eDiscovery Daily Blog

• May 17, 2011

Today is the start of LegalTech® West Coast 2011 (LTWC) and eDiscoveryDaily is here to report about the latest eDiscovery trends being discussed at the show.  Over the next two days, we will provide a description each day of some of the sessions related to eDiscovery to give you a sense of the topics being covered.  If you’re in the Los Angeles area, come check out the show – there are a number of sessions (both paid and free) available and over 70 exhibitors providing information on their products and services, including (shameless plug warning!) my company, Trial Solutions, which is previewing a redesigned version 10 release of our linear review application, OnDemand®, prior to release this Saturday.

Perform a “find” on today’s LTNY conference schedule for “discovery” and you’ll get 22 hits.  So, there is plenty to talk about!  Sessions in the main conference tracks include:

10:30 – 11:45 AM:

eDiscovery in Action: Reducing the Pain and Increasing the Results

Discusses practices to:

• Increase defensibility, accountability and transparency across your organization
• Improve efficiency and reduce the volume of growing, uncontrolled information
• Reduce eDiscovery costs
• Maximize the return on your technology investments and improve staff productivity
• Adopt best practices and automate eDiscovery capabilities

Panelists are: Karen LaFleur, Director of Information Technology and Practice Support, BuchalterNemer, A Professional Corporation; Tom O'Connor, Director, Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center (and previous interviewee on this blog!); and Lisa K. Clements, Litigation Support Manager, DLA Piper LLP (US).

Records Policies, Technology and Processes that Optimize Corporate Compliance and Discovery

Topics discussed include:

• Discover how to maximize efficiency by managing data in a manner that anticipates requests for ESI
• Learn tips on how to create, implement and monitor sound and defensible legal hold protocol
• Analyze how significant cost-savings may be achieved through defensible, repeatable execution of that protocol

Panelists are: Wayne Wong, Managing Consultant, Kroll Ontrack; David Yerich, UnitedHealth Group; Ron Best, Director of Legal Information Systems, Munger Tolles & Olson.  Moderator: Dave Schultz, Manager, Legal Technologies, Kroll Ontrack.

2:00 – 3:15 PM:

Exploring Enterprise Search Technology

Covers how to:

• Understand the totality of electronic information: documents, websites, emails, tweets, audio and video
• Automate complex information-centric processes by understanding the meaning of electronically stored information
• Empower organizations to better address their legal, regulatory and business obligations through evolutionary search technology

Panelists are: Ali Shahidi, Director of Knowledge Management, Bingham McCutchen LLP; Scott A. Preston, Chief Information Officer, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

Social Media and Discovery: Tales, Trials and Technology

Panelists will:

• Discuss the impact of social media and the cloud on discovery
• Hear important questions and implications that must be fully understood before implementing use policies around social media and entrusting data to the cloud
• Explore data collection, data security, and privacy with regard to social media and the cloud

Panelists are: Wayne Wong, Managing Consultant, Kroll Ontrack; Bianca Dickerson-Willams, CRM, Kroll Ontrack; Jeff Fowler, Counsel, O'Melveny & Myers.  Moderator: Dave Schultz, Manager, Legal Technologies, Kroll Ontrack.

3:45 – 5:00 PM:

Partnering for Success: Inside and Outside Counsel Working Together

Discussion regarding:

• Linking together inside and outside counsel
• Improve the early case assessment process Leverage review methods including conceptual search and meaning-based, computer-assisted tagging and coding to reduce cost of review
• Streamline and simplify the process on a single platform to better comply with the FRCP and help inside and outside counsel avoid sanctions

Panelists are: Jeffrey W. McKenna, Esq., Former Senior Associate, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP; Member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP); Thérèse P. Miller, Of Counsel, Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP; Bill Speros, Attorney Consulting in Evidence Management, Speros & Associates LLC.

Next Decade of Document Review: Cheaper, Better, Smarter

Topics include:

• Consider how document review practices have evolved in the past decade
• Learn how to stop wasting valuable corporate dollars on chaotic document review by utilizing Intelligent Review Technology (IRT), which can reduce the burden and expense of analysis, review and production
• Discuss cutting-edge cases that highlight the importance of using technology to conduct faster and cheaper discovery

Panelists are: Andrea Marshall, Consultant, Kroll Ontrack; Ron Best, Director of Legal Information Systems, Munger Tolles & Olson; Jeff Fowler, Counsel, O'Melveny & Myers.  Moderator: Dave Schultz, Manager, Legal Technologies, Kroll Ontrack.

In addition to these, there are other eDiscovery-related sessions today.  For a complete description for all sessions today, click here.

eDiscoveryDaily will also be “tweeting” periodically throughout LTWC (this time I mean it!), so feel free to check out our updates at twitter.com/TrialSolutions.

So, what do you think?  Are you planning to attend LTWC this year?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.