If you thought descending on New York was going to be a vacation, you are probably feeling otherwise by now.  I am confident that the recuperation process has begun after another successful LegalTech Show.  If you have ever been before, this year’s show had the typical “glitz and glamour” as past shows.  Last year, the talk of the town was Early Case Assessment (“ECA”) and nearly every workshop or presentation incorporated the topic in some shape or form.  In contrast, this year’s show nearly made no mention of ECA.  Instead, the unofficial theme of the Show was “Assisted Technology Review,” otherwise known as Predictive Coding, or more recently referred to as Predictive Priority ^TM.

LegalTechNew York, by far, is the most highly anticipated legal technology conference in the world.  Although the industry is broad and it makes a valiant attempt to cover various practice areas, it is predominately driven by eDiscovery solutions providers.  For example, when you look at the marquee sponsors or the workshop presenters, you will notice that the majority of them have eDiscovery products or services.  If you work in a law firm or are a corporate law department and already utilize these services, then LegalTech will provide you numerous additional opportunities to learn more about your practice’s needs.  For those of you whose eDiscovery knowledge is limited, LegalTech is the perfect place to expand your knowledge of the industry.  Here are some tips of how to get the most of the vendor booths in the Exhibitor Hall and the workshops in order to take full advantage of this unique opportunity:

For those of you who have never been to LegalTech New York (LTNY), it is regarded as “the most important” legal technology conference in the world.  Thousands of attendees converge from various continents to the New York Hilton in Mid-Town Manhattan from January 30 through February 1, 2012, to hear panelists and speakers disseminate the latest and most relevant content pertaining to the profession.  The bulk of LTNY consists of education, where there are various “tracks” such as Information Management, Technology in Practice, and Corporate Law Departments designed to provide tips and best practices for lawyers, law firms, and corporate legal departments.  Moreover, there are keynote speakers during morning and lunchtime sessions on various cutting edge topics by high ranking members in the industry.  Last, but not least, the Exhibitor Hall showcases literally hundreds of vendors with booths conducting live demonstrations, handing out marketing materials, and engaging their customer base in person. 

The full cost impact of an e-discovery request for an organization is hard to estimate because of the underlying, multi-faceted cost points.

Litigators have an interest in making sure that, despite all the obstacles presented by the American system of justice, the value provided their clients by litigating a dispute exceeds the costs. However, in regards to e-discovery, federal and state codes now require the preservation and production of electronic data in all its various forms, with immense costs.

With the start of the New Year eDiscovery practitioners often try to predict what risks, concerns, and challenges they will face in 2012.  With the exception of using GPS technology, it is difficult to know where you are going if you do not know where you have been, or at least where you are.  Rather than merely pontificating on this prediction, Digital Reef and I decided to take this a step further by conducting a market research study on the current state of eDiscovery, so that the industry has a benchmark of where we are heading.

On International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure & Data Protection

The Sedona Conference^® (TSC) creates a preeminent opportunity for legal industry thought leaders, i.e. judges, attorneys, academics, and experts, to have a “meeting of the minds” regarding best practices and tips on issues such as antitrust law, complex litigation, and intellectual property rights.  This is accomplished through mini-think tanks referred to as “Working Groups.”  Working Group 6 is charged with focusing on International Electronic Information Management, Discovery, and Disclosure.  Last month, they issued a report containing some best practices that will be summarized herein. 

Privacy is one of the public’s biggest concerns when discussing eDiscovery and its place within the realm of social media.  For one thing, many people feel that it still exists…it does not.  More and more courts are determining that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy when individuals voluntarily post updates, thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, etc. out in “the cloud” of public domain.  Various Tweets, status updates, “check-ins”, and the like have caused many problems for litigants from across the globe.  Who here has read all of the terms and conditions of all of the social media sites that they belong to and still belong to them?  I would argue that very few have.  So what can we do as regular citizens to protect our inalienable rights of Freedom of Speech and expression?  Here are some tips that may give you the impression that your social media activity is private but cannot guarantee that it is not discoverable:

Effective project management is an essential component in the litigation discovery process.  Unlike other practice areas, litigation requires meeting numerous court deadlines, following various rules of civil procedure, and bartering with opposing counsel to reach agreements.  Non-compliance can be costly, where hundreds of thousands of dollars can be handed down as sanctions.  Effective project management enables lawyers to rely on their vendors to assist them in achieving these requirements on-time and on-budget.  

Tweets, status updates, wall posts, messages… these have all become forms of business communication. The acceleration of social media has created yet another e-discovery headache for litigators.  The problem is growing, and social media must be considered when preparing a case. It is almost required now that attorneys be knowledgeable and due diligence around social media. When comparing social media discovery to traditional discovery the process is essentially the same; search, identify, preserve, analyze and produce. But social media discovery requires specific techniques and a lot more “digging” than traditional discovery.