What Is the Role of Technology in the E-Discovery Process? Technology assists in the e-discovery process in three ways. It helps you manage the e-discovery process. It allows you to perform certain tasks faster or better. It facilitates collaboration between the multiple parties engaged in e-discovery. So, for example, in e-discovery, we need to collect all the electronically stored information (ESI) relevant to a particular matter. Technology can help us find relevant documents more quickly, bring them to our systems to help us analyze them, and then transfer them to another party... Read More

With amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) a rare occurrence, the courts need some way to move the needle on e-discovery best practices. After all, technology, especially around communication, is constantly evolving. The way they adjust course is through case law--hence the need for e-discovery professionals (both litigators and behind-the-scenes practitioners) to stay on top of the recent rulings that affect legal hold notifications, preservation policies, technology assisted review, and more.  As the summer comes to an end and we transition into fall, it makes sense to look at the... Read More

In the past, social media and other new data types (i.e., activity tracker information) has not been widely requested in e-discovery activities. With increased social media use, however, that is changing, as in Hinostroza v. Denny's Inc. (D. Nev. June 29, 2018). Have processes in place to preserve and produce this data, especially in a world becoming more dependent on social media and new data types for communicating and tracking analytics.OverviewIn this slip and fall case, the defendant, Denny’s, moved to compel discovery of a variety of data sources. In discovery, the defendant... Read More

What Is Predictive Coding?Predictive coding is a technology that assists document reviewers during the review phase of the EDRM. Typically it uses machine learning to label documents after the reviewers have completed some review, creating a “seed set” of coded (or labelled) documents. It improves the efficiency of human reviewers by understanding how they’ve labelled documents and then using those criteria to apply labels to documents that have not been reviewed yet.How Does Predictive Coding Differ from Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Artificial intelligence is an overarching term where the technology is doing... Read More

For good or for ill, document review is often thought of as the heart or essence of e-discovery. (Though of course the true pros understand it's only part.) But without a doubt, it can be an arduous process that leaves you feeling just a little bit frazzled. To make sure you don't end up looking or feeling like Gary Busey here, why not download our updated Comprehensive Guide to E-Discovery Review, which contains best practices, tips, and more to streamline your review process.And if you'd rather just have a laugh, you... Read More

Considering that e-discovery as a field is only about fifteen years old, it’s understandable that many organizations’ processes aren’t fully matured. E-Discovery is consistently evolving in response to changes in technology and case law, so processes that were best practices five years ago could be outdated or inappropriate today. It hasn’t been easy to figure out how mature your organization’s e-discovery processes were. Perhaps you could hire a consultant, or better yet, use the EDRM at Duke Law’s E-Discovery Maturity Self-Assessment Test (eMSAT-1). But even the eMSAT-1 required gathering all the key... Read More

In e-discovery, and in the law in general, many concepts are defined in relationship to what a "reasonable" person might think, or "reasonableness" in general. However, there isn't a formal definition of reasonableness, and interpretations of what is reasonable can vary widely. One could even reasonably argue that ill-defined concepts like reasonableness keep many lawyers employed... but that's not a topic this blog cares to tackle.However, even if you can't pin down exactly what is reasonable in e-discovery, recent case law certainly can help inform your practices and ensure that the courts will... Read More