eDiscovery Amends The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure
August 13, 2013
When eDiscovery came onto the scene it changed the way information was processed, which in turn changed laws and litigation. Clearwell Systems’s eDiscovery Blog takes “A Comprehensive Look At The Newly Proposed eDiscovery Amendments To The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure.” The Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved for public comment amendments that are supposed to streamline discovery, encourage cooperative advocacy, eliminate gamesmanship, and most importantly provide solutions for the endless eDiscovery–related problems. The blog plans to cover all the proposed amendments with insights on how they will affect judicial case management. It will pay special attention to Federal Rule 37(e) that will crate a uniform national standard for discovery sanctions stemming from failures to preserve evidence.
What exactly will the amendments change?
“Drafted by the Civil Rules Advisory Committee, the proposed amendments are generally designed to facilitate the tripartite aims of Federal Rule 1 in the discovery process. To carry out Rule 1’s lofty yet important mandate of securing “the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination” of litigation, the Committee has proposed several modifications to advance the notions of cooperation and proportionality. Other changes focus on improving “early and effective judicial case management.” Judicial Conference of the United States, Report of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules 4 (May 8, 2013) (Report).”
So far Rule 1 is trying to make lawyers and associated parties play together nicely. No doubt parameters will be set, but would it not be easier to have everyone watch a few episodes of Sesame Street?
Whitney Grace, August 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Xerox Branches Into Customer Service
August 7, 2013
Isn’t Xerox a copier company? Well, lately it has also been doing litigation and eDiscovery work. Now, Yahoo Finance tells us in “Xerox Acquires Customer Value Group,” the company is adding cloud-based customer service to its repertoire with its latest acquisition. (No word here on how much Xerox shelled out in this deal.)
Customer service? Our top goose remarks that he once called Xerox for help with a DocuTech scanner. He was reminded to ask his assistant whether he is still on hold.
The write-up tells us:
“Leading software company Customer Value Group’s key Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud application enhances cash collections of diverse firms by simplifying management of customer credit, collections, and disputes. It has an in-depth expertise in cloud-based accounts receivable software and manages the order-to-cash process that is related to approximately $15 billion of revenues in eight countries and multiple currencies.
“With this acquisition, Xerox aims to strengthen itself as a as a stand-alone software application provider for managing internal finances of various companies. As part of its finance and accounting process outsourcing services, Xerox will offer Customer Value Group’s Value+ product to its clients.”
The article emphasizes that Xerox will continue to comb the globe for choice enterprises to snap up in the years ahead. The company, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, now houses three operating segments, Technology, Services, and “Others”. That last one— well, that’s one way to avoid boxing yourself in.
With a focus on innovation and leading-edge software, The Customer Value Group boasts of a typical ROI 5 to 10 times the cost of engagement. The London-based company brings several prominent credit, collections, and customer-service clients to the table.
Cynthia Murrell, August 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Acquisition of Gigablast by Yippy Leaves Some Questions Unanswered
July 19, 2013
An article on Yahoo titled Yippy, Inc. (YIPI) to Acquire Gigablast, Inc. And Web Research Properties, LLC to Expand Consumer Search, Enterprise, and eDiscovery Products reported on the important acquisition by the young company. Yippy, Inc. is a search clustering tech company based in Florida with some innovative eDiscovery resources. Matt Wells, the founder of Gigablast states in the article,
“Gigablast and its related properties can provide advanced technologies for consumer, eDiscovery, and enterprise big data customers. Gigabits, a related program, is the first operational enterprise class clustering program which I put into service in 2004. Yippy’s Velocity platform was essentially based off of my original work which will allow Yippy to sell behind the firewall installations for all types of search based applications for enterprise and eDiscovery customers.”
Yippy’s Chief Executive Rich Granville claims that the acquisition will not only benefit customers through technological innovation but by low costs. He directed interested parties to a demo that might illustrate the massive potential in the merger of these companies. The demo shows that the combined indexing of billions of pages of data has already begun, although not when it will be complete. What is less clear is who is indexing what in this tie-up?
Chelsea Kerwin, July 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
DuPont v Kolon Industries Shines Light on Keyword Search and Spoliation and Ignores Predictive Coding
June 27, 2013
The article on e-discovery 2.0 titled The eDiscovery Trinity: Spoliation Sanctions, Keywords and Predictive Coding explores the three issues most relevant to clients and council. One case cited is Dupont v. Kolon Industries, an intellectual property lawsuit in which Kolon’s complaint was that DuPont’s forensic experts failed to exercise an efficient keyword search, meaning that of the nearly 18,000 hits only about ten percent were relevant. The article explains,
“Kolon then asserted that the “reckless inefficiency” of the search methodology was “fairly attributable to the fact that DuPont ran insipid keywords like ‘other,’ ‘news,’ and ‘mail.’” The court observed how important search terms had become in discovery: “… in the current world of litigation, where so many documents are stored and, hence, produced, electronically, the selection of search terms is an important decision because it, in turn, drives the subsequent document discovery, production and review.”
Ultimately the court favored Dupont, calling their efforts reasonable. The article mentions that although spoliation and keywords were taken into consideration in this particular case, it did not address predictive coding. What would have happened if DuPont had utilized predictive coding is entirely hypothetical, but some do argue that it could have minimized the cost and produced the same group of relevant documents. The article, though an evocative metaphor for eDiscovery, is certainly not the end of the debate.
Chelsea Kerwin, June 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Zylab Offers Guidance on International eDiscovery
April 16, 2013
The complex issues surrounding eDiscovery only get more tangled when you consider cross-border transfers of information. Prominent eDiscovery and data management firm Zylab held a helpful webinar on the matter, and supplies a summary of it (and more) in an interview with the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. The company’s Mary Mack speaks in, “Today’s Most Challenging Litigation Cost Issues: Privacy, Privilege, and Over-Preservation Related to ESI” [Electronically Stored Information].
Mack explains issues around the evolving global eDiscovery landscape clearly and concisely—I highly recommend the article. She touches on social media privacy and the costs of over-preservation. She also supplies timely insights into international developments. For example, she states:
“It has been very difficult for companies to move data for legal purposes across borders and in a timely manner. The EU is now trying to clarify the rules with respect to data protection, but in doing so it has opened up a whole can of worms and a world of opportunity. Under the EU draft, there are permissions to get and standards to achieve with respect to things such as apps, cookies and cloud computing. Silicon Valley has been lobbying quite a bit on this issue because apps and cloud are international, just as the Internet is international.
“Also, the EU is working with APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation) on privacy rules. Therefore, it is doubly important that there be U.S. involvement during this inflection time.”
Organizations around the world turn to ZyLAB for help with eDiscovery issues. The company was founded in 1983, with the release of the first full-text retrieval software for the PC. It’s eDiscovery/ Information Management platform, ZyLAB Information Management Platform, was released in 2010.
Cynthia Murrell, April 16, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Oracle Upgrades Discovery and BI Tools
April 14, 2013
Oracle has released upgrades aimed at improving business outcomes and simplifying IT requirements, we learn from a press release posted at MarketWatch, “Oracle Extends Business Analytics Portfolio Empowering Organizations to Transform Data Into Insights.” Both Endeca Information Discovery and Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite have been enhanced. The company points out that both solutions perform best on their tailor-made Exalytics In-Memory Machine. The write-up informs us:
“Oracle Endeca Information Discovery 3.0 delivers a completely redesigned user interface that offers new drag and drop visualizations to provide users with a superior discovery experience, new personal data load for business users to add their own Excel data files to IT provided data, and new Oracle BI Server connectivity, to leverage trusted data from existing analytic applications, along with other features.
“Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite Release 11.1.1.7 delivers significant enhancements to usability, mobility, user experience and Big Data integration, enabling organizations to analyze critical information and get the intelligence they need to optimize their business.
“Endeca Information Discovery and Oracle BI Foundation Suite run better on Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine, the industry’s first engineered system for Business Analytics. Oracle Exalytics takes best-in class analytics and in-memory software engineered on high-performance hardware to reduce the cost and complexity of IT infrastructures while increasing productivity and performance for data discovery, business intelligence, modeling and planning applications.”
This Exalytics machine has the potential to make the entire BI undertaking much, much simpler. Endeca, acquired by Oracle in 2011, has long been a strong player in the enterprise discovery field. Oracle’s BI suite integrates several key features in one platform: enterprise reporting, dashboards, ad-hoc analysis, scenario analysis, scorecards, and predictive analytics. The company’s commitment to supplying cutting-edge technology while maintaining easy-to-use interfaces is apparent in these latest improvements.
Cynthia Murrell, April 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Europe Wants eDiscovery Standards
February 28, 2013
The eDiscovery process has been employed by businesses and government organizations for many years, but few and far between have developed standards for it. In an exciting and surprising news brief Enterprise Communications reports that, “New Committee Formed To Develop eDiscovery Process Standards.” The International Standards Organization (ISO) has taken upon itself to develop procedures for technology companies and their clients on how to handle digital data.
Methods have already been written for digital forensics and electronic data preservation, but nobody knew whose umbrella eDiscovery fell. It has mostly been tied to the legal community, but eDiscovery covers more ground than simple law.
“Generally, the concept has been well-received; eDiscovery practice leader at Stroz Friedberg, Tom Barnett, said: ‘eDiscovery is not a legal process. It’s a technical and engineering problem. You need a standard. Because it is a relatively new industry, a lot of people do things their own way. I think it’ll be good for the industry to be able to separate the people who are really serious about process and quality control from the people who aren’t.’”
The ISO will need to figure out what processes it needs to standardize and what will work related to the cloud, predictive coding, social networking, etc. It is a great leap forward for eDiscovery, but it is alarming that Europe is developing these standards first. Won’t the US Wild West methods work West of Manhattan?
Whitney Grace, February 28, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
dtSearch Harnesses TV Power
February 19, 2013
Written tutorial guides do not help visual learners, so when videos were added it became much easier to learn and troubleshoot with someone doing the process in “real time.” The dtSearch Corporation is a renowned software company, specializing in text search and spidering for desktops and networks along with a range of search products for enterprise search, and engines for Linux and Windows. The dtSearch Corporation decided it was time to take to the Internet TV waves and make their own tutorial videos. Several videos about dtSearch have been posted on eDiscovery TV-Law Meets Technology. Each of the videos walks users through how to use dtSearch and take advantage of its many features. The tutorial comes in five parts:
With eDiscovery becoming more prevalent in the legal world, dtSearch created AccessData: “AccessData provides court-validated, state-of-the-art computer forensics, eDiscovery and cyber security solutions. Built on its gold-standard forensics technology, Forensic Toolkit, AD eDiscovery is a comprehensive electronic discovery software solution. In addition, AccessData’s legal review technology, Summation, is used by more law firms than any other solution.” EDiscovery is working its way through the news and dtSearch does not want to be forgotten. These videos are instructional, but they could be a push for legal technology conference attendees.
Whitney Grace, February 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
An Overview Of eDiscovery From A Lady
February 18, 2013
The practice of e-Discovery is currently blossoming in the legal system. It provides important insights in litigation and evidence for cases, but what does the future have in store for e-Discovery? Laura Zubulake was a plaintiff in a case that changed the legal system and how it uses technology. She was recently interviewed for Clearwell Systems e-Discovery 2.0 blog in the post, “Q&A With Allison Walton Of Symantec And Laura Zubulake, Author Of Zubulake’s e-Discovery: The Untold Story Of My Quest For Justice.”
Zubulake voiced that technology had advanced greatly for e-Discovery, but organizations have not made any great strides in information management. She believes as time goes on e-Discovery will become absorbed in information governance, though a need for e-Discovery experts will arise and require companies to bring in third-parties. Organizations will come to realize the importance of e-Discovery and start restructuring to include it. The government will be one of the main forces that drive e-Discovery adoption, especially when it comes to procuring information or evidence. State and federal governments will be among the first to have laws and procedures for using it. One of the biggest changes is that users will finally understand the power of search algorithms:
“Algorithms become an accepted search tool. Although keyword, concept, cluster, etc. searches will still play a role. For years, law enforcement, government, and Wall Street have used algorithms—the concept is not new and not without peril (significant market corrections were the result of algorithms gone wrong). Parties confronted with volumes of data and limited resources will have no choice but to agree to computer assistance. However, negative perceptions and concerns about algorithms will only change when there is a case where the parties initiate and voluntarily agree to their use.”
Will 2013 be the year e-Discovery is magically accepted without question? The technology will continue to advance and newer, “younger” organizations will be quick to adopt, but moving established organizations (like the government) is going to be pushing a boulder up hill. People like Zubulake are taking a hammer and finding the boulder’s weak point, then carrying the pieces up hill.
Whitney Grace, February 18, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Autonomy Improves its eDiscovery Software
February 15, 2013
HP is on the move, leveraging their Autonomy investment with new features, we learn in the company’s announcement, “HP Autonomy Strengthens eDiscovery Solution with New Information Governance Capabilities.”
The crucial early case assessment (ECA) phase occurs at the onset of a legal procedure, when large volumes of data must be assessed quickly, thoroughly, and carefully. The press release informs us:
“Autonomy has extended its Meaning Based Coding (MBC) capability to its ECA module, further enhancing its in-depth eDiscovery analysis capabilities. Autonomy’s MBC capabilities enable organizations to automate analysis based on the Autonomy Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), which quickly categorizes data by concepts, ideas and patterns in information. Unlike traditional predictive coding technologies, MBC classifications are carried through to the review and production phase without new processing or indexing. As a result, Autonomy ECA can perform an analysis of the data faster, more accurately and at a lower cost.”
Also new is the software’s integration with HP’s Application Information Optimizer, which automates data migration and retirement. Furthermore, Autonomy has added native discovery functionality to the on-premise version of their archiving solution, Autonomy Consolidated Archive. They say these improvements streamline the eDiscovery process, saving money, time, and frustration.
Autonomy, founded in 1996, offers solutions that use IDOL to tame mind-boggling amounts of unstructured data. The technology grew from research originally performed at Cambridge University, and now serves prominent public and private organizations around the world. HP acquired Autonomy in 2011.
Cynthia Murrell, February 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
