Saturday, December 29, 2007
Part Two: Discovering E-Discovery on the Web
[The following column originally appeared in print in October 2007. I am republishing it as part of my continuing effort to maintain an archive of my published columns. Important note: I have not updated this since its original publication. While most of the sites remain as described, some may have changed. All information was current as of the date of original publication.]
Second of two parts. (Part one.)
As I wrote last month in the first half of this two-part column, no lawyer today can afford to ignore e-discovery. No matter the case, digital data is likely to be implicated. That means lawyers urgently need to understand e-discovery and keep abreast of developments in the field.
In last month's column, I looked at some of the more useful Web sites for learning about and keeping current with this essential area of practice. This month, I survey blogs about e-discovery and look at some vendors' sites that include useful resources.
E-Discovery Blogs
As I write this column, at least two e-discovery blogs have launched within the last two weeks, attesting to the significance of this field. Of the 19 blogs surveyed here, some focus on e-discovery law and practice and others on the e-discovery industry, but all are potentially useful for keeping current with the field.
- Alextronic Discovery. Alexander H. Lubarsky, the California litigator who writes this blog, admits to a bit of writer's block lately, but vows to pick up the pace of his postings. If he does, his blog is worth following.
- Dennis Kennedy. Lawyer and consultant Kennedy writes about a range of legal-technology topics and frequently covers e-discovery.
- EDD Blog Online. Written by Jeff Fehrman, president of Electronic Evidence Labs, a division of e-discovery vendor ONSITE3, and consultant Bob Krantz, this blog promises an "insider's look" at e-discovery. Many of the posts are excerpts of articles from other sources.
- EDD Update. Unveiled in September as a joint project of Law Technology News and Law.com Legal Technology, this blog is a venue for posting breaking news, key verdicts and judicial rulings, articles, press releases and more. It features a board of contributors that includes leading lawyers and consultants in the field – and also me.
- E-Discovery and Computer Forensic Blog. The blog of a Los Angeles e-discovery company, many posts are full-text articles from other sources.
- E-Discovery in the Trenches. When he launched this blog in April 2007, Jerry Bui, an e-discovery manager with KPMG, dedicated it to those who work "directly in the trenches on EDD projects." Since May, he has posted nothing new.
- E-Discovery Team. Ralph C. Losey, co-chair of the e-discovery team at the law firm Akerman Senterfitt in Orlando, writes this top-notch blog. His posts are frequent and substantive, covering both e-discovery law and practice.
- E-discovery 2.0. Subtitled, "Thoughts about the evolution of e-discovery," this blog is written by Aaref Hilaly, CEO of e-discovery company Clearwell Systems.
- Electronic Discovery and Evidence. Michael Arkfeld, author of the treatise, Electronic Discovery and Evidence, uses this blog to report updates in the law of e-discovery, although his postings are infrequent.
- Electronic Discovery Blog. Before he became an attorney, the author of this blog, W. Lawrence Wescott II, was an IT manager, a background that enables him to writes knowledgeably about both law and technology.
- Electronic Discovery Law. Technology lawyers at the firm K & L Gates write this blog that includes summaries of court decisions and updates on related legal issues.
- Information Governance Engagement Area. Rob Robinson, a marketing veteran who has worked with several e-discovery companies, maintains this blog as somewhat of a clipping tool for aggregating e-discovery news.
- In re Discovery. The blog of Socha Consulting, the firm discussed in part one of this column that publishes the annual Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey.
- LawTech Guru Blog. A well-known writer on a range of legal technology issues, Jeff Beard frequently blogs about new developments in e-discovery.
- Litigation Support Industry News. This blog tracks news about the companies that provide litigation support and e-discovery services. It is written by Brad Jenkins, president and CEO of Trial Solutions of Texas.
- On the Mark. Launched in October 2007, this is the blog of Mark V. Reichenbach, a vice president at MetaLINCS and two-decade veteran of e-discovery and litigation support for companies and law firms. In his blog, he comments "on the issues and happenings of our industry."
- Ride the Lightning. The author of this blog, lawyer Sharon D. Nelson, is president of computer forensics company Sensei Enterprises and a widely known speaker and writer on legal technology. She introduced her blog in July 2007 with the goal of helping readers better understand electronic evidence.
- Sound Evidence. One of the best known e-discovery blogs, it is written by Mary Mack, technology counsel to e-discovery company Fios and co-author of the book, A Process of Illumination: The Practical Guide to Electronic Discovery.
- Strategic Legal Technology. Lawyer and legal technology consultant Ron Friedmann writes about e-discovery, litigation support, KM and other technology topics.
A number of companies that market e-discovery services also provide useful resources on their Web sites. In part one of this article, I described DiscoveryResources.org, an e-discovery portal sponsored by the company Fios. The company's main site at www.fiosinc.com provides an array of resources in its own right, some that overlap with its other site and some that do not.
Other companies whose sites include useful resources for lawyers include:
- Applied Discovery. This LexisNexis division offers the Applied Discovery Law Library, a surprisingly diverse selection of case summaries, model forms, articles and white papers. Worth noting is the library's collection of court rules, covering state as well as federal rules and including links to related ethics rulings.
- Attenex. Among the various resources available here, two offerings stand out as particularly useful. First is the collection of "on-demand webcasts" – previously recorded Web seminars on topics such as best practices, controlling costs and native file review. Also worthwhile is the library of white papers on a range of practical e-discovery topics, many written by practitioners.
- Catalyst. CEO John Tredennick is nationally known both as an accomplished trial lawyer with Holland & Hart and as a writer and speaker on legal technology. Find your way to the site's news page, then click the "articles" tab, for articles written by him and others on e-discovery and document management.
- CT Summation. A small collection of white papers focuses on topics relating to e-discovery and use of electronic evidence.
- Merrill Corporation. Within the Legal Solutions section of Merrill's site is a Knowledge Center with a selection of articles to download. Topics include choosing an e-discovery vendor and managing electronic evidence.
- Ontrack Data Recovery. Discovery of electronic data sometimes requires recovery of lost electronic data, thanks to hard-drive damage or system failure. Ontrack's site offers more than three-dozen substantive articles and white papers on data recovery. The easiest way to find them is via the site map.
- Sensei Enterprises. If you've ever been to a legal technology seminar or read a legal technology magazine, odds are you have encountered either Sharon D. Nelson or John W. Simek, Sensei's principals. Both are popular speakers and authors. Fortunately for those who have not, they provide a library on their Web site of their broad-ranging articles dating back to 2002.
- Stratify. Skip the "eDiscovery Resources" section of this site, where the focus is on pitching Stratify's products, and go instead to its selections of white papers and published articles. The latter, in particular, has several good pieces on e-discovery practice and technology.
Labels: column, e-discovery
posted by Robert Ambrogi @ 4:59 PM,
1 Comments:
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At 5:25 PM,
Rob Robinson said...
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Robert,
Thanks for the list of resources and kind "mention". I certainly enjoy your print/online/podcast contributions.
Have a great Holiday Season.
Rob Robinson
