Electronic Discovery Road Map

E-Discovery Vendor or Partner: It’s All in the Name

Stephanie M. Maw — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:00:00 -0400

A quick glance at Dictionary.com reveals the following definitions for the word ‘vendor’ vs. the word ‘partner’:

vendor:
-noun
1. a person or agency that sells.

partner:
-noun
1. a person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor; sharer; associate.

How do you and your organization view your relationship with your external e-discovery service provider(s), as those of a vendor, or those of a partner? Frequently razzed about my overt avoidance of the word ‘vendor’ when seeking e-discovery RFP project consultations and bids at the onset of a new litigation matter, the word ‘vendor’ still never fails to leave a sour taste in my mouth.

Retrieving Discoverable E-Discovery Data from Social Media Sites: Or, "Wow, is this what I asked for?!"

Stephanie M. Maw — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0400

A great deal of attention has been properly paid to the inherent data privacy and compliance issues surrounding critical e-discovery data stored on social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Moreover, when this same data is stored in the Cloud, these issues become further complicated.

Your E-Discovery GPS: Are You on the Right Track?

Stephanie M. Maw — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

A question I am sometimes asked, and one which never fails to trigger an immediate onset of nervous ticks and twitches, is the question of what general direction most jurisdictions are moving in the majority of their important e-discovery decisions.

Got Your Head Up In the Clouds? Additional Concerns Over Cloud Computing

Stephanie M. Maw — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -0500

In her January 11, 2010 post about Cloud Computing, Chris Meer exposed three important considerations when evaluating whether or not to manage critical e-discovery data in the Cloud: 1) the level and quality of your Cloud service provider’s Internet security model; 2) the ability to access your e-discovery data and documents on a 24/7 basis if needed; and 3) the subsequent finely crafted contractual and working relationship with your Cloud service provider that is absolutely required in order to facilitate that access.

Planning to Produce?

Stephanie M. Maw — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0500

While it seems most of us agree and follow amended Rule 34(b)’s form of production requirement that both parties produce ESI in the form or forms ordinarily maintained or those that are reasonably useable, an often overlooked Advisory Committee Note seems to still wreck havoc in many, often large and expensive ESI productions, causing otherwise unnecessary additional time and expense to clients and their law firms along the way: the burden of the producing party to ‘announce its intention to produce in a particular format’, such as .tiff images or a litigation database load file format, such as Summation, Concordance, or IPRO.

Magic or Science: You Be the Judge

Stephanie M. Maw — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500

In-House EDD Processing: A Risky Business for Law Firms

In the wake of continued colossal e-discovery volume and associated costs, several highly respected law firms have seen fit to implement their own in-house EDD processing shops in an effort to control and reduce one of the highest e-discovery pain points for clients.