Link to article by Thomas Y. Allman and Kevin F. Brady posted on Law.com, December 12, 2007:

The evolution of electronic discovery has been marked by assertions that a party must preserve and produce electronic information that initially seems well beyond what would normally be considered discoverable. The first of these “cutting edge” cases, and arguably one of the most prescient, was the 1980 decision in National Union Electric v. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., 494 F. Supp. 1257 (E.D. Pa. 1980), in which the court held that “common sense” required production of information in machine-readable format over an objection that the information did not exist in the precise form sought and was therefore not discoverable. The court opined that the difference between producing printouts and producing the data in computer-readable form was a “distinction without a difference.” As later explained in Daewoo Electronics Co. v. U.S., 650 F. Supp. 1003 (Ct. Int’l Trade 1986), the court was “not requiring [the party] to create something new or to render exceptional assistance. It [was] simply requiring that an existing body of data be transmitted in a reasonably usable way with a modicum of cooperation.”…

Press release:  Annandale VA. – 12/11/2007 – LitSoft, Inc. (www.litsoftinc.com) today announced plans to release LitScope; the electronic discovery industry’s first Web 2.0 electronically stored information (ESI) review platform. LitScope will be officially unveiled to the public in February at LegalTech New York. Read the rest of this entry »

Link to press release:  Company responds to critical need to reduce time, costs and risks of litigation readiness on the first anniversary of FRCP amendments

Rutherford, NJ –December 11, 2007 — AXS-One [OTCBB: AXSO], a leading provider of scalable, high-performance records compliance management (RCM) solutions, today announced the release of the AXS-One Compliance Platform 3.7, the much-enhanced version of its award-winning flagship product. Optimized for scalability and policy-driven data retention, Version 3.7 is the first and only archiving solution to provide comprehensive, integrated functionality to ensure that records pertaining to a specific case or cases are preserved and managed, in line with litigation hold orders and that an auditable chain of custody supports testimony requirements. Read the rest of this entry »

Press release: Enables Organizations to Forensically Preserve and Protect All Emails and Files Relevant to Litigation, Without the Need for Continuous Network Connections

Cambridge, UK and Pleasanton, Calif. – December 3, 2007 - ZANTAZ, an Autonomy company and the leader in the archiving, eDiscovery and Proactive Information Risk Management (IRM) markets, (LSE: AU. or AU.L), today announced Desktop Legal Hold, the industry’s first comprehensive solution that enables corporate legal and IT departments to remotely enforce legal hold across desktops and laptops. Unlike other systems, Desktop Legal Hold does not require a continuous network connection for discovery. Information and metadata are preserved locally and continuously in real-time. The solution locks down the original files in place and can return them when an Internet connection is established. Applying advanced conceptual and keyword legal search, all information relevant to legal matters is preserved, maintaining the audit trail and forensic credibility while dramatically reducing the legal risk of fines and sanctions associated with non-compliance to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) for E-Discovery. Read the rest of this entry »

Link to article by Howard Marks, summary by Andrew Conry-Murray posted on InformationWeek, December  1, 2007:  An information life-cycle management strategy is key to addressing expanding data volumes and regulations for data archiving and retrieval.

Information life-cycle management holds great promise for helping enterprises manage data storage from the time information is created until it’s destroyed. Unfortunately, ILM isn’t a product you can buy. Rather, it’s a constellation of policies, processes, services, and products designed to meet business goals for the data….

Article by Jerry F. Barbanel and Bruce W. Pixley, Aon Consulting, posted on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2007:

With complex litigation cases becoming increasingly unwieldy due to cost and the vast amount of data requiring review, counsel is continuously looking for more efficient ways to find the “smoking guns.” In that pursuit, critical data that is stored on electronic devices other than computers may be overlooked, potentially threatening the outcome of a case.

Mobile devices, such as cellular phones and PDAs are now vital to how organizations do business. Configured to transmit and receive data as well as log activity, these mobile offices have many of the same functionalities as traditional desktops and laptops….

Article about interview with Marc Eisner, Senior Consultant to SPi Technologies, posted on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2007:

The Editor interviews Marc Eisner, Senior Consultant to SPi Technologies.

Editor: Would you tell our readers a little about your professional experience?…

Article by John P. Scordo and Kristine Russo Begley, Day Pitney LLP, posted on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2007:

As technology advances, the need for discovery of electronic communications and information increases and raises questions concerning the proper form of production for electronically stored information (ESI). The December 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) were designed to facilitate early communication regarding the production of ESI and to allow litigants to request specific production formats. Litigants should be aware of the various forms of production available, the issues that have arisen, and the cost and practicality of utilizing those forms….

Article by Courtney Ingraffia Barton, Esq., LexisNexis Applied Discovery, posted on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2007:

E-discovery is big business: according to the 2007 Socha-Gelbmann survey it is anticipated that spending on e-discovery will reach $2.45 billion in 2007 and grow at a rate of around 30 percent annually. Although this is a reality that most corporate counsel have been desperately attempting to address for a few years, this issue is just now appearing on the radars of many c-level executives and boards of directors who are wondering how it has come to pass that companies are spending so much on discovery. Not surprisingly, there is enormous pressure from the corporations to reduce these skyrocketing costs….

Article by Jeffrey L. Nagel, Gibbons P.C., posted on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2007:

Much has been written about a company’s obligation to preserve, produce, and even restore electronically stored information (”ESI”), but much less has been written about the ways in which ESI can actually be used as evidence to prove one’s case or defend against a charge. That is changing, as shown by the recent case of Lorraine v. Markel American Insurance Co.  , 241 F.R.D. 534 (D.Md. May 4, 2007)….