Electronic discovery conference: Four Seasons Hotel Austin, 98 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, TX. West Legalworks.

Summary

It’s Clear that the New Federal Rules Have Changed the Way We Look at Electronic Evidence.

Are You Prepared for the Challenges Ahead?

With the new federal rules in effect since December 1, 2006, electronic discovery is more
rigorous. Thanks to the new amendments, the mantra is now “talk early and talk often.”
Communication and pre-planning is the key to success!

West Legalworks™ has brought together a top notch faculty who will walk you through the
intricacies and challenges you can expect to face in the weeks and months ahead. Led by a roster of expert attorneys, litigation support managers, service providers and members of the judiciary, the emphasis of this one-day event will be those areas where communication and early planning are critical to the success of your electronic discovery projects. If you are in any way involved in electronic discovery or the retention of electronic information you can’t afford to miss this event!

Highlights of this comprehensive one-day program include:

• Records Retention and Destruction Policies and Protocol: The Necessity of Pre-Planning and Organization of Electronic Information
• Why Sound Project Management is Crucial to the Success of Your Electronic Discovery Projects
• Establishing Your Meet-and-Confer Obligations in Light of the New Rules
• When Do Your Cases Deserve Forensic Treatment and What Tools in Your Toolbox Should be Deployed
• Effectively Sizing Up the Task and Building an E-Discovery Budget
• How to Manage E-Discovery and Avoid Ethical Pitfalls
• Building Your Team and Bridging the Gap between the IT Department and the Lawyers

Who Should Attend?

Attorneys, records managers, litigation support personnel, paralegals and IT staff from law firms and corporate law departments will get the latest strategic trends and new
directions for electronic discovery in the age of the new rules.

Agenda

9:00AM – 5:30PM Including Luncheon
5:30PM – 6:30PM Reception

1. Records Retention and Destruction Policies and Protocols: Pre-Planning to Get a Handle on the Electronic Environment

No electronic discovery project can be successful without an effective retention and destruction policy. While the particulars will vary from company to company and industry to industry, the ramifications for failing to have one are uniform. Our experts will discuss the ingredients for an effective records retention and destruction policy. They will answer your questions and give practical advice and guidance on roll out issues, electronic storage options, including e-mail archiving, retention and storage issues for voicemail, VOIP, IM, databases, web pages and other pesky data types.

2. Project Management and Electronic Discovery

E-Discovery is easier to get wrong than right. Sound project management is crucial to the
success of your electronic discovery projects. These experts will demonstrate how to develop
an effective project management plan from preservation to production and on to trial. Look to
them for advice on how to build an effective team comprised of the different players: in-house personnel, outside counsel, IT department and outside service providers as well as offer effective strategies for working with vendors. You will also leave this session armed with strategies for bridging the gap between the IT department and the attorneys.

3. Meet-and-Confer: Establishing Your Process to Comply with the New Regime

It’s not just a good idea to talk with your opponents early and often – it’s now the law. Courts are requiring parties to “meet-and-confer” and at least one jurisdiction has determined that email “meetings” do not count. But what should you reveal in the meet-and-confer? Our speakers will show you how to put the meet-and-confer to its best use – not only to meet your obligations under the new rules but to help your case. They’ll also give you guidelines on what types of information in house counsel and the firms that advise them need to obtain from the other members of the discovery team in order to successfully master the “meet-and-confer” under the new rules. Of course, no discussion of the meet-and-confer would be complete without a talk on how the Texas courts are dealing with this issue.

4. Ethics and Electronic Discovery in the Age of the New Rules

Every discussion of collection, review and production of electronic documents also is – or should be – a discussion of ethics. Our panel will dig and delve into the ethics obligations highlighted by the new Federal Rules, as well as offer insights on the ethical concerns surrounding inadvertent production, disclosure of search terms and overbroad
claims of privilege.

5. Forensics 101: When Does Your Case Warrant the Full “CSI” Treatment?

Email, complex databases, servers, instant messaging logs, voicemail systems… each
contain nuggets of information with their own unique footprints. Our experts will
discuss those situations which deserve forensic treatment, and which forensic tools can
and should be brought to bear. The panel will also discuss the types of information
lurking in the dark recesses of computer drives, files and systems.

6. E-Discovery Budgeting: What is this All Going to Cost?

This session will discuss the steps for developing an effective e-discovery budget. It will analyze the hard and soft costs associated with e-discovery, including the costs of the temps, space and IT and discuss various metrics for sizing up the task.

7. Seeking – and Avoiding – Sanctions for Spoliation

How do you fire or dodge the spoliation bullet? How do you gather or dispose of data without fear of sanctions? How do you seek sanctions when the other side does not seem to have complied with its preservation obligation? This session will address legal and strategic considerations for those moving for and opposing sanctions, including monetary penalties, fee/costs and adverse inference jury instructions.

Faculty

Co-Chairs:

Craig D. Ball
Attorney and Certified Computer Forensic Examiner
Law Offices of Craig D. Ball, PC
Austin, TX

Browning E. Marean, III
DLA Piper US LLP
San Diego

From the Bench:

Honorable Nathan L. Hecht
Justice, Texas Supreme Court
Austin, TX

Honorable Joseph “Tad” Halbach, Jr.
Judge, 333rd Civil District Court
Houston, TX

Honorable Frank Rynd
Judge, 309th Family Court
Harris County
Houston, TX

Speakers:

Florinda Baldridge
Director of Practice Support
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Houston, TX

Jane Politz Brandt
Thompson & Knight LLP
Dallas, TX

David A. Chaumette
Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
Houston, TX

Willa R. Fawer
COO and Executive Managing Director
HIRECounsel
New York, NY

N. Scott Fletcher
Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.
Houston, TX

Ashley Griggs
Director - Project Engineering
Western Region
EED, Inc.
The Woodlands, TX

Andrea Marshall
Legal Consultant
Kroll Ontrack, Inc.
Dallas , TX

Linda Kish
Manager, Product Marketing
Kroll Ontrack Inc.
Austin, TX

Monica Wiseman Latin
Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP
Dallas, TX

David A. Pluchinsky
Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, L.L.P.
Houston, TX

William M. Schur
General Attorney – Litigation
AT&T Services, Inc.
San Antonio, TX

Michael S. Simon
Legal Associate of Client Development and Strategy
Stratify, Inc.
Boston, MA

Carolyn B. Southerland
Director
Huron Consulting Group
Houston, TX

Laurie A. Weiss
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
San Antonio, TX

James M. Wright, P.E.
Director of Electronic Discovery
Halliburton Litigation Group
Houston, TX

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