Always interesting to see a new marketing term floated to see if it will stick. Zack provides good context and differentiation of the ‘New Law’ solutions being spun out of firms. We have known that the traditional partner track firm model has been slowly eroding. The days of massed associates pulling 12 hours coding shifts to plow through millions of documents are ending. Many [...]
Refreshing blog calling out classic eDiscovery sales/billing/pricing games. Our industry is rife with reps who are pressured to bid low and bill high. I do not recall being called an ‘ediscovery wonk’, but if the hat fits I will wear it. Since RFP engagements regularly follow up my typical strategy assessment or health check engagements, I see these games all the time. Cat’s basic [...]
How long should you keep ad hoc internal communications? That is the question that bubbled up while listening to the four Big Tech CEO’s trying to explain a few of their 1.3 million emails and internal documents obtained by the House Antitrust Subcommittee's investigation that kicked off June 2019. The vast majority of those exhibits dated from 2010-2012 M&A strategy discussions. We have no [...]
For the past 15 years I have seen providers modifying, revising and ‘updating’ the EDRM model to better suit their products or services. A fast image search for ‘New EDRM’ brings up some lovely examples. I view Zapproved model as being more aspirational than practical based on what I see in most corporations. Zapproved’s EDMM imagines that discovery takes place inside corporate info governance [...]
My philosophy is once a client, always a client. Got what seemed to be a typical referral request from a counsel I had recently supported on a corporate client matter. The classic, “Who do you recommend for Relativity hosting?” quickly went down a rabbit hole of new generation data sources, foreign language docs and such that wrote off any of the new self-service providers/platforms. [...]
Excel tool for corporate legal departments considering adding an on-premise or cloud based eDiscovery platform that covers legal holds through review and production. This tool is derived from the eDiscovery Matrix and is a fairly narrowly focused version of broader RFP tools used for eDJ Group clients over the last decade. eDiscovery Journal members are welcome to use and modify this tool with attribution [...]
Volume, cost and time estimation Excel spreadsheet tool originally developed by the EDRM Metrics IV group. Made available since this tool is no longer available as source material on the EDRM Duke site. It was the principal work product of Greg Buckles, Eric Derk and Jack Halprin. Although some of the assumptions are dated, the UTMBS codes are still valid and the formulas are [...]
While I am happy to see nimble cloud eDiscovery providers tackling the processing/review of mobile device ESI, I still want to see practical solutions for ongoing mobile device preservation and remote collection.
Many of my engagements result in supporting client RFP’s for eDiscovery hosting, collection or ECM services/systems. A lot of that support is translating or analyzing pricing models so that client’s can make strategic vs. tactical buying decisions. Traditional eDiscovery providers consider their large enterprise proposals and pricing confidential. The newer generation of self-service cloud hosting players like Lexbe after the SMB market openly advertise [...]
I was reading a well researched news story in the aftermath of the Fort Lauderdale protests that turned into a violent confrontation between police and protesters. Several items caught my attention that could have impact on events that result in litigation/discovery during this time of discord. Body Worn Cameras (BWC) and video surveillance are more commonplace now than ever. Many of my industrial clients require that certain employees wear BWCs or have vehicle/facility cameras that operate on similar technologies. I intend to stay away from politics on essays in the eDiscovery Journal. As a former police criminalist I am very interested in evolving technologies to record and reconstruct incidents. In this and many other recent confrontations, police departments state that BWC footage is not available because the cameras were not turned on. Let’s discuss what data is available to an investigator or requesting party.