Essays

In the wake of our article on the winners and losers in the eDiscovery software market, a client recently suggested to us that the software giants are not yet the best landing spots for eDiscovery software vendors. The impetus for this observation was news from two vendors – Symantec and HP – that software acquisitions in the eDiscovery market had underperformed. The revenue from Symantec’s Clearwell business was less than expected in calendar Q1 2012. HP’s executives admitted on their last earnings call that the Autonomy license revenue had a significant decline year-over-year.

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Mikki Tomlinson. Published: 2012-07-27 09:23:38  Just days before trial, The Honorable Paul S. Grewel granted in part Apple’s Motion for Adverse Inference Jury Instruction against defendant Samsung.  According to the Order filed on Wednesday, July 25, 2012, “At issue is whether Samsung took adequate steps to avoid spoliation after it should have reasonably anticipated this lawsuit and elected not to [...]

At The Cowen Group (TCG) Leadership Breakfast in New York two weeks ago, it was agreed by all technology-assisted review (TAR) is a game-changing, disruptive force in eDiscovery and information governance (IG). At last Thursday’s breakfast in Washington, DC, the conversation shifted a bit to include the happy fact that TAR can help satisfy the needs of many constituents: the corporate Legal department that wants to reduce review costs and have more predictable litigation spend; the law firms that want to make more review dollars at higher margins; and the vendors and service providers that want to develop the expertise to help both corporations and law firms.

Chris La Cour’s second annual Carmel Valley eDiscovery Retreat (CVEDR) has just wrapped up three days of topical, interactive discussions in beautiful, relaxed Monterey, California. Many of us who attended last year’s retreat knew that this event is a perfect opportunity to gently introduce your significant other to the eDiscovery social scene away from the crazy crowds and business intensity of Legal Tech New York. The Monterey Bay Aquarium, kayaking and other attractions kept them happily occupied while we debated questions like, “Are you obligated to disclose Technology Assisted Review (TAR) or other analytics if they are used to make relevance decisions?” It was great to see many familiar top speakers and providers, but I do hope that more entry level corporations and law firms realize how valuable these smaller events are to new eDiscovery professionals. CVEDR tries to avoid ‘death by power point’ and the classic bobble-headed panelists reading from notes with those familiar droning Charlie Brown style teacher voices. Instead, the event has four themes each with five related topic sessions per track. That’s a lot of content and expertise crammed into two and a half days.

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Barry Murphy. Published: 2012-08-02 09:00:02  The last two Cowen Group (TCG) Leadership Breakfasts (in New York and Washington, DC) established that TAR is a disruptive force that can benefit corporate legal departments, law firms, and solution providers.  With the notion of benefits all around, we took the breakfast to Los Angeles where the conversation around TAR was markedly different, but [...]

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Kevin L. Nichols. Published: 2012-08-06 09:00:53  Whether it is self-imposed or the industry standard to attend certain “trade show” style conferences, the Carmel Valley eDiscovery Retreat (“CVeDR”), truly was a “retreat” from the norm.  Despite the obvious, which was enjoying the beautiful setting of Monterey while hovering over the ocean, the conference attracted many “heavy hitters” in the industry such [...]

Technology-Assisted Review (TAR) is not simply a hyped up market category. In fact, I predicted late last year that 2012 would be the year that TAR goes mainstream. That prediction was based on data from an eDJ Group survey that found that by the end of 2012, market penetration for the TAR technique predictive coding should be over 50%. In getting beyond the hype of the Da Silva Moore and Kleen Products cases, I have had the opportunity to speak with several end users about their experiences with predictive coding and other forms of TAR. Those stories will be featured in an upcoming report from eDJ Group.

Following the country-wide tour of The Cowen Group (TCG) Leadership Breakfasts is proving to be valuable and interesting. There are commonalities in each city, such as the fact that most attendees realize that technology-assisted review (TAR) is the inevitable future of legal review and presents new economic opportunities for corporations, law firms, and service providers alike. But, the breakfasts in each city each have a unique local flavor.

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Amber Scorah. Published: 2012-08-09 09:00:39  INTERVIEW WITH Chad P. Brouillard, Esq., Attorney, Foster & Eldridge, LLPIn the past, state and federal auditing environments have not been very aggressive in ensuring compliance with HIPAA and the HITECH Act, but that is changing. Government regulators are increasing their audit frequency and fine amounts.Although many health facilities have invested in high-tech records management [...]

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Mikki Tomlinson. Published: 2012-08-09 09:00:52  The Executive Counsel Institute (ECI) Corporate Exchange programs are always excellent.  Not only are the discussions educational and informative, they are important.  The New York event that took place on July 16-17, 2012, was no exception.  Here is my take on a few of the program highlights.Information Governance:  While there was not a session dedicated [...]