the required 12 hours of CLE training annually be devoted to technology training.

The council adopted the proposed amendment on April 20. The proposed amendment now goes to the North Carolina Supreme Court for approval.

The proposed amendment would also add a definition of technology training, as follows:

“Technology training” shall mean a program, or a segment of a program, devoted to education on information technology (IT) or cybersecurity (see N.C. Gen. Stat. §143B-1320(a)(11), or successor statutory provision, for a definition of “information technology”), including education on an information technology product, device, platform, application, or other tool, process, or methodology. To be eligible for CLE accreditation as a technology training program, the program must satisfy the accreditation standards in Rule .1519 of this subchapter: specifically, the primary objective of the program must be to increase the participant’s professional competence and proficiency as a lawyer. Such programs include, but are not limited to, education on the following: a) an IT tool, process, or methodology designed to perform tasks that are specific or uniquely suited to the practice of law; b) using a generic IT tool process or methodology to increase the efficiency of performing tasks necessary to the practice of law; c) the investigation, collection, and introduction of social media evidence; d) e-discovery; e) electronic filing of legal documents; f) digital forensics for legal investigation or litigation; and g) practice management software. See Rule .1602 of this subchapter for additional information on accreditation of technology training programs.

However, as Kevin O’Keefe notes in his Real Lawyers blog (via a tweet by Richard Granat), the same North Carolina has just passed regulation restricting the distribution of self-help legal software over the Internet.  Go figure.

Regardless, I will be very interested to see what happens in the state that I’m now spending a lot of my time (because of our recent acquisition, of course).

So, what do you think?  Will we see more states require technology CLE?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

“Master” Your Knowledge of eDiscovery With This Conference in Chicago in Two Weeks: eDiscovery Trends

If you’re in the Chicago area or plan to be there on May 22, join legal technology experts and professionals at The Masters Conference 2018 Chicago event for a full day of educational sessions covering a wide range of topics!

The Masters Conference brings together leading experts and professionals from law firms, corporations and the bench to develop strategies, practices and resources for managing the information life cycle.  This year’s Chicago event covers topics ranging from legal technology innovation to cybersecurity to strategy and advocacy in eDiscovery to Blockchain to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will only be 3 days away at that point!  There are even TED talks and a General Counsel roundtable!

The event will be held at the Microsoft Technology Center, Aon Center, 200 E Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60601.  Registration begins at 8am, with sessions starting shortly after that, at 8:45am.

CloudNine will be sponsoring the session On Premise or Off Premise? A Look At Security Approaches to eDiscovery at 8:45am.  My colleague Clint Lehew, VP of Channel Programs at CloudNine will be moderating with Matthew Gasaway, Director and Senior Counsel at AbbVie, Kendell Howard of United Airlines, Jeff Dreiling, Founder at Complete Legal and Kristi Smith, Attorney at Bryan Cave, as panelists.

Their panel discussion will discuss on-premise and off-premise eDiscovery solutions and considerations for each.  It should be a very informative discussion with a very knowledgeable panel.  Please join them!

Click here to register for the conference.  The Masters Conference has several other events coming up the remainder of the year, including Denver, San Francisco, New York, London, Washington DC and, of course, Orlando.  Click here for more information on remaining scheduled events for the year.

So, what do you think?  Are you going to be in Chicago on May 22?  If so, come check out a great event!  And, as always, please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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 Happens in the Internet Each Minute in 2018? More Than Ever: eDiscovery Trends

The past two years, we’ve taken a look at a terrific infographic each year that illustrated what happens within the internet in a typical minute.  2018 is a new year and it’s always fun to take a fresh look.  So, let’s take a look at what happens in an internet minute in 2018.

But first, this week’s eDiscovery Tech Tip of the Week is about Creating Fields.  Classifying documents as responsive, non-responsive or privileged and recording and tracking information about the documents during the review and production process is key to effective workflow management of the discovery process as a whole.  The easier it is to be able to create the fields you need to classify and track documents through the review and production process.

To see an example of how Creating Fields is conducted using our CloudNine platform, click here (requires BrightTalk account, which is free).

As for the internet minute, this updated graphic, once again created by Lori Lewis, illustrates what happens within the internet in a typical minute in 2018.  There are a couple of different categories tracked in this graphic than last year’s, but most are the same.  Once again, the ones that are the same are all up compared to last year – some more than others (is Netflix viewing really up 3 1/2 times more than last year?).

Here is a comparison between 2017 and 2018 (we previously published the graphic for 2016 here):

Once again, I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the numbers, so take them for what it’s worth.  They say a picture says a thousand words, so consider my blog post complete for today!  :o)

So, what do you think?  How have the challenges of Big Data affected your organization?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.

eDiscovery Business Confidence Takes a Major Spring Forward: eDiscovery Trends

Get it?  The Complex Discovery eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey is into its third year and the results are in for the Spring 2018 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey!  As was the case for the 2016 Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall surveys, the 2017 Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall surveys and the 2018 Winter survey, the results for the Spring survey are published on Rob Robinson’s terrific Complex Discovery site.  How confident are individuals working in the eDiscovery ecosystem in the business of eDiscovery?  Let’s see.

As always, Rob provides a complete breakdown of the latest survey results, which you can check out here.  As I’ve done for the past few surveys, I will provide some analysis and, this year, I’ll take a look at all surveys conducted to look at trends over time.  So, this time, I will look at the results for all ten surveys.

The Spring 2018 Survey response period was initiated in March, and continued until registration of exactly 100 responses by last week.  Rob notes that this limiting of responders to 100 (or so) individuals is designed to create linearity in the number of responses for each quarterly survey.  So, in the future, if you want your voice heard, respond early!

This Survey is Consultant Heavy: For the first time ever, those who identified themselves as Consultants lead the way.  Of the types of respondents, 33% were Consultants, followed by Software and/or Services Provider (30%) and Law Firm (29%).  As always, if you count law firms as providers (they’re technically both providers and consumers), this is a very provider heavy survey (which makes perfect sense as they would be most interested in eDiscovery business confidence).  Here’s a graphical representation of the trend over the ten surveys to date:

This is the most provider heavy survey yet at 92% of total respondents!  So, how confident are providers in eDiscovery business confidence?  See below.

More Than Two Thirds of Respondents Consider Business to Be Good: Yowza!  Over two third (68%, to be exact) of respondents rated the current general business conditions for eDiscovery in their segment to be good, with 7% rating business conditions as bad.  That’s a record percentage of “good” votes.  Last quarter, those numbers were 58% and 7% respectively.  Will the positive sentiment continue?  We’ll see.  Here is the trend over the ten surveys to date:

This survey shows the highest percentage of “business is good” respondents ever by 6.2%! Spring 2016 was the previous high.  But, do respondents expect that to continue?  See below.

Revenue and Profit Expectations Six Months From Now Are Strong: Almost all respondents (94%) expect business conditions will be in their segment to be the same or better six months from now (one tick lower than last quarter’s 95%), and the percentage expecting business to be better fell six points to 50%.  Revenue (at combined 96% for the same or better) is three points higher than the last quarter.  Profit expectations (combined 86%) also rose three points from last quarter, with those expecting higher profits at an all-time high of 53%!  Here is the profits trend over the ten surveys to date:

Perhaps the weirdest results this time as both revenue and profits scored higher than general business conditions did.  Go figure.

It’s Budgetary Constraints’ Turn to Be Most Impactful to eDiscovery Business: Budgetary Constraints was the top impactful factor to the business of eDiscovery over the next six months at 22%, with Increasing Volumes of Data next up at 21%.  Data Security was close behind in third at 19% and Increasing Types of Data (16%) was fourth.  Inadequate Technology and Lack of Personnel brought up the rear at 11% each.  The graph below illustrates the distribution over the ten surveys to date:

Once again, Budgetary Constraints and Increasing Volumes of Data are the top two, but for the first time, all six factors were over 10%.  That’s a fairly even distribution.

Even Distribution Between Management and “Rank and File”: For the first time since Summer 2016, the Executive Leadership respondents (35%), Operational Management (34%) and Tactical Execution respondents (31%) were virtually even.  So, this survey reflects even input from execs, managers and “doers”.  Here’s the breakdown over the ten surveys to date:

Clearly, the variance in distribution shows that the respondents for this survey vary from quarter to quarter, so it’s not the same people giving the same answers each time.

Again, Rob has published the results on his site here, which shows responses to additional questions not referenced here.  Check them out.

So, what do you think?  What’s your state of confidence in the business of eDiscovery?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.