It's GabesGuide.com 2nd Monthsary!

Wow, so it has been officially two months since I started this blog. Two months! That is almost like 7 weeks or something. I usually can't keep my attention on something for two days much less two months.

In all honesty, this blog has been such a joy to do. So far I have over 2000 unique visitors in 40 different countries. Someone has even looked at my blog in Saudi Arabia! I really appreciate all of you who have visited, and I hope that I have been able to make a small contribution to your knowledge of e-Discovery, as well as kept you entertained with my numerous off topic posts.

Again thanks.

UK Lawyers scurriliously read through new white paper, still looking for protagonist, plot.

EnCase softwore has released a white paper concerning e-discovery with major corporations in UK Courts. The link to the white paper is here.

"This is one of a series of white papers written by Chris Dale of the UK-based e-Disclosure Information Project. Its purpose is to further understanding of the issues arising from electronic disclosure in the UK and the part which EnCase® eDiscovery from Guidance Software and similar data image collections applications can play in addressing those issues for large corporations."

For those of you who do not know what a white paper is click here.

If you don't know the first thing about e-discovery, click the link below

This is one of the best blog posts I have seen about e-discovery. It is exceptionally detailed. The blog is call E-discovery Team, authored by attorney Ralph Losey. I have added the blog to my law links. If you don't know the first thing about e-discovery, click here.

Quick Hit: If you think Six Flags is fun, checkout this webinar Best Practices for Gaining Control over Corporate E-Discovery, yeah...

Just an FYI for anyone interested, from the EDD Blog:

"Clearwell Systems Inc. has announced a free web seminar with Google. The seminar will feature Vivian Tero, Program Manager for Compliance Infrastructure at IDC. It is titled "Weathering the E-Discovery Perfect Storm: Best Practices for Gaining Control over Corporate E-Discovery," and will be held on Tuesday, June 3 at 10 AM PDT. Go here to register."

Court Opinion states that if you are not asking for it, you are "asking for it"

I meant to post this yesterday, but I became too bombarded at work. Below is a link to a great article about how metadata should be transfered from one party to another in e-discovery.

From the New York Law Journal:

"The most recent federal decision[FOOTNOTE 1] weighing in on the hot-button issue of discovery of metadata[FOOTNOTE 2] and documents in their "native format," i.e., "the way it is stored and used in the normal course of business,"[FOOTNOTE 3] offers some simple, common-sense advice on how to best achieve that discovery objective: Ask for it. Up front."

Europe: Open to topless beaches, legal drug use, but closed to anyone seeing our documents

Obviously, I wasn't going to post a picture of a topless beach on here. So I thought i have a picture of this guy instead.

From the New York Law Journal:

"While the collection, review and production of e-mails and other electronic documents have become routine for U.S. companies involved in civil litigation, internal investigations, and various other legal matters, there is an increasing number of cases that involve foreign or multinational clients, and the collection and production of electronic documents from these clients can be anything but routine.

Clients with operations in the European Union pose a particular problem for electronic discovery because of the strict data privacy laws in most European jurisdictions, which regulate the processing of personal data and its export from the EU.

These laws create a significant tension between a foreign or multinational company's obligations to produce documents for U.S. legal matters and its compliance with European law. This is an evolving area of the law, and it is imperative that U.S. lawyers become familiar with the data privacy issue and work closely with their clients to address them before a single document gets reviewed."

Is G-Discovery the new E-Discovery?

"There is no bigger idea in enterprise technology than the idea of “cloud computing“. What does it mean? Simply put, the idea is that enterprises will cease to buy hardware, software, and all the headaches that come with them. Instead, companies will rent whatever applications they need and access them over the internet. Software vendors will keep their applications on a pool of shared infrastructure (the “cloud”), which will automatically allocate resources between applications according to demand. Using a common analogy, we will move from today’s world where companies are buying and building their own electricity generators, to a world where there are power companies distributing electricity over a grid."

"E-discovery is no exception to this mega-trend, and I expect a portion of the e-discovery software business to move to the cloud. How quickly this happens depends on how easy it is for companies to adopt cloud-based e-discovery solutions, which is why Google’s recent moves into e-discovery are so significant.

Google is by far the largest cloud computing company in the world. Its cloud-based Google Apps suite of applications was only launched in 2007, but is already being used by several hundred thousand businesses and, Google tells me, 2,000 new businesses sign up every day. Today, the customers are mainly small to medium sized businesses (500-5,000 employees). But as its functionality improves, larger companies will increasingly start asking why they should pay for Microsoft Office when cheaper alternatives exist."

Ok, sometimes my wacky sense of humor can go over the head of say, everyone?

I forget sometimes that not everyone reads up on e-discovery issues the way that I do. I have been getting a few emails about this so I thought I would address it. On my Lazy Sunday Links this last Sunday, I had written the following blurb:

Burgess also has the link for some boring book
from this thing called the “Sedona Conference.”

The remark was one of sarcasm. I am well aware of what the Sedona Conference is, and in fact I tried to go to one of their meetings last year, but unfortunately the company I worked with then would not fund it. I absolutely would love to go to one of their meetings. Just meeting the various players in the industry alone would be invaluable, irrespective of anything I would learn.

For those of you who don’t know about the Sedona Conference, the remark I made would have been the equivalent to me saying “some Christian guy is trying to sell me some boring book called the ‘New’ Testament.” That is because in the world of e-discovery Sedona is the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and any other Apostle you want to throw in there.

Here is their website. I encourage any legal professional that is going to have a future dealing with e-discovery issues to check them out.

Blog from the Financial Times Boldly states what most Contract Attorneys already know

From FT.com:

"To many, “e-discovery” still sounds like an internet start-up, although the term - short for “electronic discovery” - is rapidly becoming commonplace, especially in the finance world, where rogue traders and rumour mongers are prompting more focus on e-surveillance and a company’s ability to find the right electronic documents to respond to a lawsuit.

In the wake of scandals such as Jerome Kerviel’s alleged rogue trading at Societe Generale, or the aggressive rumour-mill that undermined banks including HBOS and Bear Stearns, banks are now eyeing an emerging new range of “spy software” that can even monitor instant messaging dialogue, utilising powerful computers that can read emails, listen to telephone conversations and analyse chat conversations as participants type, reports Reuters.

The software that enables the recording and monitoring of employee activity can help companies collect huge amounts of internal information - which they may increasingly need in the face of lawsuits spawned by the subprime crisis, or to meet rising regulatory demands, the report adds."

Lazy Sunday Links: It’s crappy Treo picture time!

• Breaking news: that whole “subprime” thing is spanning a lot of lawsuits.
• Burgess Computer Forensics makes the most groundbreaking statement of the year.
• If you work for a bank now would be the time to clear your cache of any steamy emails or sites that may be considered “questionable.”
• Burgess also has the link for some boring book from this thing called the “Sedona Conference.”
• This is actually an interesting piece from the FCPA Blog as to why we need the FCPA.
  

So I went to pentagon city mall to get a haircut anf an umbrella, and instead I ended up buying over a hundred dollars in video games. (Jeesh, I never thought I would actually say that.) Didn't get the umbrella, nor the haircut, I know responsible, eh?

Below are some of my mall musings.

I thought this mug was rather amusing
My buddies Barack and John were there.
I would have bought this shirt if I didn't buy so many video games.
I think it is cool seeing my name on those little license plates. I never used to see my name on those things when I was a kid.

Attenex one step closer to complete world domination

From Barry Murphy at Mimosa:

"Lots of chatter on the recent Kazeon / Attenex announcement that promises eDiscovery processing costs as low as $4.30 per Gigabyte. Many experienced eDiscovery folks have cried foul, citing the intricate details of eDiscovery processing and the inherent costs. C'mon folks - somewhere the twain shall meet. eDiscovery processing costs are going to come down no matter what. The technology for processing is getting better and, more importantly, organizations are starting to proactively manage much of their discoverable information (though not enough for my liking). How fast we go from $2,000 per GB for processing to less than $5 per GB remains to be seen. That debate, frankly, takes us away from the more important issues to be solve. Why? Because everyone is focused on the ability to collect and find legacy information that is traditionally unmanaged. What the focus should be on is proactively managing this information. That's right - setting retention policies, getting rid of non-necessary content; these types of actions are what will eventually lead to the elimination of processing fees. But, the legacy data messes that exist within organizations will keep processing vendors busy for quite some time."

I did not cover the Kazeon/Attenex alliance orginally for a few reasons. First this blog tries to focus more on the attorney review side of e-discovery, although I do venture into technology from time to time, because I think it is important, especially for contract attorneys, to be up on the lastest trends. The other reason is that I research a ton of websites a day on this topic, and there are countless articles on what technology vendor is partnering with who and what. I could spend all day filling the blog with info like that.

That being said, 5 bucks a gig, wow. If they can pull that off, it would definitely be pretty revolutionary.

Nerd Judge would be hot and bothered by Attenex

From Leonard Deutchman of the Pennsylvania Law Weekly"

"An influential federal district judge whose opinions on e-discovery are well respected may have set e-discovery on a path toward its most searching scrutiny yet.

In Disability Rights Council v. Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, 242 F.R.D. 139 (D.D.C. 2007), Judge John M. Facciola recommended "concept searching," -- the use of complex search engines that make use of linguistic or statistical patterning to locate responsive e-mails and electronic -documents, in order for a tardy producer of discovery to wade through voluminous electronically stored information quickly. Interestingly, Facciola made no mention of whether the use of concept searching tools should be subject to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which governs the admission of scientific or expert testimony."

Washington gets E-Discovery Wake Up Call; Hangs Up, Goes back to bed

From Byte And Switch:

"The U.S. federal government – more specifically, the White House – has an e-discovery problem. And what started with questionable email policies looks to have spread to overall backup.
A court filing today reveals there may be gaps in the backup tapes the White House IT shop used to store email. It appears that messages from the crucial early stages of the Iraq War, between March 1 and May 22, 2003, can't be found on tape. So, far from exonerating the White House staffers, the latest turn of events casts an even harsher light on their email policies. "

Fios to host 1 hour e-Discovery Webcast that promises to be the longest hour ever.

Fios is presenting a webcast: "Complex Litigation, Complex Data, Collaborative e-Discovery." It will take place Wednesday, May 07, @1:00 PM Eastern. It will last one hour and feature Laura Webster (Program Management Analyst at Fios) and Mary Mack (Corporate Technology Counsel at Fios).

"Imagine being compelled to respond to e-discovery requests involving 1,500 custodians, with more than 12 terabytes of electronically stored information (ESI). The information needs to be collected, processed and reviewed in less than four months. In today's world of complex litigation, this scenario is now commonplace. This webcast will focus on how applying collaborative e-discovery practices can help litigation teams meet e-discovery obligations in a defensible and cost-effective manner. "

Further information is here.

Navigant is Charging Along

I posted yesterday about the study Navigant Consulting had administered about subprime litigation. They must be studying something right, because they posted record first quarter revenues

Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:NCI), a global consulting firm providing dispute, investigative, operational, risk management and financial advisory solutions, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008.

“We are very pleased with the strength of our results in the first quarter, reflecting record quarterly revenues and providing an excellent start to 2008,” stated William M. Goodyear, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We realized continuing strong market demand in a number of our sectors, with particularly favorable impact in the Disputes & Investigations, Healthcare, Financial Services and International Disputes practices. The combination of continued buoyancy in the marketplace, coupled with Navigant’s sharpened operating platform, has enhanced our ability to leverage our business model.”

Death, taxes, or building an IT infrastructure that can handle eDiscovery: Which one would you choose?

This is actually a very good article from Sudhaker Muddu writing for Computer Technology Review:

"A well documented catalyst for the surge around eDiscovery is the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) made in December of 2006. FRCP has forced the hand of IT staff to be able to prove that data that is germane to a court case is reasonably accessible and, in many cases, to produce that data in as little as 30-45 days. This includes any electronically stored information (ESI) within an enterprise, including data that resides on desktops and laptops, file servers, networked storage systems, email servers and email archives. Reasonably accessible can happen at any time and there are a number of recent cases showing that the courts have no patience for the traditional response of, “We’re not sure where it is, but eventually we will be able to find it.” The future is clear in that there is a need for consistent, repeatable and targeted eDiscovery processes that can also be deployed across a company, creating an “eDiscovery-ready,” proactive environment. "

Full article is here.

Epiq is Rolling

I posted earlier about Epiq Systems acquisition of PinPoint Global. Now it seems that they had a 25% increase in revenue in the first quarter of this year.

"Epiq Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: EPIQ: 16.65, +0.39, +2.39%) today announced results of operations for the first quarter of 2008. Operating revenue (total revenue before operating revenue from reimbursed direct costs) of $43.9 million increased 25% compared to $35.1 million for the same period last year."

"Net income for the first quarter of 2008 was $2.7 million or $0.07 per share compared to net income of $0.2 million or $0.00 per share for the year ago quarter."

Full article is here.

Discover New E-Worlds

Below is an article in the Legal Times from attorneys C.R. Ragan and Robert F. Copple about the future of e-discovery in regards to international arbitration. You can read the full artilce by clicking the author's names.

"Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. Since then, it seems, Americans have been crazy about discovery. Some foreign lawyers, on the other hand, have posited that American discovery was simply crazy."

E-Discovery Keeps an Eye on the Job

From Michael Weber of the New York Journal:

"Since the electronic discovery amendments to the Federal Rules came into effect in December 2006, there have been a plethora of articles in respected legal publications regarding the parade of horribles awaiting unwitting counsel and their clients should they fail to preserve and/or produce electronic information in discovery. This article focuses on the unique aspects of electronic discovery in employment-related litigation. As explained below, all is not "gloom and doom" for employers, but they should certainly exercise caution."

Another blogger comments on this article as well.

E-Disc Quick Hit: DLP Content Discovery

Securosis.com has a nice blurb about the comparsions of DLP content discovery vs. e-discovery vs. content classification.

"DLP content discovery currently has the most advanced analysis techniques, in large part because it is very focused on finding specific policy matches. It is a security-driven tool, with audit, legal, and compliance implications."