Software

May 13, 2023

Thank You to Computer Services Limited and Web interactive Technologies

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

Negligent Loss of Video Supports “Missing Evidence” Instruction in Criminal Case

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

Managing Small Cases – Excellent Sedona Conference Resource

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

New ABA “Reply All” Ethics Opinion

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

Hit Reports

“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

Attorney’s Duty to Protect Smartphone Data

“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

Snapchat Spoliation Blog: More on the Dangers of Unsupervised Self Collection

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

Burden of Proof: Sanctions for Intentional Deletion of Text Messages

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

Does Rule 34(b)(2)(E)(i) Mandate “Document Correlation” When ESI is Produced and, If So, Does Metadata Provide a “Work-Around” to Avoid the Costs of That Correlation Process?

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

Feds Can’t Hire ESI Vendor in Capitol Siege Criminal Cases

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

Marc Hirschfeld’s Legal Week Presentation

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

Book Review: “Electronic Discovery for Small Cases” (ABA 2012)

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

Computer Usage Policies and the “Reply All” Button

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

iPad App for Depositions

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

Kate Paslin Demonstrates Access Data CaseVantage 6 and Summation iBlaze

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

Patrick Burke Demonstrates EnCase Portable

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 […]