Category Archives: Document Review
Are You Ready for the Next Step in Document Review Technology?
Adding to this week’s Da Silva’s appeal affirmation is the Circuit Court of Loudoun County, Virginia’s support of the use of predictive coding as a culling method for document review. In Global Aerospace, Inc. v. Landow Aviation, L.P., No. CL 61040 (Vir. Cir. Ct. Apr. 23, 2012), the Court approved the Defendant’s use of predictive coding to cull the asserted 250 gigabytes of reviewable data (about 2 million documents) for review and production. The court approved predictive coding over the objection of opposing counsel, a distinction between Landow and Judge Peck’s decision in Da Silva Moore v. Publicis Groupe, 2012 …
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The Importance of People and Process in Electronic Discovery
Whenever I hear people lamenting the many ways eDiscovery has ruined their day or their week, I try to dig a bit deeper and get to the root of the problem. Is the problem really an eDiscovery problem or is it a failure by the organization or law firm to properly plan and prepare for the inevitability of complying with eDiscovery obligations? More often than not the “eDiscovery problem” is really a communication problem, a planning problem or a failure to get the right people involved until it is too late to complete the task without Herculean effort that is …
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E-Discovery Lawyers – Part II
Any lawyer that has been in practice for a few years will have become familiar with having to say, “I’m not that kind of lawyer.” Happens to me all the time. I got a call the other day from a veteran seeking help recovering benefits that he says were wrongfully denied. “I’m not that kind of lawyer,” I heard myself say. “Know anything about taxes?” “Should I set up an irrevocable trust for my grandson?” “My daughter just got her third DUI…” “I’m not that kind of lawyer.” It occurred to me after re-reading last week’s post (yes, I re-read …
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Trying to Teach a Rhino to Dance
The legal profession in general has been frustratingly slow to embrace both technology and project management in managing litigation. We don’t have that luxury in the eDiscovery world. As a lawyer whose practice is focused on managing complex electronic discovery projects, I have spent lots of time developing project plans that integrate technology and process to reduce cost and increase the quality of eDiscovery work (identification, preservation, collection, early case assessment, data processing, data filtering, document review and production).
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Don’t Overlook the Document Review Guidelines
Ever lead a team of people and feel as if you were herding cats? Each person on the team has their own concept of what needs to be done and the best method to accomplish the task? Without proper leadership, this team will have little to show for their hard effort at the end of the day because everyone is headed a different direction. Having spent many years managing electronic discovery projects as eDiscovery counsel, including managing the document review work, I know the importance of keeping everyone on the same page. In the context of a large document review …
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Relevance: The Most Important Limitation on Discovery Abuse?
Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a webcast reviewing the case law highlights from 2011. One of the topics we discussed was the certification requirement of Rule 26(g). In preparing for the webcast, none of the panelists, including me, thought that the rule had received much attention since Judge Grimm’s opinion in Mancia v. Mayflower Textile. Turns out we were wrong. A quick Westlaw search turned up at least 80 cases in 2011 alone in which Rule 26(g) was referenced. I did the math, and that averages more than one opinion every week, some of which are …
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Getting the Most From the Custodian Interview
Interviewing key custodians is a crucial phase of the eDiscovery lifecycle. Information gathered during this phase helps you identify the distribution of relevant documents in the corporation and gives you valuable information as you continue to identify relevant documents – as well as aids in privilege review, deposition preparation and trial preparation. It is important that custodian interviews are properly documented for defensibility purposes. To aid in documentation and to ensure consistency across interviews, our teams often develop an interview form that allows the interviewer to type the answers directly into the document during the interview. The questions asked during …
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The World Is Flat: Handling Foreign Language Documents in eDiscovery Projects
Early in my eDiscovery career I learned the unanticipated presence of foreign language documents can throw a project budget and timeline for a loop. We were on budget and ahead of schedule when . . . BAM! Lots of Asian language documents! The English speaking team I had so carefully built and trained was suddenly unable to complete the task. What to do? The world is flatter now. Anecdotally, we encounter an even higher volume of foreign language documents today as we help our clients comply with their eDiscovery obligations. Foreign language documents introduce an additional layer of complexity and …
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E-Discovery Certification: Sham or the Logical Next Step?
Recently, I remarked that e-discovery is a “complex, high-risk task that requires specialized skills and experience.” So, the obvious question for purchasers of e-discovery services is, “How do I know that I am hiring a person with the right skills and experience?” And that is a very good question. It is fairly easy for someone to add e-discovery to their biography, or even to create a pretty solid-looking on-line profile by writing a lot. So, how can you be sure that they really have the expertise you need? When I hire a doctor, plumber or HVAC service person, I like …
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Thursday, May 24, 2012
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