Industry Trends

As noted yesterday, LegalTech West Coast 2016 (LTWC) is happening this week in San Francisco and eDiscovery Daily is reporting about the latest eDiscovery trends being discussed at the show.  If you’re in the San Francisco area, today is the last day to come check out the show – there are a number of sessions available and at least 56 exhibitors providing information on their products and services.

Perform a “find” on today’s LTNY conference schedule for “discovery” or “information governance” and you’ll get 24 hits.  Sessions in the main conference tracks include:

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM:

The Encryption Debate: Privacy, Public Safety and Data Security

Apple vs. FBI in the wake of the San Bernardino shooters. The Paris and Brussels attacks. Is it possible to find a balance between protecting user privacy while ensuring national security and public safety? Join us as advocates for each side argue their stance in this hot button debate.

Speakers are: David Bitkower, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, US Department of Justice; Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union.  Discussion Leader: Erin E. Harrison, Editor in Chief, Legaltech News, ALM.

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM:

Information Governance and the Updated FRCP: Speed, Proportionality, Preservation and Ethical Challenges

• How have the December 2015 changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure altered legal strategies in the discovery process and thus the information governance efforts necessary to support those strategies?
• Mapping and categorizing data sets proactively will help information governance professionals identify and preserve potentially relevant information more quickly when the inevitable lawsuit ensues.
• Defending the identification and preservation processes will depend on effective information governance disciplines while preparing for, and reacting to, litigation.
• Navigating potential ethical challenges as to advice on data retention and disposition in light of the updated Rules.

Speakers are: John Janhunen, Corporate Counsel, Google Inc.; Heidi Maher, Executive Director, CGOC.  Discussion Leader: John Isaza, Partner, Rimon PC.

Legal Innovation Lightning Round One

Join us for a series of fast-paced, successive demos and talks featuring the latest emerging legal tech companies working to advance the legal system. During this Shark Tank­ style session, our presenters have the opportunity to “pitch” their products to and receive feedback from a panel of judges consisting of investors, academics and industry giants.

Speakers and Judges to include are: David Fisher, CEO & Founder, ClearLegal; David Slonim, Co-Founder, EstatePass; Monica Bay, Fellow, CodeX; Nicole Shanahan, Fellow , CodeX.  Discussion Leader: Oliver Goodenough, Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Legal Innovation, Vermont Law School.

Ethical Considerations for Machine Learning and Other Future Technologies

Can technology perform the same tasks as a human lawyer? This session explores how computers will soon transform the delivery of legal services. Attendees gain an understanding of the various legal capabilities of computers in the near-future, enabling law firms to work smarter and more efficiently.

Speakers to include are: Dr. Zev J. Eigen, Global Director of Analytics, Littler Mendelson, PC; Judy Selby, Former Partner and Co-leader, Information Governance Team, BakerHostetler.  Discussion Leader: Carolyn Southerland, Managing Director, Morae Legal, Member, Houston Chapter of Women in eDiscovery.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM:

Can Proportionality in Discovery Finally Be Realized with the New Federal Rules?

• Can the new Rules finally fulfill the promise of a “just, speedy, and inexpensive” process?
• Are companies reconsidering what’s reasonable for preservation?
• Has the plaintiff’s bar been frustrated in obtaining discovery as it feared?
• Are the parties having more meaningful Rule 26(f) conferences?
• How will proportionality considerations affect third party subpoenas?

Speakers to include: Mira Edelman, Senior Discovery Counsel, Google Inc.; Hon. Andrew J. Peck, United States Magistrate Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of New York; David L. Stanton, Litigation Partner and Information Law & Electronic Discovery Team Leader, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.  Discussion Leader: Patrick Oot, Partner, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP.

Legal Innovation Lightning Round Two

In continuation of this morning’s session, participants hear from a second group of legal technology disruptors who demonstrate how they are working to revolutionize the law. During this Shark Tank­ style session, presenters have the opportunity to get in front of our esteemed panel of judges who represent various players in the legal tech ecosystem; panelists will in turn share their views on each presentation.

Speakers and Judges to include are: Leila Banijamali, Founder and General Counsel, Startup Documents; Noory Bechor, CEO & Founder, LawGeex; Kevin Miller, CEO & Founder, Legal Sifter; Jonathan Pyle, Founder , Docassemble; Monica Bay, Fellow, CodeX; Oliver Goodenough, Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Legal Innovation, Vermont Law School.  Discussion Leader: Nicole Shanahan, Fellow , CodeX.

E-Discovery Rainmaking at the Law Firm: A New Model for Processing Hosting and Review

As law firms start to insource more and more of their clients work – cost effectively – the paradigm for using third party vendors has shifted to software as a service and enterprise deployments offered by the firm from the traditional client-firm-vendor trifecta. This case study illustrates how one law firm is successfully offering e-discovery services effectively through managed services partnerships with discovery software and service vendors.

Speakers to include are: Robert E. Tonn, Partner, Holland & Knight LLP; Joan Washburn, Director of Litigation/eDiscovery Services, Holland & Knight LLP.

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM:

Incident Readiness: The Role of Information Governance in Mitigating Breach Exposure

• Information breaches are increasingly common. In today’s business environment, information is power, and those who control information have the most power.  Bad actors are incentivized to break in, or recruit insiders, to steal data – to sell identities on the black market, as hacktivists to make a socio-political statement, as disgruntled employees and customers to get back at a corporation they think wronged them.
• In most of the recent high-profile data breaches, the bad actors were in the systems for a long time, acting unbeknownst to their victim and with little resistance; and the scope of the breaches were difficult to quickly ascertain. Most security experts agree that perimeter security is important but isn’t near enough – so what else can we do?
• In this session our expert panel will explore the relationship between Information Governance and Information Security and answer important questions such as:
  • What role can IG play in helping companies detect breaches more quickly and have greater confidence that they can identify the information that was at risk or stolen?
  • How can IG support an organization’s ability to establish better security protocols and processes?
  • What disciplines exist in a mature IG program that can aid in evaluating the impact of a breach?

Speakers to include: Jeffrey J. Beard, Esq., GRC & IG Leader, IBM; Michael S. Dicke, Partner, Securities Litigation, Fenwick & West LLP; Tolga Erbay, Senior Manager, Security Risk and Compliance, Dropbox.  Discussion Leader: John Isaza, Partner, Rimon PC.

In addition to these, there are other sessions today that might be of interest.  For a complete description for all sessions today, click here.

So, what do you think?  Did you attend LTWC 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.

Today is the start of LegalTech® West Coast 2016 (LTWC) in San Francisco –and eDiscovery Daily is reporting about the latest eDiscovery trends being discussed at the show.  Today and tomorrow, we will provide a description of some of the sessions related to eDiscovery to give you a sense of the topics being covered.  If you’re in the San Francisco area, come check out the show – there are a number of sessions (both paid and free) available and at least 56 exhibitors providing information on their products and services.

Perform a “find” on today’s LTNY conference schedule for “discovery” or “information governance” and you’ll get 31 hits.  Sessions in the main conference tracks include:

10:30 AM – 11:45 AM:

The Evolving Forensic Technology Landscape

In this program, experienced technologists will discuss current issues in forensics and collections, including:

• What are the latest challenges around collection of ESI?
• How are technology advances in computers, systems, and mobile devices changing forensics?
• What lessons about collections and forensics can we learn from recent high-profile cases?
• How are organizations facing the newest challenge: Data collection from Internet of Things (IoT) devices?

Speakers are: Bryon Bratcher, Director of Practice Support, Reed Smith LLP; Benjamin Robbins, eDiscovery and Information Governance, LinkedIn; Christopher Sitter, EnCE, eDiscovery & Digital Forensics Senior Manager, Juniper Networks.  Discussion Leader: Daniel Blair, Vice President for Innovative Strategies, DiscoverReady.

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM:

Moving Beyond E-Discovery Review: TAR for Smart People

Once controversial, technology assisted review (TAR) has gained judicial acceptance and is increasingly used for production reviews. Today, the challenge is to take TAR to the next level, using it for a variety of purposes including investigations, early case assessment, criminal matters, inbound productions, privilege protection and more.

Smart legal professionals are using a new TAR protocol called continuous active learning (CAL), which has proven more effective because the system gets smarter as a review progresses. Now you find can relevant documents faster—at lower cost. CAL also handles rolling deliveries and works with low-richness collections.

Join our panel of e-discovery veterans for an informative look at how corporations and their law firms are moving beyond simple e-discovery review with the power of TAR and CAL. Our panelists will discuss:

• How CAL works and why it matters
• A trial lawyer’s perspective on using TAR within a law firm
• An in-house counsel’s view of TAR for corporate litigation
• Using TAR for criminal matters and for civil investigations

In this hour, we’ll take a hard look at the future of TAR for 2016 and beyond. Attendees will receive a free copy of the newly released second edition of Catalyst’s popular book, “TAR for Smart People: How Technology Assisted Review Works and Why It Matters for Legal Professionals.”

Speakers to include: Russell M. Aoki, Partner, Aoki Law PLLC; Dera J. Nevin, Director, eDiscovery Services, Proskauer Rose LLP; Daniel J. Polatsek, Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP; Sharyn M. Procaccio, Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, Hunt Companies Inc.  Discussion Leader: John Tredennick, CEO and Founder, Catalyst Repository Systems, Inc.

2:00 PM – 3:15 PM:

The Latest US-EU Cross-Border Privacy Issues

In the wake of the invalidation of the US-EU Safe Harbor Agreement, this panel of experts will explore the current state of affairs for cross-border data transfers and discovery, including:

• Viable alternatives for transferring data from the EU
• Ethical and legal considerations in the new EU-US Privacy Shield
• The new EU-US Privacy Shield Agreement
• The new EU General Data Protection Regulation and the “Right to be Forgotten”
• Effective strategies for cross-border discovery
• Effective strategies and ethical obligations for cross-border discovery
• Updates on recent high-profile cases

Speakers to include are: David R. Cohen, Partner and Practice Group Leader Records & E-Discovery , Reed Smith LLP; Sylvie Stulic, Manager, Legal Operations and Litigation, Electronic Arts, Inc.; Brock A. Wanless, Assistant General Counsel – Government, Regulatory, and Privacy, Groupon.  Discussion Leader: Jeanne Somma, Discovery Practice Director, DiscoverReady.

3:45 PM – 5:00 PM:

Judicial Perspective: Six Months In, Are the New Federal Rules Having the Intended Effects?

In what promises to be one of most informative sessions at Legaltech, a panel of the most well-respected and experienced judges in legal technology will examine the impact of the recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including:

• What themes are emerging in judicial decisions under the new Rules?
• How has the emphasis on proportionality changed discovery?
• Has amended Rule 34 really changed the way parties respond to discovery requests?
• Are proportionality motions the new Daubert?
• What issues do judges think will impact discovery in the next year?

Speakers to include are: Hon. Mitchell D. Dembin, United States Magistrate Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of California; Hon. Elizabeth D. Laporte, United States Magistrate Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of California; Hon. Andrew J. Peck, United States Magistrate Judge , United States District Court, Southern District of New York.  Discussion Leader: Maureen O’Neill, Senior Vice President, DiscoverReady.

In addition to these, there are other sessions today that might be of interest.  For a complete description for all sessions today, click here.

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.

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.

We had a terrific turnout for our special webinar on Wednesday conducted by Rob Robinson and me titled Faster, Cheaper, Better: How Automation is Revolutionizing eDiscovery, hosted by the Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP)!  But, not all of you could make it.  We get it – you’re busy.  No worries, you can check it out on demand within this post!

During the webinar, we started off with a history lesson as I discussed the historical application of automation in the discovery process, focused on the application of artificial intelligence technology through the evolution and judicial acceptance of technology assisted review.  I then talked about the emergence of artificial intelligence technology in other areas, including pre-litigation.

Rob then discussed the drivers for eDiscovery automation in terms of the biggest challenges faced by organizations today in managing eDiscovery, as well as the business opportunity of where the eDiscovery market is heading and how automation is helping drive the growth in the market.  Rob also discussed the evolution of eDiscovery technology and he walked through a brief exercise on how to consider and compare eDiscovery offerings to meet your needs.

Having set the framework for understanding the drivers and offerings in the market, Rob then defined eDiscovery automation, explaining the difference between task automation and process automation and providing examples of each.

With that framework established, I then walked through an example of task and process automation using CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation platform to demonstrate the automation of signing up for an account, uploading data for processing, as well as culling, searching and reviewing that data – all without any human interaction required!  We finished the webinar by sharing references to several good articles on the topic of eDiscovery automation and answering several good questions from the audience about the state of automation in the industry and other related topics.

If you’re interested in learning more about how automation is revolutionizing eDiscovery, or are simply interested in checking out a good, high-level demo of CloudNine’s platform (shameless plug warning!), I encourage you to check it out below (thanks, Rob!).

Also, if you did not sign up for the webinar and may not be able to check out the video right away, but would like a copy of the slides and the references to the eDiscovery automation articles, feel free to email me at daustin@cloudnincloudnine.comm and I would be happy to send you a copy.

Finally, if you’d simply like to sign up for a free account and try CloudNine for yourself, click here!

So, what do you think?  Do you think that automation is revolutionizing eDiscovery?  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.

I’ve spoken a number of times about how automation is revolutionizing eDiscovery over the past few months, but tomorrow, you get an opportunity to see eDiscovery automation in action!

Tomorrow, Rob Robinson, legal technologist and author of the Complex Discovery blog, and I will be conducting a special webinar titled Faster, Cheaper, Better: How Automation is Revolutionizing eDiscovery.  This 60-minute presentation and discussion hosted by the Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP) is designed to inform and educate attendees on topics such as:

• How eDiscovery Technologies Have Evolved Over the Years
• How to Compare Technology Providers in the eDiscovery Market
• What You Need to Know about Today’s eDiscovery Automation Technologies

Our presentation will provide an overview of the evolution of electronic discovery technologies and we will also share with ways that you can consider and compare technology offerings from the large ecosystem of providers supporting litigation, investigations, and audits. Our webinar will also include an overview of the attributes of fourth generation eDiscovery automation technology as well as a short demonstration on an eDiscovery automation platform.

Key questions we plan to answer during the presentation include:

• How do I categorize and compare the different types of technologies and providers in the field of eDiscovery?
• What is eDiscovery automation and what eDiscovery tasks can be automated?
• How is eDiscovery automation being used in litigation, investigations, and audits?

It’s not too late to register for tomorrow’s webinar!  Here is the link to register.  Hope you can make it!  We will do our best to make it educational!

So, what do you think?  Do you think that automation is revolutionizing eDiscovery?  Whether you do or not, feel free to join us tomorrow!  And, as always, 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 results are in from Rob Robinson’s Spring 2016 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey, which he conducted last month and the results are published on his terrific Complex Discovery site.  Are individuals working in the eDiscovery ecosystem still as confident in the business as they were in the first quarter?  Let’s see.

This time, there were 76 total respondents to the survey, which is almost the same number of respondents as the first survey back in February.  Here are some notable results:

• Providers Were Still the Majority Respondents, But Not as Much: Of the types of respondents, 47 out of 76 were either Software and/or Services Provider (39.5%) or Consultancy (22.4%) for a total of 61.9% of respondents as some sort of outsourced provider (down from 68.8% last time). Law firm respondents were actually the second most represented group with 23.7%.
• Even More Respondents Consider Business to Be Good: Over 60% (61.8%, to be exact) of respondents rated the current general business conditions for eDiscovery in their segment to be good, with only 3.9% rating business conditions as bad. Last time, those numbers were 58.8% and 10% respectively.
• Almost Everyone Expects eDiscovery Business to be as Good or Better Six Months From Now: Almost all respondents (97.3%) expect business conditions will be in their segment to be the same or better six months from now, with 57.9% of respondents expecting higher revenue six months from now and 51.3% of respondents expecting higher profits six months from now. Only the revenue percentage shows a slight drop from the last survey (that time, 60% of respondents expected higher revenue in six months).
• Budgetary Constraints and Increasing Volumes of Data are Expected to be Most Impact eDiscovery Business: A couple of issues that you feel will most impact the business of eDiscovery over the next six months swapped rankings. Budgetary Constraints (28.9%) still led the way, this time closely followed by Increasing Volumes of Data (26.3%), with Data Security (15.8%) dropping to third, Lack of Personnel (13.2%), Increasing Types of Data (10.5%) and finally, Inadequate Technology (5.3%), rounding out the field.  With recent stories such as the resolution of the Apple v FBI dispute (at least temporarily), the Verizon 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report and the “Panama Papers”, I was surprised that Data Security actually went down in the rankings.  The graph below illustrates the distribution.

Rob has published the results on his site here, which shows responses to additional questions not referenced here.  Check it out.  It will be interesting to see how these numbers trend over time.

So, what do you think?  What’s your state of confidence in the business of eDiscovery?  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.