Close
Enter your
text here

Electronic Discovery

Defendant Gets Summary Judgment, Not Dismissal, Due to Plaintiff’s Wiping of Hard Drive: eDiscovery Case Law

In Watkins v. Infosys, 14-0247 (W.D. Wa., July 23, 2015), Washington District Judge John C. Coughenour denied the defendant’s Motion for the Sanction of Dismissal but granted the defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment against the plaintiff for spoliation of data due to her use of “Disk Wiping” software to delete ESI.

Case Background

In this discrimination case, the defendant’s forensic expert determined that the plaintiff performed a Bing search for the term “disk wipe” and downloaded and installed file wiping software onto the hard drive of her work computer around October 20, 2013, and ran the program to wipe files.  In addition, eleven external media drives had been connected to the plaintiff’s laptop in the days prior to the disk wipe.  Furthermore, the plaintiff perjured herself when she stated that “she did not `remove’ things from Defendant’s premises,” and that she “followed procedures typical with such litigation . . . to avoid the alteration or deletion of documents, in addition to preserving data back-ups relating to her employment.”

The plaintiff ultimately admitted in her deposition that she wiped the files, claiming that she did so out of concern for information preservation and client confidentiality.  In a supplemented response filed on the last day of discovery, the plaintiff again refused to turn over the wiped contents of her work computer, claiming that all of the files passed through the defendant’s servers (so the defendant presumably had copies), that the unproduced files were “vast and irrelevant to the claims or controversies in this case” and that she was “in the process of replicating all documents that she retained and will provide the same to Defendant upon their soonest availability.”

Judge’s Ruling

Judge Coughenour stated that he found the plaintiff’s responses “both illogical and unbelievable”, noting that her “brief in response to Defendant’s motion for the sanction of dismissal only exacerbates the problem…There, Plaintiff regurgitates flimsy justifications for wiping her disk drive, doubles-down on her unsupported argument about the irrelevance of the wiped files, and asserts blankly that “there has been no actual suppression or withholding of evidence since the entire content of Plaintiff’s computer has been produced to Defendant.”

With the spoliation (and associated perjury) clear, Judge Coughenour then turned his attention to determining the appropriate sanctions.  To consider dismissal, he noted the requirement to weigh five factors: (1) the public’s interest in expeditious resolution of litigation, (2) the court’s need to manage its dockets, (3) the risk of prejudice to the party seeking sanctions, (4) the public policy favoring the disposition of cases on their merits, and (5) the availability of less drastic sanctions.  Reviewing the five factors, Judge Coughenour found “that three weigh in favor of dismissal and two do not” and, while describing it as “an incredibly close call”, he stated that “the Court prefers to address this case, finally, on its merits.”  Therefore, he denied the defendant’s motion for dismissal, opting instead to grant a motion for summary judgment.  Judge Coughenour also ordered plaintiff’s counsel to show cause as to why sanctions should not be issued against them.

So, what do you think?  Should the court have granted the motion for dismissal?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.

Need Help with Cross Border Discovery? The Sedona Conference Has a New Guide for You!: eDiscovery Best Practices

Cross-border discovery presents a growing challenge for courts, privacy authorities, companies, employees, counsel, and requesting parties.  Discovery and Data Protection Laws vary widely around the world, and these laws may conflict.  Foreign countries have differing notions of privacy and discovery than we do here in the US.  Now, The Sedona Conference® has created a guide of practical in-house approaches to help.

The Sedona Conference Working Group 6 on International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure (WG6) – the Working Group responsible for The Sedona Conference International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure and Data Protection (“International Litigation Principles”), has released for public comment a new guide titled Practical In-House Approaches for Cross-Border Discovery and Data Protection (“Practical Approaches”).

In order to maximize the value of the International Litigation Principles for organizations and in-house counsel, WG6 has drafted Practical Approaches to provide consensus-based practical guidance and solutions for the cross-border data transfer and discovery challenges that many organizations and in-house counsel regularly confront.  The 49 page guide (which includes extensive appendices) includes the following sections:

  • In-House Perspectives on Discovery and Data Protection: Describes the differing notions of privacy and discovery that exist around the world today;
  • The Sedona Conference International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure & Data Protection: Recap of the six international principles originally introduced in the International Litigation Principles Guide;
  • Practice Points for Conducting Cross-Border Discovery in View of Data Protection and Data Privacy Regulations: Eight detailed practice points, each that provide a hypothetical situation, for addressing everything from the need to proceed deliberately in countries with comprehensive Data Protection Laws to releasing legal holds and return or dispose of data promptly upon termination of a matter;
  • Practical Approaches Appendices: The Sedona Conference In-House Tool Kit for Data Protection and Cross-Border Discovery: A handful of useful documents that include an 18 page eDiscovery and Data Protection Model Guideline (which includes answers to FAQs), a Template Cross-Border Discovery Management Form for In-House eDiscovery Teams, a one page Talking Points Infographic for Internal Business Clients and Employees and an Exemplar Heat Map of Data Protection and Data Privacy Regulations.

The PDF guide can be downloaded here.  As always, it’s free!

The Practical Approaches guide is open for public comment through December 15, 2015. Questions and comments can be sent to comments@sedonaconference.org.  After reviewing the comments, the drafting team expects to publish a “final” version early next year.  In addition, a 90-minute webinar will be scheduled for later this fall to address questions you may have to a panel selected from the drafting team, and will be announced on The Sedona Conference web page.

So, what do you think?  Does your organization struggle with cross-border discovery?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.

Information Governance Now Has its Own Conference: eDiscovery Trends

If you’re not “conferenced-out” by last week’s ILTACON (which we covered before, during and after the show), here is a brand new conference dedicated to Information Governance for you to check out.

InfoGovCon (going by the hashtag #InfoGovCon2015) is being hosted by the Information Governance Initiative (IGI) from September 29 to October 1 in Hartford, CT.  That’s less than three weeks away!

The sessions begin at 1:00pm on Tuesday, September 29 and continue through Thursday, October 1 at 12:30pm.  Most of the sessions are single track presentations and panels, with a handful of breakout sessions where there are two to four sessions to choose from during those times.  They have assembled an impressive list of speakers, including:

  • Aaron Crews, Senior Associate General Counsel & Global Head of eDiscovery at Walmart
  • Richard P. Kessler, Executive Director and Head of Group Information Governance, IT Contracting and Shared Services Legal at UBS
  • Jeffrey D. Bridges, Director of Information Governance at Boehringer Ingelheim USA
  • Jessica Harman, Records & Information Management Supervisor at Phillips 66
  • Jeff Kosseff, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the United States Naval Academy
  • Russel M. Walters, Ph.D., Research Associate Director and a fellow at Johnson & Johnson

The sessions are also relatively short, with most sessions either 30 or 45 minutes max.  So, they will be covering a lot!  Here is a link to the agenda for the conference.  There’s also an exhibition area and “data art gallery”.  Interesting!

There will also be a reception and award ceremony the first evening and a breakfast and lunch the second day to socialize with your fellow IG junkies.  You can still nominate and vote for IG award winners here for IG Professional of the year, IG Evangelist of the year and other awards.  Voting will end on September 18.

The conference will be held at the Connecticut Convention Center.  Tickets for the entire conference are $399 per person, with group rates available for three or more attendees.  And, if you use the promo code IGI15 when registering, you can save $50!

It’s your chance to get in on the ground floor and say you were there at the beginning.  And, if you need any other reasons to attend (or convince your boss that you should attend), here are seven other reasons.

So, what do you think?  Are you a big proponent of Information Governance?  If so, are you attending #InfoGovCon2015?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.

The Four V’s of Big Data: eDiscovery Trends

I love infographics!  A picture is truly worth a thousand words.  So, when I saw this infographic about big data, I felt I needed to share it.

Courtesy of IBM (which I found via the blog Stephen’s Lighthouse), The Four V’s of Big Data shows the Volume, Variety, Velocity and Veracity of big data and provides interesting tidbits, such as:

  • 40 zettabytes (43 trillion gigabytes) of data will be created by 2020, which is 300 times the data volume of 2005;
  • 6 billion people have cell phones (out of 7 billion people in the world);
  • By 2016, it is projected that there will be 18.9 billion network connections (almost 2.5 connections per person on earth);
  • 4 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube each month, 400 million tweets are sent per day and 30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month;
  • Yet, 1 in 3 business leaders don’t trust the information they use to make decisions and poor data quality costs the US economy around $3.1 trillion per year.

As always, the volume and quality of data affects organizations from both an information governance and eDiscovery standpoint, so these fun facts can be useful in conveying the challenges those organizations face today in trying to manage it all and meet their obligations.  Did you like those fun facts?  Here are some more.

So, what do you think?  How is your organization coping with big data?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.

Court Rules that State Agency is Not Responsible for Emails Deleted via the Retention Policy of Another State Agency: eDiscovery Case Law

In Wandering Dago, Inc. v. N.Y. State Office of Gen. Servs., No. 1:13-CV-1053 (MAD/RFT), (N.D.N.Y. May 29, 2015), New York Magistrate Judge Randolph F. Treece denied the plaintiff’s request for sanctions, stating that “that neither the individual Defendants nor their Attorney had a duty to preserve” the emails of the Deputy Secretary of Gaming and Racing to the President of the New York Racing Authority (“NYRA”).

Case Background

In this First Amendment case where the plaintiff contended that a set of NYRA Defendants and another set of state actors violated the First (Free Speech Clause) and Fourteenth (Equal Protection Clause) Amendments of the United States Constitution for denying its food trucks to provide services at the Saratoga Race Course and an outdoor lunch program based on the plaintiff company’s name.  The plaintiff’s exclusion from the race track occurred after several complaints were received, including an email from the Deputy Secretary at the NYRA, concerned that “the fallout from authorizing this truck will inevitably land on NYRA”.

After the media reported that “an unidentified state official” complained, the Deputy Secretary emailed the Governor’s Executive Chamber identifying himself as that official and he was eventually identified in court as that “unidentified state official”. However, the NYRA eventually settled and the Deputy Secretary was never named as a defendant, leaving the employees of the Office of General Services (“OGS”), who had denied the plaintiff’s applications for the outdoor lunch program, as the remaining defendants.

During discovery, the plaintiff requested production of the non-party Deputy Secretary’s emails, but they had been automatically destroyed pursuant to New York State’s Email Retention Policy. As a result, the plaintiff thereafter sought an adverse inference (as well as further discovery, costs and attorneys’ fees) against the remaining OGS defendants and their litigation counsel – an Assistant Attorney General – for the deletion of the Deputy Secretary’s emails.  The defendants objected, citing that they had no control over the Deputy Secretary’s emails and litigation counsel did not represent the nonparty Deputy Secretary at the time of the automatic deletions and had no legal authority to direct a preservation hold.

Judge’s Ruling

Judge Treece, agreeing with the defendants, stated that “the individual Defendants correctly assert that they have no control over {the Deputy Secretary’s} emails, the Executive Chamber’s emails, or over other emails pertaining to NYRA. Instead, when litigation was commenced against them, they and their agency, OGS, met their obligation by preserving those documents that were within their control and possession, and ultimately disclosed 1000 pages of documents relevant to the Empire Plaza Summer Program, including emails.”

Continuing, Judge Treece stated that the “Plaintiff suffers under the erroneous notion that when a governmental agency and its officials are defendants in any litigation, they and their counsel are required to preserve and produce documents belonging to another governmental agency.”  He also stated that “[c]onsidering that hundreds of lawsuits are filed daily against New York State,” that “requiring each agency and thousands of officials to institute a litigation hold every time a party contemplates or even commences litigation against another agency would paralyze the State.”  Finding that the plaintiff had also failed to prove a culpable state of mind and also failed to prove that the missing evidence would have been favorable to it, Judge Treece found that the plaintiff had failed to meet its burden and denied its request for sanctions, as well as its request for additional discovery and costs and attorney fees.

So, what do you think?  Should each state agency have its own separate duty to preserve or should the entire state be responsible to preserve data?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.

Observations from ILTACON: eDiscovery Trends

Just flew back from ILTACON 2015 (and, boy are my arms tired!).  Even though Caesars Palace is not pager friendly, it was a terrific venue for the show again (after having been held there two years ago).  Between various meetings to pay the bills (we all have to), I found time to attend a few sessions.  Here are a few brief observations from the show and sessions.

Innovations

Catch Box: One of the unique innovations for encouraging and managing audience participation was the “catch box” (pictured above), which was a soft box containing a microphone.  You could actually throw it to the next person with a comment and it was soft, yet durable (at least in the sessions that I attended).  I used it myself when presenting at the 20 E-Discovery Warnings session that is described below.  Maybe it will “catch” on for future shows!

ILTACon App: Once again this year, ILTA provided an app that you could download to your iPhone or Android that provided all sorts of information, including maps of the exhibit hall and conference center, an activity feed, agenda for each day with details about the event (including date and time, location, speakers, etc.), details about the speakers and exhibitors, even the ability to look up attendees to see if your colleagues from past shows would be there!  Spiffy!  You could also add agenda items to your own personal agenda so that you would be reminded when those events were coming up.  Two suggestions for improvement: 1) Add the ability to add the agenda item to your Outlook calendar so that you can avoid booking meetings during the sessions that you want to attend and 2) Add a GPS feature to the Maps section so that you can see where you are in relation to where you need to go (I know that’s asking a lot, but it would be really cool.

Kendeo: Outside of the exhibit hall, there was a big board with instructions to read from several thought provoking questions, put your answer on a post-it note and post it on the board.  The artists from Kendeo, a team of talented training consultants, then represented those answers in cartoon form.  Here’s an example below – the cartoons and renderings made for a unique form of interaction!

Sessions

There were several good sessions at this year’s show.  Three sessions that I particularly enjoyed:

Litigation Support Roundtable: Moderated by Joanne Lane of Merck and Stephen Dooley of Sullivan & Cromwell, the session started off with a question asked of attendees (via provided iPads) as to the hot topics in litigation support today.  A majority of the discussion focused around technology and numerous attendees (via the “catch box”) discussed applications that they find useful to perform various litigation support functions – several of which were new to me.  I plan to find out about them and possibly cover several of them here on this blog.  Stay tuned.

To Share Or Not To Share: The Debate Over Disclosure of E-Discovery Protocols: In this session, the panelists (Patrick Oot of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Julie Richer of American Electric Power, Philip Favro of Recommind and Alex Ponce de Leon of Google) argued mock cases in front of Judge Andrew Peck regarding the requirements for producing parties to share eDiscovery work product.  The cases included fictional names like Griswold LLC and a product liability claim by Coyote against Acme, Inc. (Oot, representing Acme, stated that Coyote was an “idiot” for never using their products right).  The debate and the rulings by Judge Peck were interesting and enlightening to see the factors considered in cases like these.

20 E-Discovery Warnings in 60 Minutes: This was the session in which I, along with nine of my colleagues, presented.  Each of us had two topics and six minutes (three minutes per topic) to cover them.  An excellent idea for covering a lot of best practices quickly (as I understand it, credit Julie Brown from Vorys for the idea).  Moderated by George Socha of Socha Consulting and Michael Boggs of Holland & Hart, the presenters also included Tom Barce of Kroll Ontrack, Douglas Brush of Kraft & Kennedy, Rodney Holaday of Vorys, Janice Jaco of Keesal, Young & Logan, Alex Lubarsky of CPA Global, Hal Marcus of Recommind, Brandon Mount of Accusoft, Scott Zimmerman of Haynes & Boone and Josh Zybershlag of Kroll Ontrack.  Kudos to David Horrigan of kCura for live tweeting during the session – the tweets are summarized here.

So, what do you think?  Did you attend ILTACON this year?  If so, what was your favorite part?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.

Thursday’s ILTACON Sessions: eDiscovery Trends

As noted yesterday, Monday and Tuesday, the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) annual educational conference of 2015 (now known as ILTACON) is happening this week and eDiscovery Daily will be reporting this week about the latest eDiscovery trends being discussed at the show.  This is the last day to check out the show if you’re in the Las Vegas area with a number of sessions available and over 190(!) exhibitors providing information on their products and services.

Perform a “find” on today’s ILTACON conference schedule for “discovery”, “litigation support” or “information governance” and you’ll get at least 3 sessions with hits.  So, there is plenty to talk about!  Sessions in the main conference tracks include:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM:

Develop Talent and Prove the Value of Your Internal Litigation Support

Description: With more and more vendors touting all-inclusive services, litigation support managers and directors have to show the value their departments add to the discovery process. Come hear experts talk about their experiences developing talent and managing “up” to meet the vendor challenge.

Speakers are: Scott M. Cohen – Winston & Strawn LLP; Ross Gotler – Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; Wale Elegbe – Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Denise Talbert – Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

2:30 PM – 3:15 PM:

Past Performance and Future Success: What’s Next for E-Discovery?

Description: From the days of paper review to the advent of electronic scanning and to e-discovery as we now know it today, listen as industry veterans explore the evolution of our industry and share their experiences of adjusting to the times. They will explore the role of technology, adoption and expertise of the courts and government agencies, the role of the attorney, and much more!

Speakers are: Mary Pat Poteet – Project Leadership Associates, Inc.; Scott M. Cohen – Winston & Strawn LLP; Eric Lieber – Toyota Motor Sales; Beth Patterson, CLSP – Allens.

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM:

A Conversation with Judge Peck

Description: Audience members are sure to enjoy hearing respected jurist, Judge Andrew Peck, speak about various e-discovery topics.

Speakers are: Mary Pat Poteet – Project Leadership Associates, Inc.; Honorable Andrew J Peck.

For a complete summary listing of all sessions at the conference, click here.

So, what do you think?  Did you attend ILTACON this year?  What did you think of the conference?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.

Wednesday’s ILTACON Sessions: eDiscovery Trends

As noted yesterday and Monday, the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) annual educational conference of 2015 (now known as ILTACON) is happening this week and eDiscovery Daily will be reporting this week about the latest eDiscovery trends being discussed at the show.  There’s still time to check out the show if you’re in the Las Vegas area with a number of sessions available and over 190(!) exhibitors providing information on their products and services.

Perform a “find” on today’s ILTACON conference schedule for “discovery”, “litigation support” or “information governance” and you’ll get at least 4 sessions with hits.  So, there is plenty to talk about!  Sessions in the main conference tracks include:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM:

Building a Process Map for Culling Discovery Data

Description: The most costly stage of the discovery process is document review. To contain costs, litigation support teams must use analytics and leverage technology to reduce the amount of data that goes into review. During this hands-on workshop, attendees will develop a process for culling data based on a specific scenario with an “as is” process map. Each table will work as a team to determine the best technology, processes and people to improve efficiency in a defensible manner. Come learn how to think through and develop a process map related to e-discovery analytics!

Speakers are: Andrew P. Medeiros – Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Geoff Wilcox – UnitedLex.

Data-Driven: Leveraging Data for More Effective Risk Management and Information Governance

Description: Organizations outside of legal handle risk management with dedicated people, formal structures and better intelligence about where to deploy resources. This is a better way to manage risk, using empirical data to perform calculated, rational assessments. But where do you start? Learn how to approach risk comprehensively and intelligently instead of reactively, and hear how law firms and legal departments can use data to reduce risk and protect the business.

Speakers are: Steven Naphy – Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, L.L.P.; Bill Hardin – Navigant; Brad Waldron – Caesars Entertainment Legal Department; Christopher Calnon – ACE Group.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM:

Aligning Information Security, Litigation Support and E-Discovery

Description: A panel of litigation support, information security and corporate legal department representatives will tackle the challenges of remaining responsive to the sea of incoming litigation support/e-discovery requests while staying in compliance with internal and external information security requirements. We will help litigation support and information security professionals understand the pressures each is under, create a shared vision of success and build the relationships necessary to drive value for clients while effectively managing risk.

Speakers are: Mr John L. Kapp – Shearman & Sterling, LLP; Dawn Radcliffe – TransCanada Pipelines; Hal Marcus – Recommind, Inc.; Lisa Markey – Shearman & Sterling, LLP.

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM:

Oracle Predictive Coding Study: Phase II Results

Description: Last year’s wildly successful session based on the results of the Electronic Discovery Institute’s predictive coding study is back for more! In this year’s follow up, we will present the next phase of results. Come get an unbiased, scientific view into the world of predictive coding.

Speakers are: Patrick L. Oot – Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.; Beth Patterson, CLSP – Allens.

For a complete summary listing of all sessions at the conference, click here.

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

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.

Tuesday’s ILTACON Sessions: eDiscovery Trends

As noted yesterday, the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) annual educational conference of 2015 (now known as ILTACON) is happening this week and eDiscovery Daily will be reporting this week about the latest eDiscovery trends being discussed at the show.  There’s still time to check out the show if you’re in the Las Vegas area with a number of sessions available and over 190(!) exhibitors providing information on their products and services.

Perform a “find” on today’s ILTACON conference schedule for “discovery”, “litigation support” or “information governance” and you’ll get at least 4 sessions with hits (including this one where I’ll be presenting, for a whopping six minutes).  So, there is plenty to talk about!  Sessions in the main conference tracks include:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM:

Successfully Selling an Information Governance Program

Description: What is the secret to selling the idea of implementing an information governance program at your organization? A panel of experts will discuss the business drivers relevant to getting people on board, including key indicators of success.

Speakers are: Beth Chiaiese, CRM – Foley & Lardner LLP; Rudy Moliere – Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, L.L.P.; Sharon Keck – Polsinelli PC.

To Share Or Not To Share: The Debate Over Disclosure of E-Discovery Protocols

Description: What do you have to tell opposing counsel about your search, culling and review strategies? What if they object? What do courts say about these issues? Litigation support professionals will hear a thought-provoking discussion between Judge Andrew Peck and a panel of lawyers with differing views about the delicate balance between cooperation and advocacy.

Speakers are: Patrick L. Oot – Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.; Julie M Richer – American Electric Power Legal Department; Honorable Andrew J Peck; Mr Philip Favro – Recommind, Inc.; Alex Ponce de Leon – Google Inc. Legal Department.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM:

20 E-Discovery Warnings in 60 Minutes

Description: We’ve all been there: Things don’t go as expected, and you end up getting burned. Join your peers in this interactive session where audience members will provide examples of things that went awry and, more importantly, how the issue was resolved. Attendees will walk away with some great tips to avoid future fire drills!

Speakers are: Michael Boggs – Holland & Hart; George J. Socha – Socha Consulting.

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM:

Building Strategic Litigation Support Relationships

Description: Trying to accomplish things on your own could take more resources than you have, and you might not generate the best results. The best strategic relationships don’t just happen, but what does it take to develop and maintain the optimal strategic relationship? Panelists will share techniques they have used to nurture and maintain their strategic relationships and how the investments have paid off. Gain insight on building and maintaining strategic relationships in your litigation support organization.

Speakers are: Greg Anderson – Lateral Data, A Xerox Company; Doug Matthews – Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP; Donna Epes – Qdiscovery; Joe Turner – Lateral Data, A Xerox Company; Geoff Wilcox – UnitedLex.

For a complete summary listing of all sessions at the conference, click here.

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

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.

Welcome to ILTACON 2015!: eDiscovery Trends

The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) annual educational conference of 2015 (now known as ILTACON) kicked off yesterday with several networking events, and begins in earnest today with the first day of sessions.  eDiscovery Daily will be reporting this week about the latest eDiscovery trends being discussed at the show.  Over the next four 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 Las Vegas area, come check out the show – there are a number of sessions available and over 190(!) exhibitors providing information on their products and services.  Perform a “find” on today’s ILTACON conference schedule for “discovery”, “litigation support” or “information governance” and you’ll get at least 6 sessions with hits.  So, there is plenty to talk about!  Sessions in the main conference tracks include:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM:

Creating the Firm of the Future: Utilizing IG Assessments To Drive Improvements

Description: In a world of ever-rising concerns of privacy, security and protecting intellectual property, clients are now more information savvy, and are insisting that their law firm representation is maintaining high standards when it comes to internal information governance (IG) strategies and practices.

Therefore, the firms of the future will need to able to offer clients proof of where they stand on the maturity of these practices to secure client trust and confidence.

Is your firm ready to answer the call for transparency?

In this session, you will learn how an IG assessment can play a critical role in taking your firm to the Next Level in preparing to meet your clients’ increasing demands and expectations for governing their information.  You’ll understand what it takes to deploy a firm-wide assessment,  and hear about real-world experiences with implementation and leveraging outcomes.

Speaker is: David Vickers – ARMA International

Embracing Managed Services for Litigation Support

Description: Is your firm contemplating a move to a managed services model? Are you wondering what the journey entails? A panel of leaders who have embraced the switch to managed services for litigation support will tell their tales of what led them there, associated costs, staffing, the type and volume of work and, most important, how it is working out.

Speakers are: Wale Elegbe – Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; R.P. Smith – Jones Walker LLP; Chris Haley – Troutman Sanders LLP; Kim C. Edwards – Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM:

Building Information Governance Like “Ocean’s Eleven”

Description: In the 2001 movie “Ocean’s Eleven,” George Clooney assembles the perfect team to pull off a spectacular Vegas robbery. In managing IT governance, risk and compliance (GRC), your firm also needs to assemble the perfect team. How do you find and manage the key players in GRC, and how do you properly divide the varied responsibilities that must be shouldered? Together we can figure out how to build a team that prepares us for the heist (GRC program) of a lifetime.

Speakers are: Nancy Beauchemin – InOutsource; Beth A. H. Faircloth – Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Tim Schank – Vedder Price P.C.; Stuart Senator – Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.

Litigation Support Roundtable

Description: We all hate the fire drills and would like to prepare for challenges before they arrive. What major challenges in litigation support will we face next? During this moderated roundtable discussion of hot topics in litigation support, we will address concerns on the minds of your peers and identify issues to consider for the future. Topics will be selected by session attendees and could include staffing, product selection, technological advances, recent case decisions, outsourcing, etc.

Speakers are: Joanne Lane – Merck & Co., Inc.; Stephen Dooley – Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM:

Information Governance Consulting: Law Firm Opportunity or Mistake?

Description: Driven by information security requirements, e-discovery costs and government regulations, clients are turning to law firms for strategic approaches to managing their information. Law firms have an opportunity to assist and further direct and grow information governance initiatives within client organizations, but what are the risks of this type of work? What do clients expect? What can law firms provide that technology solutions do not, and what benefits come from this type of client relationship? Opportunity or mistake? You make the call!

Speakers are: Brynmor Bowen – Schulte Roth & Zabel; Ms Samantha J Lofton – Ice Miller LLP.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM:

Is Big Data in Legal a Figment of Our Imaginations?

Description: The big data phenomena simply does not apply to the legal market. After all, our firms’ data sets and data complexities are much too small to warrant industrial-strength big data technologies and techniques, right? This panel of law firm technology, privacy and governance experts strongly disagrees! We will share firsthand examples of big data at work in our law firms and show how to apply “big data thinking” to utilize technologies and techniques in a new, more productive, efficient and analytical way. Get ready for real-time role playing aimed to arm you with the information you need to address your managing partner’s big data questions (and doubts) and build a solid big data business case even the biggest curmudgeon can’t deny. Along the way, our experts will touch on hot themes including technology (analytics, algorithms, etc.) and governance (including privacy and security). We’ll also share enough legal big data (BD) case studies to make BD-lievers out of everyone!

Speakers are: Jobst Elster – InsideLegal.Com; Brynmor Bowen – Schulte Roth & Zabel; Eric Hunter – Bradford & Barthel, LLP; Galina Datskovsky – Vaporstream; Judy Selby – Baker & Hostetler LLP; Paul Starrett – Starrett Consulting and Investigative Services.

For a complete summary listing of all sessions at the conference, click here.

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

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.