New Rules of Civil Procedure In Virginia
On October 1, 2008, the Supreme Court of Virginia adopted amendments
to Virginia’s Rules of Civil Procedure. The new rules address the discovery of
electronically stored information. The rules became effective as of January 1, 2009.
The amendments affect a few aspects of discovery:
- Rule 4:1, General Provisions Governing Discovery
- Rule 4:4, Stipulations Regarding Discovery
- Rule 4:8, Interrogatories to Parties
- Rule 4:9, Production by Parties of Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Things; Entry on Land for Inspection and Other Purposes; Production at Trial
- Rule 4:9A, Production from Non-Parties of Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Things and Entry on Land for Inspection and Other Purposes; Production at Trial
- Rule 4:13, Pretrial Procedure; Formulating Issues
The order approving the amendments my be view here:
www.courts.state.va.us/scv/amendments/2008_1031_4_1_rule.pdf
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New Year, New Business Partners
Compiled Services has recently released new software called ReadyConvert. ReadyConvert
can be used to quickly and accurately verify your product deliverables. ReadyConvert
offers many features for litigation support professionals:
- Convert load files from one format to another, including EDRM XML
- Extract metadata from load files
- Verify load file integrity, ensuring referenced files exist
- Generate load files from single or multi page image folders
- View images, thumbnails and metadata side-by-side
- Generate cross reference reports with custom fields
- Filter load files using custom search criteria
- Batch update or find/replace on metadata fields
Currently, ReadyConvert is available as a free download at
www.compiledservices.com
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Cost of eDiscovery
The ability to proactively identify costs associated with discovery
requests and to identify potential ROI have become decisive factors in determining how
to or even "if" to proceed with litigation. Early Case Assessment models can provide
critical insight for developing case budgets and strategies. These evolving technologies
add efficiency, speed, accuracy and the ability to do more with less. Technology in the
form of Software as a Service (SaaS) will continue to drive a shift in the
eDiscovery cost paradigm.
Charles Skamser writes in
http://ediscoveryconsulting.blogspot.com/2008/09/cost-of-ediscovery.html:
"As we approach the two(2) year anniversary of the December 2006 changes to
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), it has been interesting and somewhat
educational to follow the tremendous confusion and the dramatic changes in the cost of
processing Electronically Stored Information (ESI). As I have been claiming, the
changes to the FRCP and the subsequent requirements to utilize new technology to meet these
changes, is a classical example of a market paradigm shift causing chaos and therefore the
opportunity for the free market system to run wild. And, as George Socha and Tom Gelbmann
report in the 2008 Socha-Gelbmann Survey, commercial expenditures on Electronic Data
Discovery (EDD) topped $2.7 billion in 2007 , up 43 percent from 2006, and that
they predict that they will grow by 21 percent, 20 percent and 15 percent in 2008, 2009 and
2010 which equates to a $4.5 billion market at the end of 2010. As a point of comparison,
Gartner Says “Worldwide IT Spending On Pace to Surpass $3.4 Trillion in 2008".
...ESI reduction through culling and de-dupe is essential to reduce the amount of data that has to be hosted and reviewed along with reducing the cost of actual document review is the key to reducing the overall cost of EDD processing."
Stephen Ludlow writes in
www.opentext.com/blogs/ecm_briefs/2008/12/get_a_handle_on_electronically.html:
"...This has caused forward-looking organizations to examine their records management and
content management policies and capabilities to determine if they can be used to defensibly
reduce the cost and risk associated with eDiscovery. They have determined that end-users
will have greater responsibility for correctly identifying and dealing with records in their
earliest stages of creation. In order to not create a drag on productivity, companies are
looking to solutions that allow for the transparent application of records management
classification on content as part of the way that end-users already work. Additionally,
with a myriad of content creating applications available, companies look for integrations to
a common library where content can be stored, classified, searched and disposed of in a
consistent manner.
While application of good records management policies will significantly reduce the cost of eDiscovery in the long term, many companies are burdened with the high cost of eDiscovery now and are likely to see increases in the coming years. Reducing the cost of eDiscovery is a top priority in the current economic environment..."
Contact Superior for information on how we can help you keep costs in
line with your budget without sacrificing solutions or service.
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Wading Through a Sea of eDocs
The most common challenge facing litigants is how to effectively and efficiently identify
potentially responsive documents with accuracy. No longer is just as simple as skimming
across 10 boxes of paper docs containing 25,000 sheets in less than 8 hours. Today, litigants
need to review 10GB of eDocs which is the equivalent to thousands of electronic files.
That equates to more than 650,000 sheets of paper. It would take more than 208 hours to
manually review (8 days for 2 case clerks to sift through just to pass up the chain for
2nd and 3rd reviews). Shall I discuss the process of identifying privilege and removing
non-responsive…too much typing for this writer.
Search and Retrieval technology has provided the means for litigants to identify relevant data with a sense of accuracy and confidence. Keyword searching is the most common format used to cull data in an effort to narrow the scope of documents deemed relevant for review. Keywords are created and agreed upon by all parties based on the scope of the case as well as intelligence gained during meet and confer conferences.
Conceptual searching provides litigants with the ability to use taxonomies to create categories of documents based on terms of similar meaning based on documents identified as relevant from keyword search results. Conceptual searching is designed to further narrow the scope with potentially relevant document strings based on content and other like factors. Concept searching is gaining popularity in eDiscovery review protocols, for when used properly, the identification of "Hot Docs" becomes less of a burden.
Using the proper search and retrieval solution is critical to wading
through the sea of eDocs as it relates to time and money. To learn more contact Superior.
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Women in Richmond Heard Roaring
Women!! Richmond is now part of an incredible international
group called Women in eDiscovery, WiE&! This organization has over 2000 members and has
chapters in 28 cities. The purpose of WiE is to bring together businesswomen interested in
technology related to the legal industry and to provide opportunities for them to grow
professionally through leadership, education and networking support. To date, we have held
two hugely successful boxed lunch meetings with over 40 participants each time. At our last
meeting, our guest speaker was Shawnna Childress, one of the three co-founders of WiE and
a national consultant for Navigant Consulting. She flew in from Orlando to speak on
"Reining is eDiscovery Costs". She shared a wealth of information from her experiences on
panels at eDiscovery conferences and with Laura Zubulake. For instance did you know that
Laura Zubulake personally managed the documents (hundreds of thousands) by using the
"technology" available to her at that time - an excel database?
http://www.ediscoveryinfo.com/2008/10/16/masters-laura-zubulake/
Please come join this dynamic group. Our next meeting is tentatively
scheduled for Tuesday, February 10th at 12:15 and will be held at the LeClair Ryan
Riverfront Office. We will be accepting nominations for the Chapter Board Positions at
this meeting. For more information or to register for this group contact Paige Sheffield or
Renee Covington at Richmond@womeninediscovery.com.
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