LitWorks

Announcing LitWorks Spring Training Schedule

esantiago — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:39:55 +0000

LitWorks™ Announces 2010 Spring Course Schedule

Lineup includes a special one-day e-discovery workshop in Chicago

ATLANTA – February 24, 2010 – Document Technologies, Inc. (DTI), the nation’s largest independent provider of legal support services and document outsourcing, and its wholly-owned training company LitWorks™, today announced LitWorks’ 2010 spring course schedule along with a special training event being held next month in Chicago, IL. The E-discovery Management Workshop will take place on March 23, 2010 at DTI’s newest Regional Technology Center in the heart of downtown Chicago by LitWorks’ Training Director Erika Santiago.

The one-day Chicago seminar is designed for litigation support professionals and litigation paralegals and will focus on developing project management skills for electronic discovery. Participants will learn how to plan and manage e-discovery projects, cost containment and budgeting techniques, and develop a checklist for scoping and change management.

Additionally LitWorks, the first and most comprehensive training company dedicated to developing and sharing best practices in the litigation support industry, is offering the following two courses this spring:

LitWorks Certified Litigation Support Manager Training is being offered March 9-11, 2010. The three-day course focuses on a mix of business skills, litigation support, e-discovery and technology and is offered to litigation support supervisors, managers, and directors seeking to build or grow their departments to better compete in today’s competitive litigation environment.

LitWorks Certified Litigation Support Professional Training will be offered April 20-23, 2010. This is a four-day course offering industry best practices learned through hands-on experience, networking with peers, and reviewing leading software tools. The course is designed for professionals with one to five years of litigation technology support experience, or for litigation paralegals, document review attorneys and legal IT professionals.

To register for these or any upcoming LitWorks training courses, visit www.LitWorks.net.

LitWorks is among the industry’s premier providers of formal training courses specifically developed for litigation support professionals. The company also offers a three-day Certified Litigation Support Project Manager Training course, focusing specifically on project management skills. Last year LitWorks also announced the addition of custom Web-based training courses for law firms and corporate legal departments.

DTI delivers a full range of electronic data discovery solutions including data collection, processing, Web hosting and review, along with traditional paper-based litigation support services and comprehensive facilities management services at locations throughout the U.S.

About LitWorks™

LitWorks™, a DTI Company, is a leading provider of comprehensive training programs for litigation support professionals in AmLaw 200 law firms and Fortune 500 corporate legal departments. For more than five years, LitWorks™ has been dedicated to developing and sharing best practices in the litigation support industry through a variety of consulting and training services.

About DTI

Document Technologies, Inc. (DTI) is the nation’s largest independent provider of legal support services and document outsourcing, servicing clients through offices in 22 markets across the U.S. DTI delivers end-to-end solutions for electronic discovery including forensics, data collection, processing and an array of hosting platforms to meet a variety of litigation support needs. The company also provides facilities management and traditional paper-based litigation support services. DTI services both top law firms and Fortune 500 clients. For more information, visit www.DTIGlobal.com.

Contact

Erika Santiago

LitWorks – A DTI Company

404.610.0270

esantiago@LitWorks.net

Are you a good listener?

esantiago — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:00:04 +0000

Communication skills are extremely important for litigation support professionals to master. There are many blogs and articles devoted to the subject… we cover it in all three of our classes at LitWorks. Today, I’m interested in discussing the lost art of communicating in person. Some might refer to it as interpersonal skills or the art of conversation… In our classes, we discuss the responsibilities of the “sender” and the “receiver” and asking lots of follow up questions. Sending e-mails around to our case teams provides us with the security of a virtual paper trail and project documentation. However, sometimes we must step out of our comfort zone (and our cubicle) to meet face-to-face with an attorney or paralegal to discuss important technology decisions for the litigation matter.

The bottom line is that if you really want to effectively communicate something, especially if it is important and will need some discussion, there is nothing as good as face-to-face communication. If that is impractical, if you really want to communicate, pick up the phone and talk. My guess is that many people avoid these two methods because they find it more difficult, and places them outside their “comfort zone.” Effective communication necessitates doing what is necessary, and not simply developing a dependency on these less effective, but certainly easier techniques. Continue…

Be sure that you completely understand all of the options available and have prepared possible answers to your follow up questions before you engage in a face-to-face meeting. Then you will be ready to listen. Listening or “receiving“ information is just as important as “sending” or speaking.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to read more about being a good listener.

Time Management Skills for LSPs

esantiago — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:49:19 +0000

Time management in litigation is largely based on a sense of urgency… and a healthy dose of “hurry up and wait.” This makes managing our time as litigation support professionals a little challenging. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about our industry is the opportunity to learn something new or have a new challenge every day. However, this is exactly why many of us fail at time management. Watch the video below and think about how Steven Covey’s four quadrant methodology as explained by Dr. Darryl Cross can be applied to your role as a litigation support professional.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We discuss this time management methodology in our litigation support manager and project manager classes. Download a copy of the four quadrants here. A summary can be found here.

How do you successfully manage your time?

Industry Update on Legal Holds

esantiago — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:42:36 +0000

The e-discovery blogs and tweets in the last few weeks have brought the discussion of legal holds and e-discovery back into the forefront. Here is a quick overview of some of the highlights:

Judge Scheindlin of Zubulake Issues “Amended” Comprehensive Legal Hold Opinion

The Judge that brought us the now famous Zubulake series of legal hold decisions has weighed in on the state of litigation holds in the United States. Her latest decision considers facts over a period of time from pre-Zubulake through the present. In a lengthy and well researched opinion (including 251 footnotes) the Judge carefully analyzes the state of legal hold law in the United States (a footnote suggests the Judge and two law clerks spent over 300 hours researching and writing the opinion). Since issuing the Opinion on January 11, 2010, the Judge amended it on January 15, 2010. Why? I suspect some friends in the e-discovery world gave the Judge an earful on her position that backup tapes of key players must be preserved to avoid spoliation sanctions. Words to this effect appeared twice in the Opinion. The amendment removed this overreaching requirement. (continue reading)

Raising the Bar – Judge Scheindlin Defines Gross Negligence in Spoliation

Pension Committee provides a thoughtful analysis of the whole field of ESI spoliation and sanctions, especially on the issues of evaluation of levels of culpability and burden of proof. This is a scholarly opinion with citations from around the country. It is not only written in the compelling, erudite manner we have come to expect from Judge Scheindlin, but fills in several gaps in the law of spoliation. (continue reading)

e-Discovery Traps (and Significant Sanctions) for the Unwary

The plaintiffs in the case failed to issue litigation hold notices until 2007, even though the litigation commenced in February 2004. The sanctions were significant:

attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the defendants in bringing their motion,

costs of discovery relating to uncovering the facts of the wrongdoing, and

a jury instruction highlighting certain of the plaintiffs’ gross negligence in complying with discovery and explaining how the jury can conclude that an adverse inference should be drawn against those plaintiffs.

Authenticating Facebook Pages as Evidence

esantiago — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:18:34 +0000

Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace seem to track and record an individual’s every move. As electronically stored information (ESI) they are beginning to show up as potential evidence in civil, as well as, criminal litigation matters. Here are a couple of articles to get you caught up on all the buzz around this hot e-discovery topic:

“Authenticating Web Pages as Evidence”

Plaintiff sues your client, claiming that his injuries have significantly affected his lifestyle. He is unable to work, travel or bowl. Not surprisingly, his spouse alleges loss of consortium. On the eve of trial, you discover pictures and other details on a social networking website about plaintiff’s recent trip to the International Bowling Museum & Hall of Fame, including a picture of plaintiff proudly holding a fluorescent orange bowling ball and a four-foot tall gilded trophy dated four days earlier. As you approach the witness with printouts of the web pages, you are stopped in your tracks: “Objection, lack of foundation.”

“Facebook GC Tells Lawyers He’s Looking for a Fight“

LegalTech keynote speaker Mark Howitson said Facebook is looking for clarity from a federal ruling

Searching & E-Discovery

esantiago — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:43:39 +0000

Quite a bit has been written about the Victor Stanley v. Creative Pipe case in the past year. Specifically, this case is important to review & discuss because of how the court viewed searching methodologies in electronic discovery.

Read about the case here. And here. And here.

Or simply watch the video below … it’s only three minutes and provides an excellent summary.

This video is an excerpt from the last day of a law school class on Electronic Discovery taught by Professor Bill Hamilton and Ralph Losey at the University of Florida. This three minute take summarizes and reminds the students about Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc., 250 FRD 251, 2008 WL 2221841 (D.C. M.D. 2008). This decision by Judge Paul Grimm is, in our view, one of the more important cases in the field. See e-discoveryteam.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

E‐Discovery Management Workshop

esantiago — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:22:05 +0000

Join Erika Santiago for a one‐day workshop in Chicago

to develop your project management skills for electronic discovery

Who should attend? Litigation Support Professionals, Litigation Paralegals

Participants will learn:

How to plan & manage e‐discovery projects
Cost containment & budgeting techniques
To develop a check list for scoping & change management

When? Wednesday, March 23, 2010 – 8:30am – 3:30pm

Where? Document Technologies, Inc. – Chicago

105 West Adams Street, Suite 1200
Chicago, IL 60603
312.739.9999 phone | 312.739.0899 fax | chicago@dtiglobal.com

Tuition? $350 per attendee

For more information or to register for this event, please send an email to esantiago@litworks.net or contact us here.

Workshop Schedule

8:30 am – 9:00 am – Networking Breakfast
9:00 am – 12:00 pm – Electronic Discovery Project Management Seminar
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Networking Lunch
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Electronic Discovery Project Management Exercises
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Review / Q & A

Reporting on Trends & Industry News

esantiago — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:53:20 +0000

Where do you go to stay current on industry trends and news? If I were writing an F.A.Q. this question would be at the top of the list. Four websites that do a great job on a weekly basis of providing a list of articles, blog posts and timely information are:

All actively seek to inform litigation support professionals about technology trends and industry news in a pretty neutral manner. Where do you get your litigation support & e-discovery news?

The E-Discovery Application Matrix

esantiago — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:31:46 +0000

As a litigation support manager, you may be tasked with researching and selecting a standard litigation & e-discovery application(s) for your firm or organization. I’ve found the eDiscovery Application Matrix by Greg Buckles to be a great resource to kick start your research. We discuss this tool and other aspects of selecting software for your case teams in our Litigation Support Manager training class.

The E-Discovery Application Matrix is a non-commercial, independent site built to provide a fast and easy way to find software applications that contain specific E-Discovery related features. The site was created to help untangle the large number of providers, features and the sheer complexity of the application selection process. The features are grouped by Electronic Discovery Reference Model phase. You can select the features that you need and see who provides them. Alternatively, if you know that you just need to find all applications that deduplicate in the Collection phase, there is a quick selection option below.

Applications are submitted and reviewed by the public and the providers without subjective value statements or marketing language. We rely on public feedback to correct inaccurate listings and encourage you to contribute new applications and features. Please remember that you must independently verify all features and functionality during your purchase process. The site does not endorse or promote any application. With the number of new applications and versions available, it is certain that the listings will never be completely up to date, but it is a place to start.

Discussion:

If you have purchased / researched e-discovery software in the past, what are the most important things to look for when planning to purchase new software?
What do you think about the move some organizations (law firms, corporations, government agencies) have made to outsource litigation document review applications to a hosted SaaS environment?
What do you wish you knew before you purchased in-house ESI processing software?

Legal Tech NY 2010 – Highlights

esantiago — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:14:31 +0000

I think I counted close to twenty blogs or articles that summarized the news and trends coming out of Legal Tech NY this year. That’s a lot of reading… If you didn’t have the opportunity to attend or if you were there but were not able to be everywhere at once, then I hope the following list of resources gives you a good overview of the important take -aways from the conference. Traditionally, LTNY is the conference that sets the tone for the year in our industry and this year was no different. Pretty much everyone said that this year’s conference had a positive vibe to it and the light at the end of the dark economic tunnel seems to be getting brighter. One of the trends that seems to have carried over from last year is the increasing importance of having a litigation support (e-discovery) professional on your case team who understands both the technology and legal workflow objectives of the case teams. This is important whether you outsource your e-discovery projects or process & manage everything internally.

The “official” summary of the show by Sean Doherty @ Law.com can be found here.

The 451 Group’s “Too Much Information” blog highlights the following points:

Defensibility and the Scheindlin Opinion
Price sensitivity
New software releases – …” customers should continue to educate themselves about their organizational needs, what other companies are doing, and what the market has to offer…”
Early case assessment
Information Management Reference Model

The Posse List gave a very detailed & comprehensive overview of the conference here. They covered the show as a team and interviewed an impressive list of industry who’s who.

If you have projects that are international in scope, then you’ll enjoy Chris Dale’s perspective here.

Ralph Losey & Jason Baron premiered their new video at Legal Tech NY. They were recently interviewed by the Posse List here.

Click here to view the embedded video.