Alextronic Discovery
Alextronic Discovery
An Electronic Discovery Blog covering News, Articles
and Thoughts for the Legal and Corporate Community Author: Alexander H. Lubarsky, LL.M., Esq. - alubarsky@enterusa.com - Tel. (415) 533-4166 OR 800-375-4222 THIS BLAWG IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE WEB SITES WWW.DISCOVERYRESOURCES.ORG OR WWW.DISCOVERYRESOURCES.COM


Sunday, February 15, 2004

AOL Matters  

AOL Matters

No not the web service provider, but the area of law, silly.

Chatting up lit. support peepes, litigators and clients on the ever evolving topic of ED, I have come to realize that one really needs to get a handle on the area of law that these folks find themselves in to get a real read on their concerns and objectives.

For example,

The corporate counsel are very concerned with retention policies and compliance in the face of Sarbanes-Oxley and other legislation which is constantly applying pressure on their clients.

Medical malpractice and health care professionals are very concerned with the authenticity of medical reports entered into evidence via e-discovery. The Supreme Court decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) which explored the reliability of contradicted expert medical testimony and documentary evidence has caused legal nurse consultants to inquire whether or not computer forensics can be implemented in order to determine if medical electronic evidence had been altered or otherwise changed and therefore could be deemed inadmissible. They are also goo goo over thee Federal court’s treatment of medical evidence in light of new tort reform via the holding of Wray v. Gregory, 61 F.3d 1414 (9th Cir. 1995). There, the courts limited the admission of scientific medical data when the veracity of such data could be called into question, forensic analysis is the determining tool when it comes to sifting the incontrovertible data from suspect data.

Then there are the insurance defense practitioners who are always concerned with ways to keep the evidence out be it via motions for protective orders, objections to requests or privilege review.

Labor and employment litigators love metadata. So when did that slimey bastard terminate my employee? Was it after she shot off the e-mail message saying, "I told you Manager Marvin, I am a happily married woman..."? Did Marvin open it? Was it printed?

Don't even get me started with IT litigators. They want every shred of electronic data under the moons of Jupiter. A .pst or .nsf file with its attendant Word or WordPerfect attachments is child's play to these folks. They are always asking me if we can open a .zxp or .erg file ... things that without fail elicit my "let me get back to you on that" out.

The Government wants cost quotes. The substance of the processing seems to take a back seat to their obligation to get a minimum of three competing quotes by vendors on their much coveted "approved provider lists."

The solo guy wants to know if he can do EDD on his own. After I explain the options, costs and learning curve for do it yourself EDD they then, without fail, ask for my business card as they'd rather dump the job on a professional as long as the price is right.

The anti-trust attorney (up against the DOJ) wants to know how e-data can be hosted and how easy or difficult it would be to share a platform with co-counsel. They are also big query buffs. Always wanting to pontificate on the advantages of Boolean verses segmented verses concept based... .

Maritime and immigration attorneys want to know what the heck is EDD again... is that some kinda protocol drafted during the latest round of the Hague convention or is it a soup?

Mass tort litigators like to know that ED will work with their current systems. Can I combine it wiht the paper? Can I throw it into Concordance? Does it come with Ginzu knives?

Constitutional and Civil Rights attorneys ask if they can get a freebie. Our cause is righteous and you will be a part of it... I get suckered into that one all the time.

Environmental attorneys always ask something, but I can never really understand anything they say. They lose me after their fifth recitation of CERCLA and the Clean Air Act. We usually end up making plans to go camping and tabling the EDD discussion.

PI attorneys approach... but I usually can't address their concerns cuz I'm too busy running like hell in the other direction.

I could go on but then again I hate to generalize.

posted by Alexander | 10:06 PM

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Alex Lubarsky is a practicing litigator and legal technology enthusiast. He was elected to the California State Bar Law Technology Executive Committee in 2003. Alex is a certified trainer and regularly teaches litigation support. Alex is frequent guest speaker at numerous legal technology conferences and State Bar events across the U.S. and has authored articles for legal technology publications such as Law Office Computing and The Bottom Line.

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