With the exception of your most embarrassing emails or photographs from, say, a tequila bar in Cancun--which seem blessed with immortality--digital data are frequently and easily lost through error, deception or normal daily use, such as when files are overwritten. Given the fleeting and vulnerable...

It's not unusual for a company to be involved in litigation where it is based in one country, its servers are in another country, the relevant subsidiary is in yet another, and its employees--all of whom are collaborating on that server--are in 10 other countries. As global companies work with data...

American folk hero John Henry was what was known as a steel-driver. Not an occupation for the meek, a steel-driver hammered and chiseled away at giant mountains of rock to carve out railroad tunnels. Carve out what you don't need, but leave the mountain. With the advent of the steam-powered...

OK, we realize that our headline sounds like something we pulled from a fortune cookie, but that doesn't change the fact that when it comes to technology we are dealing with a couple of irritating realities. One is that technological innovation means we have to buy something new and feel stupid...

Say you have a fairly complex piece of litigation and you have a million documents to review. And let's be nostalgic and go with an entirely human solution. You have a group of $150-an-hour attorneys who can review each document in just 30 seconds to determine whether it should be produced. It is...

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the notion that a failure to institute a litigation hold constitutes the kind of per se gross negligence that warrants sanctions for evidence spoliation. By doing this, the court was clear in disagreeing with an often-cited 2010 decision by...

An effective way The Daily Show's Jon Stewart unravels politicians is to play a clip of a politician adamantly declaring his "life-long, unwavering, and impenetrable belief" that the world is round, then playing five clips of the same politico declaring his "life-long, unwavering,...

It's a wonder of nature. After spending week after week eating every green leafy vegetable in sight, a caterpillar forms itself into a chrysalis. Through the miracle of metamorphosis it emerges as a butterfly, just as delicate as it is beautiful. And, if lucky enough to stay away from your windshield...

In case you were thinking of playing fast and loose with digital client information, new rules require you to think again. The American Bar Association (ABA) recently amended the Model Rules of Professional Conduct to guide lawyers on use of technology and confidentiality. Much of it comes down to one...

Earlier this year the ABA ESI in Bankruptcy Working Group issued interim guidelines on the "scope and timing" of a party's obligation to preserve ESI in bankruptcy cases. The group comprises both sitting and former judges, bankruptcy and litigation attorneys, law professors and a representative...

As long as there have been saws, carpenters have lived by this axiom- "measure twice; cut once." To do the reverse and "save time" by skipping that second measurement too often results in a waste of lumber, re-doing work or watching your deck fall off the back of your house. Apparently...

'Siri®, How Much Discoverable ESI is on My Smartphone?' As anyone who has collided with someone staring at their smartphone and not where they are walking knows (known in Yoga circles as the "downward-facing pedestrian"), mobile device usage has exploded in just a few years...

Litigation can be a lot like those Russian matryoshka dolls. You know, the kind where you open one to find another, and another and another, etc.? This happens in litigation, when the parties lock horns over the search methods they will employ in e-discovery. In the past, these disputes may...

When really broad neckties went out of style, one solution might have been to take a pair of scissors to them and snip them to a modern-day width. Smarter guys might simply have taken them to a tailor. Others might have made them into kites. But most guys simply purchased new ties, kept wearing the fat...

By Matthew Gillis and Steven Berrent For those of us who are trying to look down the road and see where the litigation technology industry is headed, it might be instructive to take a look back in time to an unlikely example: the law firm mailroom. Virtually every law firm started out...

If recent developments in New York Criminal Court are any indication, your social media, email and SMS texts are just as vulnerable to exposure as everyone has been saying they are. Such a trend is bad news for bloggers, tweeters and texters, but may be good news if you are a litigant trying to gain...

Will your litigation hold meet a judge's expectations? And if not, what are the potential consequences? Are you looking at sanctions or millions of dollars' worth of forensic discovery? To get a glimpse of at least one federal court's view on this, we look to the Oct. 2, 2012, decision in...

Years ago, humorous writer Fran Lebowitz was asked about criticism of a judge overseeing one of the highest profile murder trials of all time. The jurist was taking heat for what people viewed as a laid back or merely observant role in the courtroom, allegedly enthralled by the performances of the legendary...

American litigators in high-stakes cases can be aggressive, clever, passionate, smart and, if necessary, ruthless. And costs be damned! It's how they roll. In fact, some people who study these things say that the testosterone levels of trial attorneys-males and females alike-are higher than their...

Any image of a judge luxuriating on the bench like a silent referee on the elevated sidelines of the proceedings quickly melts away like tiny birthday candles when it comes to electronic discovery. To use a boxing metaphor, judges are clearly the "third man (or woman) in the ring," intent on...

It seems like they have been around much longer, but the first iPod ® was released by Apple Inc. in November of 2001. Suddenly many consumers were using a product made by the maker of Mac ® computers, loved by the likes of artists, designers and educators-but not the average cubicle jockey or...

When you're expecting a swell gift-and when only a name brand will do-it is hard to fake a smile of gratitude when you tear off the wrapping paper to reveal your brand new R-Manny suit. You look at it in dim light and without your glasses. You try to convince yourself it's just as good. But as...

The contractual right to something-even if you don't have it in your hands-can qualify as possession, custody and control. This is how the U.S. District Court for New Jersey saw it recently in holding that the contractual right to have access and control over independent title insurance agent...

Are you using data analytics to identify profitability of individuals or specific matters? Or to support or refute claims and allegations? Or to spot and exploit trends and opportunities? While definitions may vary, these are some of the things made possible by "big data," according to legal...

When it comes to network hacking, corporate espionage, intellectual property theft and managing massive volumes of data in a multi-million-dollar business dispute, everyone can pretty much plan to check their joysticks at the door. LexisNexis recently assembled four speakers to address the critical...