doeLegal Journal

e-Discovery Search Term Negotiation: The Impact on Time, Money and the Infliction of Emotional Distress

2011-07-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

Search term negotiation, the reaching of an agreement with an opposing party about which words and phrases to use when responding to electronic discovery requests, is more relevant than ever. At the heart of the negotiation is a pursuit of the documented facts surrounding litigation, government or regulatory inquiry. Recent high-profile cases have brought the importance of search term negotiation to the public eye. This pursuit of facts and truth should always be of paramount importance within the justice system. However, behind the exercises of collecting relevant data, a different set of dynamics can center around cost, fairness, reasonableness, relevance, technology and time.

Case law and technology continue to evolve in this area, with case law seeming always a step behind the evolution of search engine technology, data and document retention policy. What frequently gets lost or forgotten in this evolution is the increasing burden placed on respondents. Even so, respondents themselves sometimes appear oblivious to the importance of the up-front exercise of agreeing on the terms that drive the search. Legal requirements will frequently dictate some of the search, but more frequently an agreement by both parties on the terms and methods applied to the search for relevant data will contribute more to the time and associated costs.

In-house counsel may not focus on the discovery request and pass these directly to litigation management or IT professionals to respond with little understanding of the broad and deep implications involved. Search tools and algorithms today are much more sophisticated than their Boolean predecessors. Gone are the days when we should allow a search term such as "Pro*" in order to find occurrences of the word Product. Tools now allow professionals to simply input the word "Product" and to then configure the tool to find variations of the word...Produce, Producer, and Production (now called "stemming"). This is only one example of the disconnect and the need for an appreciation of search term negotiations. At the heart of these negotiations there should not be muddying by respondents, nor leverage and pressure from the search terms, requester; the aim should be relevance with due consideration of the time, cost and distress to produce what is requested.

There is a precarious balance to be struck between reasonable search terms and ensuring adequate collection of pertinent data. The legal landscape in this area is not yet clearly mapped and the topography continues to shift. This makes the up-front exercise of negotiating the search terms to be used more important than ever. In today's pressing economic climate, the impacts are felt on time, money and the aggravation and distraction while the focus should remain on the just outcomes.

Why aren't More Govt. Agencies Using Legal Spend Management Tools?

2011-04-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

A US Treasurey watchdog report, set for issue today, points to inadequate or vague descriptions of time by law firms representing the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The report notes that The Treasury Department's Office of Financial Stability (OFS) failed to question the fees and paid the invoices which totalled some $27M paid to five law firms as of December 31st, 2010. "[]OFS paid without questioning, fee bills that contained block billing, vague and inadequate descriptions of work, and administrative charges not allowed under the contract,” the audit report says. “As a result, in many instances OFS could not have adequately assessed the reasonableness of the fees.”

This blogger has to ask why government agencies aren't keeping up with their private sector peers who have been adopting Legal Spend Management applications since the late 1990s. These applications have an incredibly high ROI and are able to automatically check each and every invoice for exactly the kinds of violations that the Treasury watchdog noted in its 35-page report. These systems are far less expensive than the $677,000 in questionable charges in the $1M worth of invoices that the auditors screened; a 94% "potential" violation rate. Who knows what the auditors would have found in the remaining $26M in billed and paid invoices.

As a taxpayers, perhaps we should be asking the Treasury department directly. As a vendor selling, implementing and supporting the most advanced legal spend management technology available, doeASCENT, I think our sales team may have to spend more time inside the beltway.

Is doeLEGAL a Game Changer?

2011-04-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

See the article in American Legal Technology Insider. http://www.americanlegaltechnologyinsider.com/

If serving the world's largest corporate legal departments with the most innovative use of next generation collaboarative technology for legal spend management is the benchmark, then the answer is yes.

If the implication is that doeLEGAL's business model allows flexibility in how it serves its clients, then the answer is yes.

If uncompromising support is required, the answer is yes.

The game is changing and doeASCENT is leading gthe way.

Global Litigation Rates: The US is Not the Leader

2011-03-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

For years we have heard in the news, in the press, in articles, blogs, etc., that the US is "the most litigious society in the world". I have always understood that comment to mean that we Americans sue one another far more than any other country. I've taken that statement in stride, knowing that it is not so (having done the research), but it seems time to provide a few facts to perhaps dispel the myth, or at the very least further the discussion as it bears heavily on the topic of legal technology, how it gets used, what are the most useful solutions and frankly the cost of those solutions.

Two sources seem to have gone unnoticed. First, in his book “Exploring Global Landscapes of Litigation”, (Baden-Banen: Nomos, 1998), Christian Wollschlager notes that the litigation rates per 1,000 people shows that the US is well down the list of the world's most litigious countries. Without having read the book I refer second to the fact that in his draft testimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary of June, 20, 2004, Theodore Eisenberg, Henry Allen Mark Professor of Law at Cornell University includes Wollschlager's data and relies heavily on it. In that study, Wollschlager found the following:

Country Cases per 1,000 Population

• Germany 123.2
• Sweden 111.2
• Israel 96.8
• Austria 95.9
• U.S.A. 74.5
• UK/England & Wales 64.4
• Denmark 62.5
• Hungary 52.4
• Portugal 40.7
• France 40.3

Source. Christian Wollschlager, Exploring Global Landscapes of
Litigation Rates, in Soziologie des Rechts: Festschrift fur Erhard
Blankenburg zum 60. Geburtstag 587-88 (Jurgen Brand and Dieter
Strempel eds., 1998).

Granted, the study is a bit dated as is the prepared testimony, but can things really have changed so much? Eisenberg's draft testimony alone is worth a read and I'm going to try to find a copy of Wollschlager's book. Of course, litigation rates alone don't define the issues surrounding the impact of litigation on society; jury awards, insurance payouts and rates, etc. contribute greatly. But as a legal technologist I'm more interested in the questions this poses for the legal marketplace in its use of legal technology.

I'm going to think about this issue a bit more and look for others to weigh in. I think the issue bears on the use of legal spend management systems, matter management systems, ebilling systems, litigation management systems, and the like. There are issues and questions such as why these technologies are not more prevalent in these more litigious societies, or why they are not more widely used outside of the US? Questions also arise as to whether the systems which are out there are overpriced and therefore not more widely used, antiquated or too "US-focused", or whether users, lawyers, paraprofessionals and administrators, don't use these systems for discernable reasons.

2010-05-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

doeLegal and Zapproved Sign Alliance to Add Legal Hold Pro to Suite of Powerful Online Legal Solutions

Expanding its capabilities across the entire spectrum of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), doeLegal positions itself in a leadership role to offer increased value to eDiscovery clients.
Legal Hold Pro has proven capable of executing complex litigation hold strategies and is recognized as a leading provider of easy-to-use, feature-rich litigation hold products. Working together, the best of both ends of the EDRM spectrum are made available to organizations. doeLegal incorporates the Legal Hold Pro technology and legal hold process expertise into its doeDiscovery™ suite of tools, ensuring an efficient and defensible approach for automating the legal hold notification and compliance process.
“Our partnership with doeLegal creates a strategic opportunity for Legal Hold Pro that truly complements the existing doeDiscovery™ suite of tools,” said Monica Enand, President and CEO of Zapproved. “The importance of issuing a timely, written hold notice has never been greater following the Pension Committee opinion, and we are excited to partner with doeLegal to bring an integrated, defensible and highly efficient approach to their clients.”
“Using strategic partnerships provides our clients a single point of access and support while benefitting from combined expertise during the litigation process. Knowing exactly how their documents are processed through each stage gives organizations greater flexibility in how they budget critical resources,” Mr. Russo added.

For more information on doeLegal visit http://www.doelegal.com
For more information on Zapproved visit http:// visit www.zapproved.com

2009 ACC Annual Convention in Boston

2009-10-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

OCTober 19-21 was the date for the 2009 Annual Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Meeting held in Boston, MA. This is the show for the best and brightest to gather to discuss the latest trends in corporate legal departments and to see what technology can help.

This is the leading accredited education event for corporate counsel to attend classes and obtain the necessary CLE credits to remain current. There is also the opportunity for these GC's and AGC's to visit exhibitors, like doeLegal, in the main hall to explore the latest technologies available to them. Corporations are under greater scrutiny these days to lower costs, improve efficiencies, and increase their control over the information generated by their organization. While the economy may be rebounding, corporation will always have a need for strong litigation support, electronic billing, and matter management to help overcome the challenges faced by their legal department.

doeLegal, along with many others noted legacy exhibitors in the exhibit hall, were available to speak to and demonstrate their solutions. The attendees were all considered "decision-makers" for their organization. They approached us looking for solutions and were focused on which ones would provide the best answers to their daily challenges. Listening to their requirements helped us better understand what this position was looking for as they attempt to better management their matters.

Because of the event's structured schedule, all the meals and breaks brought the attendees back into the exhibit hall for more relaxed and comfortable discussions. There was not an abundance of time to speak with each visitor so it became imperative that we give them an overall picture of the solutions we can provide and deliver an executive summary that outlined our value proposition.

Speaking with other vendors there, we have demonstrated that we are truly a player in the electronic billing and matter management arena. doeBilling has been installed throughout the world to help better manage legal spend and now with doeMatters, this one solution can now completely managem the matters they control. Tying this to our already complete litigation support product, doeDiscovery, we can provide a corporate legal department with an all-inclusive solution to cover eBilling, Matter Management, and Litigation Support from Collections straight through to Production. Complete corporate transparency allows for better, faster decisions. With over 38 years of experience in servicing global, Fortune 100 companies and ABA's Top 100 law firms - we are ready to bring our doeLegal Suite to the world.

ACC did a great job putting this show together with a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes. The support staff was very responsive and helpful throughout the long days together. The attendees and exhibitors all had a good time sharing the latest information together. We look forward to more successful shows in the future.

Be Smart When Choosing a Litigation Support Vendor

2009-06-02T08:02:00.001-07:00

The process of weeding out vendors that are incapable of providing exceptional technology solutions is becoming more difficult. We see so many out there trying to expand their customer base by venturing into a "marginally" related fields. For example - take a copier company that has successfully serviced their customer base for decades. They now see a new, expanding market opening up in the area of electronic discovery (eDiscovery). Many of these office machine powerhouses have decided that they could use a little more market share and they begin to market themselves as eDiscovery experts. Why not believe them, you use their copiers in your own office everyday?

Here's the problem - you trust them because they have proven themselves to provide the copier service very well. They have decades of proof with you. What makes you think they can provide that same degree of expertise in something they have never done prior? Scanning a document and processing it for collection for litigation is not the same as taking a piece of paper and duplicating it out the other end. Training and experience are what help real eDiscovery professionals correctly determine such criteria as privilege, duplicate, near-duplicate, and whether a document is responsive. Not having the background to work from puts more corporations, and firms that they used, in greater risk of facing heavy court imposed fines or being taken down with the vendor. Avoid this by using a true professional organization with a proven track record in doing EXACTLY what you are hiring them to do.

The answer is just that simple. Find a vendor that knows the pitfalls and risks. They should fully comprehend you are trusting them to protect you. Investigate their plan by asking questions to ensure you are completely protected. Get references to know they can follow through with that plan throughout the entire process. Having reports and metrics that allow you to manage the litigation on a moment-by-moment basis is a great way to ensure you have the data you need, when you need it. Being fully informed makes every decision you make that much better.

When facing litigation (and we all will at some point according to the experts), go with trusted experts that will allow you to focus on the case. Years of experience go a long way in giving you back your peace of mind. doeLegal has been supporting corporate legal departments and law firms through Litigation for decades. They are ready to show you how to lower your eDiscovery expenses while gaining greater control of the information.
The solutions are here: www.doelegal.com

2009-03-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

As our fiscal year comes to a close, we are encouraged with a great year behind us and excited for all that the next year holds for doeLegal. We have added new staff and increased our solution offerings. By adding new capabilities and increasing the value of our cost-cutting answers to corporate legal departments and law firms, we have provided a new path forward for them. No longer are they forced to decide between staff layoff or salary reductions to cut costs. They have a new answer, thanks to doeLegal's cost-effective, hosted legal services.

By offloading much of the in-house eDiscovery and eBilling tasks, the attorneys and their support staff can focus on their core responsibilities that bring revenue into their organization. Letting data hosting specialists take over those "other" tasks can increase employee morale, give executives more options, help every company go "green", and provide a better bottom line in the long run. doeLegal has no long-term contracts, ensures 24/7 access to data and support, provides a typical payback period within one (1) year, and hosts the data in their own Tier-3 Data Center. That is a complete solution provider, not just a service provider.

How expensive do you think hosting 3 terabytes of litigation data on your own servers is? Take into account the added support staff (or overwork what you have), the added storage devices, and the added risk of leaving your servers open to outside access.

With a doeLegal hosted solution:
• Only the required data is hosted on the remote server
• The support is handled at the host
• storage capacity is flexible so you only pay for what you use

We have a great story to tell and we can't wait to offer the best ending any legal organization can hope for - lower legal costs, better job satisfaction, and renewed financial strength in these challenging times. We are ready if you are! Call 302-798-7500 and ask to an expert or visit www.doelegal.com/savemore.

2009-02-26T10:54:00.001-08:00

LegalTech '09 in New York City was a huge success. doeLegal's comprehensive suite of hosted legal services includes eDiscovery, EDD processing, eBilling, case management, and content management. No other "trusted provider" of hosted solutions offers the same package of robust services provided via a Citrix, thin-client portal. This safe and secure delivery method ensures that your collaborative work runs faster than on your own servers. You never open your own servers to outside entities whether it be for litigation, compliance, or collaborative review so your intellectual property and client data can never be compromised.

doeLegal maintains their own Tier-3 Data Center with a flexible capacity of in-house storage exceeding 200 Terabytes. With support staff on-call and accessible 24/7 you are never down. With no long-term contracts to sign, potential clients had to stop and take notice of the benefits. With so many innovations coming out, we are poised to take the leading position in hosted legal services.

We even had Mark Twain with us to help show how legal innovations began. doeLegal brought the very first model of typewriter, the Remington Model 1 on loan from the Museum of Business History & Technology, to demonstrate the first piece of legal office technology. This particular model was owned by Mark Twain and it was on this typewriter that the first letter was produced. Mr. Twain went on to also write the first work of literature ever to be produced by a mechanical device - his "Life on the Mississippi". Mark Twain made himself available for photographs and we passed out our "I Met Mark @ doeLegal" buttons to everyone. Having one of the top three Mark Twain impersonators in the booth was a fun way to bring traffic and educate the legal community on how the typewriter led us down the path to the next generation of office technology - completely hosted, collaborative services. We can't wait to see what ideas come to us next year!

2009-01-06T05:19:00.001-08:00

Welcome to 2009. Happy New Year to all our readers!

This year will certainly be a dynamic time for doeLegal and its growing customer base. New software solutions will add more punch to their already comprehensive package to include new updates for eBilling and eDiscovery that will further enhance those powerful solutions. The highest survey result from 2008 listed the most important challenge facing today's businesses is cost-cutting. Often this means layoffs, but there are other ways to reduce expenses without looking at staff reductions.

The idea is to cut expenses and reduce the time required to complete the daily legal tasks that so often account for over 60% of the expenses related to any particular matter. Hosted solutions help cut costs in many ways, but the most noted are:
1. Eliminating transit time for paper documents
2. Reducing the amount of documents (and time) to review in litigations
3. Automating invoice compliance and review
4. Providing collaborative access.

This changes the way most businesses operate, but once implemented the reduced IT workload, the protection of in-house server data, and the speed of access well pays for hosting cost. The ROI is typically within one year! doeLegal recognized these trends and completely updated their tier-3 Data Center to handle the flexible capacity needed to support a global legal community.

In proactively making these changes, doeLegal remains the leader in configurable, hosted software designed to eliminate more paper waste and improve office efficiency by 70%.

Ask them how you can make a difference in your bottomliner and start 2009 with a huge bonus! Call 302-798-7500 or email info@doelegal.com

doeLegal Journal is the new blog for doeLegal

2008-10-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

Come back as often as you like to post comments and stories about doeLegal and doeTechnologies. We have been serving the legal and business communities by leveraging technology to improve efficiency while increasing control over rising costs. Our core competency is in providing safe and secure hosted applications to a global customer base.

We specialize in Litigation Hosting, Litigation Support, Electronic Billing (eBilling), Electronic Discovery (eDiscovery) , EDD Processing, Case and Matter Management, Records and Content Management, Web Design, Advertising Design, State Bar CLE Administration, and Legal Service planning and Consultation.

Check us out at http://www.doelegal.com/ to see more about us. We are ready to demonstrate how partnering your IT and legal staff with our performance solutions can make a difference in your bottom line. Call 302-798-7500 to speak to a true service professional today!

Thanks for reading and feel free to post a comment until we come back up to write more. :-)