Electronic Discovery Navigator

Lawyers admit losing cases through information management failure

Lawyers admit losing cases through information management failure

"A survey of 500 lawyers in the UK has revealed that problems with processing digital information had led all of them to lose a case or suffer a significant legal impact on their work in the last two years.

All the lawyers surveyed admitted that in some cases they had been unable to locate or process electronically stored information (ESI) that could have been presented as evidence.

Some 54 percent said that ESI issues had materially affected cases in the last three months alone.
British lawyers are not unique in facing these difficulties, according to a survey conducted last month by LM Research for Symantec."

Study Finds that E-Discovery Using Enterprise-Wide Search Improves Results and Reduces Costs

Study Finds that E-Discovery Using Enterprise-Wide Search Improves Results and Reduces Costs

"ZL Technologies (http://www.zlti.com), the leader in archiving and e-discovery software for the large enterprise, has published a scientific paper in the Proceedings of the 18th NIST/Text Retrieval Conference (TREC), which details a significant gap in efficiency between traditional custodian-search and enterprise-wide search in e-discovery settings. The results demonstrate that organizations relying solely upon custodian-search are basing important legal decisions on incomplete information, which can lead to potential cost overruns and court sanctions.

ZL conducted this research using two separate evaluation teams working with the TREC Enron corpus of documents -- a volume of approximately 3,000,000 emails from more than 100 Enron employee mailboxes. The team using the custodian approach for searching the TREC documents failed to identify 84 percent of the responsive documents, and only identified four relevant custodians. In contrast, the enterprise-wide search team identified all responsive documents across 77 relevant custodians. The scope of enterprise-wide search enhances the ability of legal teams to find critical evidence that may influence legal strategy, particularly when counsel is determining whether to fight or settle a matter."

Over half of businesses lack formal data retention plan

Over half of businesses lack formal data retention plan

"More than half of businesses do not have a formal data retention plan, creating massive recovery problems due to the over-retention of information, according to a new report by Symantec.

The study, entitled 2010 Information Management Health Check Survey, reveals some shocking figures. Only 46 percent of the 1,680 global businesses asked had a data retention plan in place, meaning that most businesses lack formal procedures for addressing the storage of data and when, if ever, it gets deleted.

87 percent believed such a plan should allow them to delete unnecessary information, but 13 percent would rather not delete anything, even useless material, at all."

E-anxiety at record levels: analyst

E-anxiety at record levels: analyst

"Barely 20 percent of records management decision makers report they are "very confident" that, if challenged, their organisation could demonstrate their electronically stored information (ESI) is accurate, accessible, and trustworthy.

Effective records and retention management programs play a big role in mitigating legal risk caused by more regulations and legal discovery of ESI.

In 2010, more than half of records management (RM) stakeholders expect to expand their technology deployments. Yet stakeholders also describe a changing and complex market, including vendor and budget uncertainty, low satisfaction with current solutions, plans to expand content types under retention management, new certifications, e-discovery concerns, and internal organizational changes."

Kroll Ontrack Survey Validates Emerging Trends in Discovery Management

Kroll Ontrack Survey Validates Emerging Trends in Discovery Management

"Nearly 72 percent of legal professionals surveyed believe that discovery in the context of large-scale or complex litigation is being managed differently compared to a year ago. Furthermore, respondents believe that a differing approach to discovery management is being driven by the increased use of technology (78 percent) and a growing emphasis on cost management (68 percent) during the litigation lifecycle. These are key findings from a recently conducted survey by Kroll Ontrack, the industry’s largest provider of paper and electronic discovery, computer forensics and electronically stored information (ESI) consulting, jury consulting, and courtroom presentation services."

World still struggling with e-discovery: Survey

World still struggling with e-discovery: Survey

"Most organisations remain ill-equipped to manage information for electronic discovery requests in a timely and cost-effective manner. This is due to the lack of a proactive strategy, solutions and funding to properly address requests.

When asked which “information-centric” projects they would spend on in the next two years, respondents noted document workflow transformation, records management and e-discovery/compliance.

However, companies are still struggling with these fundamental requirements, primarily because they don’t understand the requirements for responding to e-discovery requests. In addition, they lack the funding for the right technology solutions to support finding the information they need."

E-Discovery Thrives in Tough Times

E-Discovery Thrives in Tough Times

"This week's LegalTech conference in New York is witnessing a host of e-discovery product offerings, and why not? In a down economy, lawsuits are one of the very few growth markets.

As Gartner put it in a research report last month, "Litigation is counter-cyclical, and with more trouble in the economy, there will be more litigation."

Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) senior analyst Brian Babineau cited a few reasons for e-discovery's enduring popularity.

Last August, Babineau said, the American College of Trial Lawyers released the results of a survey of about 1,500 trial lawyers. About 60 percent had cases that raised e-discovery issues, and 86 percent of those had issued or received a discovery request for electronically stored information (ESI) since the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) went into effect in December 2006. And more than 75% of the respondents said that discovery costs as a share of total litigation costs 'have increased disproportionately due to the advent of electronic discovery.'"

Year in Review: Courts Unsympathetic to Electronic Discovery Ignorance or Misconduct

Year in Review: Courts Unsympathetic to Electronic Discovery Ignorance or Misconduct

"Kroll Ontrack(R), the industry's leading provider of paper and electronic discovery, computer forensics and electronically stored information (ESI) consulting, jury consulting, and courtroom presentation services, today announced its analysis of the reported electronic discovery opinions and top five most significant discovery cases in 2008. Among the dominant topics reoccurring in the 2008 judicial opinions were the importance of creating and enforcing sound document retention policies, the use of proper search terms for production, and the consequences when parties fail to properly comply with discovery requests."

Bringing IT and Legal Teams Together for Discovery Could Help Mitigate Risk

Bringing IT and Legal Teams Together for Discovery Could Help Mitigate Risk

"One-third (30 percent) of attorneys and executives polled by Deloitte said their companies have no formal policies and procedures in place regarding legal holds, the process by which companies preserve evidence subject to discovery for lawsuits and other legal and regulatory matters.
"While the discovery process has become increasingly complex and therefore poses a significant challenge for corporate America, having no legal hold policy is a significant risk factor for companies," said Jeff Seymour, a principal in the Analytic & Forensic Technology practice of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. "Given the relatively low cost of establishing a policy framework and processes to address legal hold issues, it is surprising to see such a large percentage of corporate America lacking in this area."

According to attorneys and executives surveyed, responding to discovery requests has become significantly more complex (33 percent) and more costly (30 percent) during the past year. Less than one-third of respondents reported that their companies are very (20 percent) or extremely (7 percent) effective in managing the readiness aspect of the discovery process, which includes procedures and protocols to manage electronically stored information and hard copy documents in anticipation of discovery requests."

Fulbright & Jaworski 2008 Litigation Trends Survey Shows U.S. Companies Preparing for Rise in Litigation Following Two Years of Declines

Fulbright & Jaworski 2008 Litigation Trends Survey Shows U.S. Companies Preparing for Rise in Litigation Following Two Years of Declines

"Following two straight years of reporting declines in the number of new lawsuits and regulatory proceedings – including a drop in large-dollar cases – U.S. companies now anticipate an uptick in new actions and government probes, as well as the need to hire more in-house litigation staff to help manage the expected rise in disputes. Such is the outlook from the 2008 Litigation Trends Survey just published by international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

This is the fifth year Fulbright has polled corporate law departments in the U.S. and U.K. on the state of global litigation. The 2008 survey drew input from 358 in-house counsel on both sides of the Atlantic, including 251 U.S. respondents. The survey, initially launched by Fulbright in 2004, is the largest canvas of corporate counsel on litigation issues and trends.

“This year’s survey appears to mark an inflection point for American business, between the end of a prolonged period of prosperity and the start of a period of economic challenge that is likely to fuel litigation over who is to blame and who should pay for the consequences,” said Stephen C. Dillard, who chairs Fulbright’s global litigation practice. “Given that we were polling in-house counsel on the cusp of that transition, it’s no wonder that this year’s findings highlight both the evident calm before the storm, as well as the sense that disputes are on the rise.'"