Exterro's E-Discovery & Privacy Breakdown

The world of E-Discovery & Privacy is constantly changing – let us break it down for you with a weekly dose of News, Resources, Case Law, and Humor, all written in a concise and easy to understand format.

“Reasonable Anticipation” of Litigation Re-Affirmed as the Standard for Triggering Legal Holds

Created on March 7, 2012

By Mike Hamilton
Vice President, E-Discovery

Most attorneys understand that when a complaint is filed with the court, each party has a legal obligation to issue legal hold notices to all applicable custodians. But many struggle to understand that this is not actually the correct legal standard for preserving custodian information. Case in point, Voom HD Holdings LLC v. Echostar Satellite LLC (NY Slip Op. Jan. 31, 2012). In this case, the New York Appellate Court adopted the federal standard under Zubulake that “once a party reasonable anticipates litigation, it must suspend its routing document retention/destruction policy and... Read More

The Value of Project Management: Avoiding a “Huge Hole” in your E-Discovery Process

Created on March 1, 2012

By Mike Hamilton
Vice President, E-Discovery

Just when you think the importance of e-discovery project management has been sufficiently established, another case, In Re Delta/AirTrain Baggage (N.D. Ga. Feb. 3, 2012), pops up reinforcing its significance. This antitrust litigation case against Delta Airlines and AirTran arose amid a number of legal activities, including a DOJ regulatory inquiry, asserting a violation of the Sherman Act due to the two companies charging passengers $15 baggage fees. While the United States District Court granted spoliation sanctions against Delta for a violation of multiple Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) rules, a... Read More

The Convergence of Information Governance and E-Discovery

Created on February 28, 2012

By Andrew Bartholomew

As e-discovery becomes more of a mainstream business process for organizations, the E-Discovery Beat team is increasing our coverage of topics of particular interest to information technology professionals. Here are a few of the topics we will be tackling in upcoming posts: Information governance – how it fits in with e-discovery initiatives (today's post) Archiving and content management – how it can support e-discovery strategies Cloud-based storage and archiving – ensuring efficient retrieval of ESI at the forefront (vs. afterthought) Matter management integration – why it can keep e-discovery response teams sane... Read More

E-Discovery Court Pilot Programs: E-Discovery Templates that Legal Teams Should Utilize

Created on February 22, 2012

By Mike Hamilton
Vice President, E-Discovery

Most legal teams are aware of e-discovery risks. But when it comes to implementing real-world, specific strategies and techniques to streamline e-discovery processes, understanding where to start can be daunting. The real dilemma faced is how to effectively address and formulate protocols to resolve the gaps in the process. What questions should be asked and discussed with opposing counsel at meet and confer? How does one efficiently and defensible identify all potentially relevant electronically stored information (ESI) related to the matter? What parameters, such as date ranges and file types, are relevant... Read More

The ABCs of ECA

Created on February 21, 2012

E- Discovery expert Craig Ball noted in a recent article that early case assessment (ECA) is a legal process that significantly predates electronic discovery. While Ball is certainly correct, the explosive growth of electronic stored information (ESI) has propelled e-discovery to the forefront of early case planning and strategizing.Attorneys Elleanor Chin and Bob Rohlf examined ECA on a recent webcast, De-Mystifying Early Case Assessment (ECA) for Cost-Effective E-Discovery. Here are some of the highlights... ECA is a two-step process: A true ECA process comprises both an early data assessment (EDA) and an analysis... Read More

Distinguishing True E-Discovery Platforms from the Growing List of Pretenders

Created on February 15, 2012

Every year, a handful of buzzwords emerge from LegalTech that permeate the industry for a number of months before the next batch takes their place.  Not surprisingly, “predictive coding" and “e-discovery in the cloud" were among the hot topics at this year's conference.  Somewhat less expected was the prevalent chatter surrounding e-discovery platforms.Every vendor seems to offer an e-discovery platform these days. Walking up and down the vendor isles at LegalTech, one could seemingly spot the word “platform" on marketing materials and booths almost as frequently as “e-discovery."What comprises a Platform?A true software... Read More

Pippins v. KPMG Ruling Affirmed: What does this tell us about E-Discovery?!

Created on February 10, 2012

By Mike Hamilton
Vice President, E-Discovery

It's finally here, the Southern District of New York's court ruling on Pippins v. KPMG (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 3, 2012)! E-discovery pundits, bloggers and attorneys have anxiously awaited this decision, hoping it would add more clarity to questions surrounding proportionality, how 'key players' in a matter are defined, and what constitutes relevant evidence for preservation purposes.Judge McMahon did not disappoint, delivering a strong, deliberate opinion upholding the lower court's discovery order that KPMG preserve all existing hard drives. (Read about Judge Cott's lower court decision here). The primary theme in Judge McMahon's ruling... Read More