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November 20, 2023
Published by Michael Berman at November 20, 2023
Categories
In No Expert Needed to Introduce Data Pulled From Phone at Trial (bloomberglaw.com) (Oct. 13, 2023), Mr. Peter Hayes reported on United States v. Williams, 83.F4th 994 (5th Cir. Oct. 13, 2023). Mr. Hayes wrote: “A police officer who introduces evidence extracted from a cellphone at trial doesn’t need to be qualified […]
September 11, 2023
Published by Michael Berman at September 11, 2023
Categories
This weekend, Alicia L. Shelton, Esq., and I taught the first of a three-module electronic discovery class at the Community College of Baltimore County. While I have been teaching electronic discovery classes at the University of Baltimore School of Law for a decade, this is the first program focused on paralegal training. […]
May 13, 2023
Published by Michael Berman at May 13, 2023
Categories
This is a thank you to Kevin Spargo, Vice President of Computer Services Limited, and Navid Raoofian, President, Web interactive Technologies. My wife and I sponsored a Ukrainian family whose home and business were bombed and destroyed in Bakhmut. They arrived here about a week ago under a U.S. government program. I […]
April 9, 2023
Published by Michael Berman at April 9, 2023
Categories
A conviction for a sex offense was reversed in Mondragon v. State, 2023 WL 2806288 (Apls. Ct. Md. Apr. 6, 2023)(unreported), because the trial court erroneously denied a “missing evidence” instruction. This blog addresses the holding that negligent loss of important evidence was sufficient to sustain a sanction. The history of, and […]
December 16, 2022
Published by Michael Berman at December 16, 2022
Categories
The Sedona Conference recently published a public comment version of its “Primer on Managing Electronic Discovery in Small Cases” (Dec. 2022). There has long been an interest in low-cost technology. For example, two decades ago, I wrote “Low Cost Litigation Technology” (Md. Bar Journal Nov./Dec. 2000). Similarly, Craig Ball has blogged about […]
November 9, 2022
Published by Michael Berman at November 9, 2022
Categories
A new ABA Ethics Opinion addresses the “reply all” conundrum. The issue arises when sending counsel copies their client on an email and receiving counsel replies to all persons on the email. That is a communication by receiving counsel to sending counsel’s represented client. ABA Formal Opinion 503 states that, when sending counsel […]
August 14, 2022
Published by Michael Berman at August 14, 2022
Categories
“Hit reports” have various names.[1] One issue that has often arisen is whether a producing party must produce every document on a hit report requested by an opponent, even if irrelevant or nonresponsive to discovery requests. Craig Ball has blogged on this issue since 2013. However, his recent blog explains that “the […]
April 15, 2022
Published by Michael Berman at April 15, 2022
Categories
“An attorney who stores the confidential identity of their clients on a smartphone must not consent to share contact information with an app unless that information won’t be shared with any human, the New York State Bar Association said.” D. McAfee, New York Bar Outlines Attorneys’ Duty to Protect Smartphone Data (bloomberglaw.com) (Apr. 13, […]
August 11, 2021
Published by Michael Berman at August 11, 2021
Categories
Thanks to Phil Favro of Driven, Inc., for his excellent post “Snapchat Spoliation Case Highlights the Importance of eDiscovery Competence” (Driven, Inc., Jul. 20, 2021). Phil’s blog discusses the importance of understanding the features of various messaging programs. I have recently blogged about a District of Maryland decision that conditionally approves of […]
July 21, 2021
Published by Michael Berman at July 21, 2021
Categories
In a prior blog, “Burden of Proof of Spoliation,” I noted District of Maryland authority holding that: “Absent guidance from the Fourth Circuit, ‘the general approach of courts in the Fourth Circuit has been to apply the clear and convincing evidence standard, especially where a relatively harsh sanction like an adverse inference […]
July 20, 2021
Published by Michael Berman at July 20, 2021
Categories
There has long been a split of opinion as to the applicability of the “document correlation” provision of Rule 34(E)(i) to the production of ESI.* In April of this year, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania weighed in.** There is, however, a straightforward way to avoid the problem. It involves negotiation, cooperation, and […]
July 18, 2021
Published by Michael Berman at July 18, 2021
Categories
Federal prosecutors have been precluded from hiring an ESI vendor to assist with massive e-discovery in criminal cases arising out of the January 6th prosecutions. Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP is barred from helping federal prosecutors and other government staff sort and organize the huge volumes of electronic data and other evidence […]
February 14, 2021
Published by Michael Berman at February 14, 2021
Categories
Marc Hirschfeld’s presentation at Legal Week, “Navigating the Pitfalls of E-Discovery for Boutique Litigators,” is well worth watching on Vimeo and Legal Week. Marc is the owner and president of Precision Legal Services. Marc and I have collaborated on many projects. Marc discusses a number of topics in the one-hour video. Among […]
July 14, 2012
Published by Michael Berman at July 14, 2012
Categories
Bruce Olson and Tom O’Connor, “Electronic Discovery for Small Cases” (ABA 2012), addresses one of the most important topics in the ESI field, proportionality, in an elegant, clear, and concise manner. Its chief virtue is that, instead of listing a parade of horribles and describing multi-million dollar sanctions awards, it provides low-cost […]
May 2, 2011
Published by Michael Berman at May 2, 2011
Businesses manage their information technology assets through computer usage policies. Tonya L. Johnson recently provided an interesting post on the American Bar Association site. Noting the potential for error when “reply all” is selected inadvertently, she wrote that the market research firm, Nielsen, had removed that option from employee email systems. Ms. Johnson […]
April 25, 2011
Published by Michael Berman at April 25, 2011
Joshua Gilliland, author of the Bow Tie blog and Bow Tie Law blog, and president of Majority Opinion, LLC, was kind enough to provide me with a complimentary copy of his new iPad App, called The Deponent App. Deponent marries document assembly principles with a database of stock deposition questions that can be […]
April 18, 2011
Published by Michael Berman at April 18, 2011
Categories
Kate Paslin, Assistant General Counsel of AccessData Corporation, presented and discussed a number of the company’s software products to a University of Baltimore law school ESI seminar. Kate discussed CaseVantage 6 with secure sharing over web-based portals and the ability to define user profiles for, for example, expert witnesses or document reviewers, […]
April 17, 2011
Published by Michael Berman at April 17, 2011
Categories
Patrick Burke, Assistant General Counsel, described the capabilities of Guidance Software’s EnCase suite of applications to a University of Baltimore School of Law ESI seminar. In addition to enterprise collection and forensic preservation capabilities, Mr. Burke discussed the project-based capabilities of the new, low-cost EnCase Portable software. This product is simple to […]