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Corporations and Their Lawyers Look to the Cloud for DIY E-discovery | Law.com

November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When it comes to e-discovery, corporations and law firms are constantly seeking new ways to drive up efficiency while keeping their costs low. A new survey released by legal technology firm Kroll Ontrack reveals that many are looking to do-it-yourself (DIY) discovery platforms to achieve that balance.

The firm conducted the survey in September in preparation for this week’s launch of its Verve e-discovery DIY platform. Respondents included 100 of the Fortune 1000 companies and 100 medium-to-large law firms. The survey looked at the factors driving corporate decisions to outsource versus keeping e-discovery inside.

“We’ve seen the e-discovery market evolve and mature, and organizations are increasingly looking toward DIY e-discovery software platforms,” says Michele Lange, director of product line management for legal technologies at Kroll.

“Corporations and law firms are increasingly doing some of it in-house,” says Lange.

Eighty-six percent of respondents said they are conducting some aspect of e-discovery on their own. “I think this is a much higher percentage than most people that follow the market would guess,” she says.

via Corporations and Their Lawyers Look to the Cloud for DIY E-discovery.

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How Google Was Tripped up by a Bad Search | PCWorld Business Center

October 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the end it was a search that let Google down.

The company suffered a setback in its patent dispute with Oracle last week when a U.S. judge denied Google’s request to keep an internal Google email out of the case record. The email, written by a Google engineer, could suggest to a jury that Google knew it needed a license to use Sun’s — now Oracle’s — Java technology in Android.

Ironically, considering this is Google, organizer of the world’s information, the email might never have seen the light of day if the search tools used to identify documents covered by attorney-client privilege had done their job, legal experts said.

The incident also shines a light on an area of technology — electronic discovery — that’s creating big challenges for lawyers as more communication moves online. And it helps explain why Hewlett-Packard is willing to spend US$10 billion to buy Autonomy, one of the biggest providers of e-discovery software and services.

The Google incident apparently stems from a mistake by one of the top law firms it hired to fight Oracle’s lawsuit, which accuses Google of patent and copyright infringement in Android. It’s a high-stakes case that could potentially cost Google billions of dollars in damages, and force it to start charging handset makers a license fee for Android.

Like many corporate lawsuits, this one began with a discovery phase. Each party is required to identify all the emails, chat logs and other documents relevant to the case, and produce them for the opposing legal team. Because there are often millions of documents involved, they use software tools to define date ranges, search for keywords and find the material they have to produce.

Communications discussing legal advice with attorneys are protected by attorney-client privilege, meaning they don’t have to be made public. Google argued that its potentially incriminating email fell into this category.

It was written by Google engineer Tim Lindholm last August, a few weeks before Oracle filed suit against Google. At the time, Oracle had threatened to sue Google for billions of dollars, and Lindholm was instructed by Google executives to see what alternatives to Java existed for use in Android, apparently to strengthen their negotiating position.

via How Google Was Tripped up by a Bad Search | PCWorld Business Center.

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Corporate Counsel Question Accountability in E-Discovery | Law.com

October 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Accountability and quantification are as significant hurdles as cost when corporate counsel shop for e-discovery software, a new report concludes.

Enterprise Strategy Group’s latest research, “E-Discovery Market Trends: A View From the Legal Department,” released Wednesday, includes results from 48 counsel at companies of at least 500 employees. Of those, 86 percent said e-discovery expertise is important when they hire outside counsel and 64 percent requested alternative fee arrangements, the report states.

Accountability, according to 71 percent of responding companies, focuses on sampling to track document review accuracy in individual cases. Comparing results to other cases was an example cited by 50 percent of companies, and comparing to other reviews was cited by 43 percent. Only 29 percent use software to measure individual reviewer productivity.

“Law firms have historically shown a certain lack of inertia in adopting technology, because productivity has been a four-letter word for them,” analyst and report co-author Katey Wood said, in New York. “Overwhelmingly they expect e-discovery to be a competency for their law firms. It’s very important to their selection criteria and their firms to be good at it. But there’s very little accountability. Most of them are not looking at measuring or accuracy metrics … The onus is on law firms to go figure it out,” she said.

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Gartner Releases First Magic Quadrant for E-Discovery Industry

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This Magic Quadrant for e-Discovery aims to help CIOs, general counsel, IT professionals, attorneys, compliance staff and legal service providers understand the dynamics and landscape of the market for e-Discovery software.

 

To be included in this Magic Quadrant, a vendor must sell enterprise software licenses, a software appliance, or SaaS conforming to Gartner’s definition of SaaS. As well, vendors must also address at least one of three broad functional areas, relating to the EDRM, that Gartner chose to reflect the overlapping wants and needs of e-Discovery users, including left and right sides of the EDRM model, and information management. Vendors with end-to-end EDRM processes are also included.

Generally speaking, each qualifying vendor was evaluated for a plethora of offerings. From customer experience to sales and pricing to product service and track record, the results are plotted across quadrants, where the x-axis represent the completeness of the vision, while the y-axis represents an ability to execute. In the end, vendors fit into four personas: Challengers, Leaders, Visionaries and Niche Players.

via Gartner Releases First Magic Quadrant for E-Discovery Industry.

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Zylab’s E-Discovery Software Identifies Information Stored in Audio Files

April 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A quick look back at our coverage of e-Discovery in recent times will show one glaring hole. That hole is audio e-Discovery, which hasn’t been covered because a solution has not been available. Until now, that is, with the release of Zylab’s Audio Search Bundle.

Zylab (news, site) doesn’t need any introduction, but for the record, it is one of the bigger players in the e-Discovery and information management markets, and, unlike some, has stuck firmly within this space.

Audio Search Use

The result is a number of established products, as well as some lesser-known ones. The Zylab Audio Search Bundle, if it works as Zylab says it does, should take off for two reasons.

The first and most obvious one is that, according to the release notes, the software will cut the time it takes to go through audio files for information relevant to e-Discovery requests.

The second thing is — and putting it in a wider enterprise context — it can help identify and recognize unstructured audio content that is coming into enterprises through a variety of sources

 

In this respect, think of all the audio tools even a small business uses, and then think of all the untapped information that is coming through those tools . Even at the very lowest level, those tools come from fixed-line telephone, VOIP, mobile and specialized platforms such as Skype or MSN Live.

via Zylab’s E-Discovery Software Identifies Information Stored in Audio Files.

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Experts: E-discovery Might Be Pricey But Oh, So Worth It!

April 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When it comes to e-discovery, it all boils down to being prepared. That’s certainly what Matt Berry, president of Lateral Data, a software development and data processing company, says.

With e-discovery solutions, technology used to collect records and data that can be later used as evidence in a case, preparedness definitely comes more easily. And since courts typically take a dim view of companies that fail to manage their records properly, the impact of e-discovery software can be quite tangible.

‘The availability of e-discovery technology solutions and service providers today has somewhat leveled the e-discovery playing field,’ says Berry. ‘Again, regardless of a company’s size, better preparation equals a better e-discovery outcome.’

Recently, e-discovery has been getting a good deal of attention. As businesses have moved from telephone to email as the prevailing method of communication, vast amounts of data have become available for attorneys seeking information that may support their case. This has led to high demand for e-discovery solutions,which reduce the time it takes to identify and manage information through the process.

‘For any company that will be involved in any type of litigation which will require production of electronic documents, e-discovery plays a very important role,’ adds Berry. ‘A key factor is being prepared, as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require parties to meet and confer early regarding the production and preservation of electronically stored information.’

via Experts: E-discovery Might Be Pricey But Oh, So Worth It!.

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Metadata, The Freedom of Information Act, and Government Hypocrisy – Ben Kerschberg – Law & Technology – Forbes

April 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Metadata matters. According to Applied Discovery, one of a variety of companies that delivers and manages electronic discovery services, metadata, or data that is embedded in electronic documents, can tell us precisely how and when an electronic document was created, modified, and transmitted. More poetically, “the document tells its own story.” Embedded Information in Electronic Documents (Applied Discovery White Paper). Recently featured in The New York Times, advanced e-Discovery software can “deduce patterns of behavior that would have eluded lawyers examining millions of documents.” John Markoff, Armies of Expensive Lawyers Replaced by Cheap Software, N.Y. Times (Mar. 4, 2011). The ability of software to “put together a chain of events . . . over different media” and to “capture ‘digital anomalies’” by parties hoping to hide their activities depends on both artificial intelligence and metadata. Id.

Until recently, no federal court had considered the important issue of whether metadata is part of a public record and must thus be preserved by the federal government when responding to requests for information filed under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). FOIA (effective 1967) requires federal agencies to make records and documents publicly available unless they fall within one of several statutory exemptions, none of which is at issue here. FOIA further requires that the government provide requested records in any form or format requested by the person if the document is readily available in that form or format.

via Metadata, The Freedom of Information Act, and Government Hypocrisy – Ben Kerschberg – Law & Technology – Forbes.

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Interest in Records Management Rises, Email Still Badly Managed

October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

e-Discovery and Efficiency

On the good news front it seems that many enterprises are beginning to see the value of e-Discovery software and the value of moving from paper to electronic records. For enterprises with no records management system, the average legal e-Discovery request takes 25 days, while with one it takes 12 days.

For those using paper, the corresponding figures are 19 days on average, with 28% taking more than a month. Paper is also considered a good deal less efficient than e-Discovery software, which is reckoned to be three times more efficient than paper.

Search was also considered key to successful e-Discovery processes with 47% using ad-hoc search across file shares and email systems to find discoverable records. A further 24% use native search in their ECM or RM system, while 7% use enterprise search.

via Interest in Records Management Rises, Email Still Badly Managed.

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Nuix and kCura Announce Technology Partnership | Business Wire

September 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Nuix, a worldwide provider of electronic discovery and investigation technology, today announced it has entered into an independent software vendor (ISV) partnership with kCura, developers of the e-discovery review platform Relativity. Relativity will utilize Nuix technology to enable end users to collect, process, investigate, cull and transfer selected data into a Relativity database without worrying about load files or other compatibility issues.

“Nuix is a leader in the e-discovery space, and their constant focus on innovation makes their technology a great fit for Relativity and our clients.”

“The Nuix and Relativity integration will enable users to more simply utilize a fully-audited workflow from collection through to final review, production and presentation,” commented Nuix CEO Eddie Sheehy.

Nuix offers the world’s most advanced e-discovery solution, which operates at speeds twenty times faster on average than its competitors, while utilizing a much smaller hardware footprint. This has benefits including reducing the energy, man hours and processing power necessary to investigate and review data. It also has the broadest language and file-type compatibility of any e-discovery software on the market.

via Nuix and kCura Announce Technology Partnership | Business Wire.

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Outsourced Vs. In-House e-Discovery: Making The Right Choice

July 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A law firm’s size, its finances, and the number and technical prowess of a corporate legal department’s in-house staff are among the most important considerations when choosing to outsource e-Discovery or bring this mission-critical process in-house. Decision makers must also closely assess the complexity or “all-in-oneness” of e-Discovery software solutions and their infrastructure requirements before finalizing their decision.

The ability to manage E-Discovery is an essential business process staple at law firms and within legal departments. Access to electronic evidence, whether email messages, documents, text files, images, databases, spreadsheets, or audio files, increases efficiencies and bolsters ROI by saving immeasurable time in performing litigation and computer forensics. Making the wrong choice between outsourcing or bringing e-Discovery in-house can wreak havoc on a firm’s bottom line and its operational and procedural efficiencies.

via Outsourced Vs. In-House e-Discovery: Making The Right Choice.

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