Our Insights on eDiscovery

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eDiscovery Trends: An Insufficient Password Will Thwart Even The Most Secure Site
 eDiscovery Trends: An Insufficient Password Will Thwart Even The Most Secure Site 150 150 CloudNine

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.

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eDiscovery Case Law: A Pennsylvania Court Conducts Its Own Social Media Relevancy Review
 eDiscovery Case Law: A Pennsylvania Court Conducts Its Own Social Media Relevancy Review 150 150 CloudNine

Pennsylvania seems to be taking the lead in setting social media discovery precedents, as evidenced by this case summarized on eDiscovery Daily earlier this week. In this case, a Pennsylvania court agreed to review a plaintiff’s Facebook account in order to determine which information is subject to discovery in a case relating to the plaintiff’s claim of injury in a motor vehicle accident.

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eDiscovery Trends: Section 1782 – For Foreign Parties to Request U.S. Discovery
 eDiscovery Trends: Section 1782 – For Foreign Parties to Request U.S. Discovery 150 150 CloudNine

We’ve discussed international eDiscovery issues and the process that U.S. attorneys have to go through as they request electronic documents and evidence from locations in other countries around the world in a couple of recent posts. But what about the reverse? Section 1782 of Title 28 of the United States Code, widely known as “Section 1782,” is a federal statute that allows attorneys outside the U.S. to request discovery in American courts from an American citizen or business.

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eDiscovery Trends: Is eDiscovery Malpractice More Widespread Than You Think?
 eDiscovery Trends: Is eDiscovery Malpractice More Widespread Than You Think? 150 150 CloudNine

Last month, we discussed the eDiscovery malpractice case filed against McDermott Will & Emery for allegedly failing to supervise contract attorneys that were hired to perform the client’s work and to protect privileged client records. This case is still continuing to generate much buzz in the eDiscovery community and I’m sure it will be closely followed as it progresses. At least one attorney from another firm has weighed in on the possibility of eDiscovery malpractice in other cases. Dennis Kiker, a partner with LeClair Ryan noted in their blog The e-Discovery Myth that eDiscovery malpractice is probably more widespread than most people think.

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eDiscovery Case Law: Social Media Posts Deemed Discoverable in Personal Injury Case
 eDiscovery Case Law: Social Media Posts Deemed Discoverable in Personal Injury Case 150 150 CloudNine

A Pennsylvania court recently ordered the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit to disclose social media passwords and usernames to the defendant for eDiscovery. Discoverability of social media continues to be a hot topic in eDiscovery, as eDiscovery Daily has noted in summaries of prior cases that reflect varied outcomes for requests to access social media data.

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eDiscovery Trends: Protocol for International eDiscovery Based on 41 Year Old Treaty
 eDiscovery Trends: Protocol for International eDiscovery Based on 41 Year Old Treaty 150 150 CloudNine

Last week, we talked about several challenges of international eDiscovery, including different laws regarding discovery practices, as well as cultural and privacy issues. This week, we will talk about one of the primary mechanisms for conducting discovery internationally – the Hague Convention.

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Working Successfully with eDiscovery and Litigation Support Service Providers: Intro to Preparing RFPs
 Working Successfully with eDiscovery and Litigation Support Service Providers: Intro to Preparing RFPs 150 150 CloudNine

In the past several weeks, we’ve talked a lot about working with service providers. We’ve covered what to look for when you’re evaluating vendors, how to select vendors, how to monitor vendor work and prevent problems, and how to establish and manage a preferred vendor program in a law firm. In the next few posts (which will conclude this vendor series), I will give you some very concrete information that will help you to generate good requests for proposals (RFPs).

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eDiscovery Case Law: Discovery Violations Result in Sanctions Against Plaintiff and Counsel
 eDiscovery Case Law: Discovery Violations Result in Sanctions Against Plaintiff and Counsel 150 150 CloudNine

Yesterday, we reported on a case with no sanctions; today, we report on a case with a different outcome. Both the plaintiff and plaintiff’s counsel have been ordered to pay sanctions for discovery abuses in a lawsuit in Washington court that was dismissed with prejudice on June 8, 2011.

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eDiscovery Case Law: No Sanctions Ordered for Failure to Preserve Backups
 eDiscovery Case Law: No Sanctions Ordered for Failure to Preserve Backups 150 150 CloudNine

A sanctions motion has been dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Texas in a recent case involving electronic backups and email records, on the grounds that there was no duty to preserve backup tapes and no bad faith in overwriting records.

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eDiscovery Best Practices: Legal Project Management is the Same as Project Management
 eDiscovery Best Practices: Legal Project Management is the Same as Project Management 150 150 CloudNine

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. It’s an interesting observation from the author as to what ‘legal project management’ really means.

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