Our Insights on eDiscovery

Read on to learn more about the latest trends and insights in the world of digital discovery.

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eDiscovery Case Law: Meet and Confer is Too Late for Preservation Hold

A US District court in Indiana ruled on June 28, 2011 in favor of a motion for an Order to Secure Evidence in an employment discrimination lawsuit. The defendant had given the plaintiff reason to believe that emails and other relevant documents might be destroyed prior to Rule 26(f) meeting between the parties or Rule 16(b) discovery conference with the court. As a result, the plaintiff formally requested a litigation hold on all potentially relevant documents, which was approved by US Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich.

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eDiscovery Case Law: Connecticut Approves Rules Updates Governing eDiscovery

Last year, eDiscovery Daily identified states that have not currently enacted any rules changes for eDiscovery. One of the states that had previously enacted eDiscovery rules changes – Connecticut – has updated their rules as Superior Court judges made several amendments to the Connecticut Practice Book that will affect eDiscovery and other legal practices in Connecticut courts.

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eDiscovery Trends: Privacy is a Priority When Conducting International Discovery

US lawsuits are very public, involving discovery and other public disclosures that go against the cultural traditions and laws of many nations in other parts of the world. In the European Union (EU), for instance, many countries have privacy protection laws that forbid the disclosure of “personal information” – and the definition of personal information here can mean anything from addresses and phone numbers to even the names of individuals if they are used in work reports and business documents.

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Working Successfully with eDiscovery and Litigation Support Service Providers: Preparing a Collection & Forensics RFP, Part 2

Yesterday, we talked about the information you should include in a request for proposal for eDiscovery Collection and Forensics services. Of course, that’s only half the picture. To determine if a vendor is a good choice, you’ll also need to ask questions about the vendor’s offerings and experience and ask them for information about their operations.

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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.

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

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

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?

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

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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