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  • Social Media
    Legal Updates

    Navigating Social Media Retention and Collection During E-Discovery

    Companies and organizations use social media ("SoMe") to gain market advantage, shape and model their own image, market and advertise to customers, track how effective their marketing campaigns might be, understand who their customers are, test new products or services and provide a platform through which customers can provide feedback. Every post or piece of analytics could be considered a “business record,” subjecting it to discovery in both civil and criminal litigation, internal and government investigations or audits. As a result, attorneys and their IT teams should understand the best practices for preserving, processing, reviewing, and producing data from SoMe sites to acquire valuable – and usable – evidence.

  • Attorney Client Privilege
    Legal Updates

    The Attorney Client Privilege: The Corporate Communication Conundrum – PART ONE

    “But in-house counsel was copied on the email, isn’t that enough?”

    When a business faces the prospect of producing documents in litigation, determining which documents are protected by the attorney-client privilege and preventing those documents from inadvertent disclosure is of paramount importance. Such a disclosure can have serious consequences for both the attorney’s and the client’s interests, including a court finding the privilege has been waived. At the same time, if an attorney is overly restrictive or indiscriminately withholds documents, they risk losing credibility with opposing counsel and the court, which can make it more difficult to assert the privilege when necessary. 

  • Redacted
    Technology Advantage

    Right on Redactions

    In my experience as an e-discovery project manager, I’ve found that one of the primary reasons for lengthy document reviews is the need to redact documents. While the extent to which redactions will be needed may not be known at the outset of a review, good project management should include recognizing when and what type of redactions may be needed. Factors to consider include the type of case, the extensive nature of the collection process, the type of files processed for review, the stipulations agreed to in the ESI protocol and protective order, the sophistication of the legal teams involved, the contentious nature of the dispute and, perhaps of equal importance, the technology available to apply those redactions.

     

  • Privilege
    Legal Updates

    Risks of Waiving Privilege for Third Party Litigants When Producing Documents to the Government

    Waiver of privilege and particularly inadvertent waiver of privilege is always a concern in e-discovery when producing documents to an outside party. Not only may your current litigation be affected but waiver may also affect your client’s future litigations and other litigation teams that had no involvement with your production. This is a particularly serious concern when producing documents to the government, given the power dynamics involved.

  • Masks
    Legal Updates

    Life After COVID 19: E-Discovery Considerations for Attorneys and Clients

    Life around the world has significantly changed in the last three months. From job losses, homeschooling, and working from home, daily life is not the same as it was in February. The world of E-Discovery has not been immune. Law firms and service providers have been forced to adapt to a quickly changing environment. From an E-Discovery perspective, the use of these remote working tools creates new data sources for preservation and collection. Diligent attorneys and clients would be wise to consider and discuss how these tools might impact the phases of E-Discovery moving forward.

  • Jim Hefferan
    LitSmart News

    Quarterly Spotlight On..... Senior E-Discovery Attorney Jim Hefferan

    I had the recent opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Senior E-Discovery Attorney Jim Hefferan and find out more about his extremely interesting background and life. Considering his role as a member of the City Council for his town of Belmont, NC, I also thought he might have a unique perspective on how COVID-19 has changed our lives.

  • Technology Competence
    Legal Updates

    What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You: Technology Competence in the Time of COVID-19

    Last fall, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the 2019 Relativity Fest entitled “Why Lawyers SHOULD Be Luddites.” It was a lively discussion about whether lawyers should be luddites, whether robots would be taking attorney jobs, should attorneys learn to code, and how to future-proof yourself. Opinions were split but what struck me the most was that a majority - if not all – of the attendees wanted to learn how to future-proof themselves. In this blog I offer tips on how to take advantage of technologies to do just that.

  • Platform Mojo
    Technology Advantage

    Platform-Agnostic Search Mojo!

    Searching is a core e-discovery skill that has been a part of the legal case landscape for about two decades now. Throughout that time, the fundamental capabilities for keyword searching have not changed much. However, my experience has shown that crafting a good, effective search a core e-discovery technical (and artistic!) skill. This blog offers insight into how to do just that.