Discovery Resources

The New Jersey Supreme Court held on March 30, 2010 that an employee could “reasonably expect that e-mail communications with her attorney through her personal account would remain private, and that sending and receiving them via a company laptop did not eliminate the attorney-client privilege that protected them.” Read more at E-Lessons Learned.

Wed. 3/24 – Mary Mack welcomes Charles W. Cohen (Partner, Co-Chair, eDiscovery Practice Group, Hughes Hubbard and Reed LLP) for Fios’ quarterly e-discovery case law update. They will explore recent court decisions, including Judge Scheindlin’s most recent ruling; the impact these cases may have and are already having; and tactics and strategies organizations should consider to help control their e-discovery costs and risks. More info / register >

Earlier this month, Monica Bay had the pleasure of taping short interviews with 25 members of our legal technology community, including Fios’ Mary Mack. View the “live” interview with Mary as she addresses the growing e-discovery trends driven by the increase regulatory investigations and oversight.

As part of our their new series “’Data! Data! Data!’ — Cures for a General Counsel’s ESI Nightmares,” The Posse List interviewed Mary Mack and Dennis Kiker. They discuss collaboration and documentation for defensibility among inside and outside counsel, between IT and legal, among joint defense groups and during productions… how to get control of the discovery process. Here’s the interview on the Posse List site: An interview with Mary Mack and Dennis Kiker of Fios: collaborative e-discovery technology and services, and putting it all in perspective.

1/26 – Robert (Bob) Ambrogi, lawyer, journalist, media consultant and blogger, is known internationally for his work at the intersection of law, media and technology. In an interview with Mary Mack, Bob will share his views on the e-discovery industry and what trends he sees emerging in 2010. More info / register >

It’s everywhere, according to this recent article in the Austin 10 written by Tony R. Bertolino, managing partner at Bertolino LLP: Electronic discovery is now playing a critical role in more than 75% of divorce cases.

“….What Sarah Brown found on her husband’s computer hard drive was enough to make her call a divorce lawyer the next morning, and begin an emotional trial that tested the boundaries of the always-evolving legal world of electronic discovery.”  Continue reading….

Posted on the phenomenal LLRX website, the prolific Conrad Jacoby offers his take on discovery and cost controls:

“Calculating – and staying within – a realistic budget for a litigation or regulatory document review can sometimes require psychic powers of prediction. Budgets are set early in the litigation process, usually based on past costs in similar litigation matters. However, budgets are also often set before the parties finalize the scope of discovery, which can then grow far beyond early estimates. Adjusting the budget on the fly, however, reduces the value of the initial budgetary process and almost certainly frustrates and angers clients.” Continue reading….

This article from the New York Lawyer tackles one of the primary questions facing Legal Departments today: How to cut costs in the most effective ways to improve their bottom line. “Cost-control methods in law departments are more than just talk as cost pressures are creating a fundamental shift in the management and operation of the departments and their interaction with outside counsel, results of a recent Hildebrandt International survey suggest.

Results of the Law Department Survey are a further indication that more work is being brought in-house, alternative fee arrangements are in high demand and spending is shrinking. The rate of increase for inside and outside legal spend andcontinue…

Law.com brings us this take on email disaster: “On April 22, 2007, Bear Stearns hedge fund manager Matthew Tannin sent an e-mail to fellow hedge fund manager Ralph Cioffi. “The entire subprime market is toast,” he said. “There is simply no way for us to make money — ever.” Three days after the now-infamous “toast” e-mail, Tannin reassured investors during a conference call, telling them he was “very comfortable with exactly where we are” and “there’s no basis for thinking this is one big disaster.” Continue reading….

Two watchdog groups want answers on how millions of Bush-era messages vanished — and they’re losing patience with the White House. Mother Jones reports ” An old problem is back in Barack Obama’s inbox: What to do about millions of missing Bush-era emails?

In March, two Washington watchdog groups agreed to suspend a lawsuit against the White House — a case the Obama administration inherited from its predecessor — that aimed to force the government to recover the emails and modernize its archiving of electronic documents. At the time, the Obama administration had indicated it was willing to work toward a settlement. Continue reading….