Discovery Resources

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. ____ (2009) was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that top government officials were not liable for the actions of their subordinates absent evidence that they ordered the allegedly discriminatory activity. The Supreme Court held that conclusionary facts, without more evidence, were insufficient to defend against a motion to dismiss. Iqbal sought to sue government officials for purposeful and unlawful discrimination. Then Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government officials, while responding to 9/11, had put forth programs to investigate and detain persons of Arab descent.

The Court made very clear that the holding of Twombly, once thought to be narrowly applied in continue…

The stewards of many of the leading law firms’ litigation support practices converged on Washington, D.C. for two days of no-holds-barred conversations, conviviality and convocation at the International Litigation Support Leaders Conference.

George Socha, e-discovery pioneer and initiator of analysis and standards, received a resounding standing ovation from the leaders gathered at the 2^nd Annual Betsy Ann Reynolds Awards for Excellence in Litigation Support. In his acceptance of the “Industry wide” award for helping the litigation support community explain to attorneys just how e-discovery works, George gave a moving speech about his purpose and intent in the work he does. A former lead paint litigator, George views his mission as reducing costs continue…

Charles Schumer will be introducing a “Shareholders Bill of Rights” that will, among other more widely known initiatives, require that corporate Boards of Directors must have a Risk Management Committee as they now have an Audit Committee.

Buried in the bill requiring “Say on pay” for executives and other shareholder rights is a provision that will elevate the role of the risk management professionals I am meeting at the Gartner Summit on Risk Management and Compliance this week.

Gartner may need to put “Governance” back as a headliner in their GRC practice.

Impact for Ediscovery:  More pressure to quantify and make costs predictable as they will be more visible at the Board level, less tolerance continue…

Total Revamp of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure?
By Mary Mack, Esq., Corporate Technology Counsel, Fios Inc.

The American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System released a report in March calling for radical change in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that may, according to the ACTL website, “one day underpin the transformation of civil procedure in federal and state systems throughout the United States.”

This report was created through the collaboration of seasoned (average of 38 years of experience) peer-selected trial lawyers from both sides of the bar and a well-funded, politically savvy legal institute. The report has gained wide continue…

Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck, of the groundbreaking decision in  Anti-Monopoly, Inc. v. Hasbro, Inc., 1995 WL 649934 (S.D. N.Y. 1995), issued a cautionary opinion for non parties in the Southern District of New York.  Stating that the non party had not been helpful in framing search terms (read–reducing their own costs), Judge Peck split the difference between the actual parties’ requests and added some more in this required reading for  SDNY litigants.  He also left the door open to further searches after the non party deposition.

Not content with reacting, Judge Peck suggested that cooperation and participation is key to cost reduction and gave us all a big hint about resurrecting continue…