Our Insights on eDiscovery

Read on to learn more about the latest trends and insights in the world of digital discovery.
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Use the Team’s Knowledge
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Use the Team’s Knowledge 150 150 CloudNine

The document review effort is the litigation team’s first in-depth exposure to the client’s electronic documents. The review staff will have more exposure to a broader range of documents than anyone else on the team, at least in the beginning of the case. When you are using contract reviewers, they will go away when the review is completed. You don’t want to lose what they’ve learned when the project is over, so you should take some steps to use their knowledge. Here are two things you can do.

read more
eDiscovery Trends: Tom O’Connor of Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center
eDiscovery Trends: Tom O’Connor of Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center 150 150 CloudNine

Today’s thought leader is Tom O’Connor. Tom is a nationally known consultant, speaker and writer in the area of computerized litigation support systems. A frequent lecturer on the subject of legal technology, Tom has been on the faculty of numerous national CLE providers and has taught college level courses on legal technology. Tom’s involvement with large cases led him to become familiar with dozens of various software applications for litigation support and he has both designed databases and trained legal staffs in their use on many of the cases mentioned above. This work has involved both public and private law firms of all sizes across the nation. Tom is the Director of the Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center in New Orleans.

read more
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Keep the Staff Motivated
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Keep the Staff Motivated 150 150 CloudNine

In the last blog post, we talked about steps you can take to ensure high-quality, consistent work from a contract review staff. There is one more, very important thing you should do: keep the staff motivated. There is no question that a motivated, content staff will produce better work than a staff that is indifferent. Here are a few things you can do.

read more
eDiscovery Trends: George Socha of Socha Consulting
eDiscovery Trends: George Socha of Socha Consulting 150 150 CloudNine

Today’s thought leader is George Socha. A litigator for 16 years, George is President of Socha Consulting LLC, offering services as an electronic discovery expert witness, special master and advisor to corporations, law firms and their clients, and legal vertical market software and service providers in the areas of electronic discovery and automated litigation support. George has also been co-author of the leading survey on the electronic discovery market, The Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey. In 2005, he and Tom Gelbmann launched the Electronic Discovery Reference Model project to establish standards within the eDiscovery industry – today, the EDRM model has become a standard in the industry for the eDiscovery life cycle and there are eight active projects with over 300 members from 81 participating organizations. George has a J.D. for Cornell Law School and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

read more
eDiscovery Trends: Deidre Paknad of PSS Systems
eDiscovery Trends: Deidre Paknad of PSS Systems 150 150 CloudNine

Today’s thought leader is Deidre Paknad. Deidre is President & CEO of PSS Systems, an IBM Company. Deidre is widely credited with having conceived of and launched the first commercial applications for legal holds, collections and retention management in 2004. A well-known thought leader in the legal and information governance domain, Deidre founded the Compliance, Governance and Oversight Council (CGOC), a professional community on retention and preservation that analyst firm IDC labeled a “think tank.” She has been a member of several Sedona working groups since 2005 and leads the EDRM Information Management Reference Model (IMRM) working group. Deidre is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive with 20 years’ experience applying technology to poor-functioning business processes to reduce cost and risk. Prior to PSS, she helped Certus launch its Sarbanes Oxley software solution. Deidre previously founded and was CEO of CoVia Technologies from 1996 to 2000, where she was inducted into the Smithsonian Institution for innovation in 1999 and again in 2000.

read more
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Ensuring High-Quality, Consistent Work
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Ensuring High-Quality, Consistent Work 150 150 CloudNine

The most common problem with work product done by a group is inconsistent work – which means that some of the work has been done wrong. This is a problem, however, that can be avoided. Of course there will always be some inconsistencies, but there are steps that you can take and procedures that you can follow that will minimize inconsistencies and result in high-quality work. Let’s go over those.

read more
eDiscovery Trends: Jack Halprin of Autonomy
eDiscovery Trends: Jack Halprin of Autonomy 150 150 CloudNine

Today’s thought leader is Jack Halprin. As Vice President, eDiscovery and Compliance with Autonomy, Jack serves as internal and external legal subject matter expert for best practices and defensible processes around litigation, electronic discovery, legal hold, and compliance issues. He speaks frequently on enterprise legal risk management, compliance, and eDiscovery at industry events and seminars, and has authored numerous articles on eDiscovery, legal hold, social media, and knowledge management. He is actively involved in The Sedona Conference, ACC, and Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM). With a BA in Chemistry from Yale University, a JD from the University of California-Los Angeles, and certifications from the California, Connecticut, Virginia and Patent Bars, Mr. Halprin has varied expertise that lends itself well to both the legal and technical aspects of electronic discovery collection and preservation.

read more
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Keeping Decisions in the Hands of the Attorneys
Managing an eDiscovery Contract Review Team: Keeping Decisions in the Hands of the Attorneys 150 150 CloudNine

The main objective in most document reviews is to categorize each document into one of three categories: Responsive, Not Responsive and Privileged. Attorneys on the litigation team will make the decisions regarding how to categorize the documents, and the contract review staff will implement those decisions. Before the review even starts, you’ve done a lot of work to ensure that this process will work well.

read more
eDiscovery Trends: Christine Musil of Informative Graphics Corporation (IGC)
eDiscovery Trends: Christine Musil of Informative Graphics Corporation (IGC) 150 150 CloudNine

Today’s thought leader is Christine Musil. Christine has a diverse career in engineering and marketing spanning 15 years. Christine has been with IGC since March 1996, when she started as a technical writer and a quality assurance engineer. After moving to marketing in 2001, she has applied her in-depth knowledge of IGC’s products and benefits to marketing initiatives, including branding, overall messaging, and public relations. She has also been a contributing author to a number of publications on archiving formats, redaction, and viewing technology in the enterprise.

read more
eDiscovery Trends: Jim McGann of Index Engines
eDiscovery Trends: Jim McGann of Index Engines 150 150 CloudNine

Today’s thought leader is Jim McGann. Jim is Vice President of Information Discovery at Index Engines. Jim has extensive experience with the eDiscovery and Information Management in the Fortune 2000 sector. He has worked for leading software firms, including Information Builders and the French-based engineering software provider Dassault Systemes. In recent years he has worked for technology-based start-ups that provided financial services and information management solutions.

read more