Bloomberg offers message archiving service Financial Times A hosted service must first offer complete security, then it must make it searchable, compatible with a host of different compliance systems and able to respond rapidly to regulators' inquiries or lawyers' electronic discovery requests. ...

LPO Use Gains Traction at UK Firms, Survey Says ABA Journal ... a client preference for outside counsel to manage the LPO workflow in matters—which ranges from litigation document review, e-discovery and contract management, says Integreon senior vice president of consulting Ron Friedmann at Integreon Blog. ...

*Murder Conviction Reversed for Failure to Properly Authenticate MySpace Pages* The Maryland Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for a new...

New York Daily News

With Budget Unveiling, Bloomberg Draws the Battle Lines WNYC "We are forced to do the best we can with what we've got. The state has shifted the burden from them to us." Following the unveiling of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's final budget, the battle lines are now drawn between the mayor and City ... Bloomberg to cut more than 6000 NYC teaching positionsCNN International Bloomberg's $65.7 Billion New York City Budget Proposes 6000 Teacher CutsBloomberg NYC Mayor's Budget Would Cut 1 Out Of 12 TeachersNPR Brooklyn Daily Eagle -Patch.com -The Associated Press all 331 news articles »

*Information Security Manager / E-Discovery Domain - Merrill Corporation - Saint Paul, MN* Analyst (Electronic Discovery Domain â?? 'ED') will...

Binny Bansal | The flip side of an e-venture Livemint “After two weeks of the launch, we left messages on a lot of blogs about Flipkart. One of those was on the blog of a Hyderabad-based person named VVK Chandra. He came to our site searching for a book which he had been looking for for the last two years ...

*Social media makes legal discovery* The advent of social media is changing the way law enforcement and legal proceedings are carried out, with...

*Business Development Director, Technology Segment/E-Discovery - FTI Consulting, Inc. - Chicago, IL* disputes and investigations, economic...

The Maryland Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial the defendant's murder conviction for failing to properly...

The advent of social media is changing the way law enforcement and legal proceedings are carried out, with countries such as Singapore and the United States leveraging these platforms to track down potential lawbreakers.

Police forces around the world are adopting platforms such as Facebook not just to reach out to the community, but also to sniff out criminal activities.

Bob Yap, head of forensic at KPMG Singapore, told ZDNet Asia that law enforcement agencies can leverage various sources of information including online media.

One recent case in Singapore, for instance, local authorities took action on sensitive sermons given by a pastor from the Lighthouse Evangelism Church which were reposted on Facebook, as well as allegedly racist remarks posted by three youths in response to the sermons. Yap noted that this demonstrated the police may "consider taking action" once unlawful activities are reported in an unconventional manner.

He also highlighted the case of Pasquale Manfredi, a suspected member of an organized crime syndicate who was arrested last year in Italy after authorities purportedly used Facebook data to track him down.

Nancy Kolb, senior programme manager of International Association of Chiefs of Police, said: "Social media has many different applications for law enforcement agencies. It is used to investigate crimes, solicit tips about unsolved crimes, share information and engage with community members, and recruit employees."

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Source: zdnetasia.com
By: Tyler Thia

*E-Discovery Input Analyst - Opticon - IPRO- Summation - Encase - Cybercoders.com - Westport, CT* E-Discovery Input Analyst - Electronic...

*Manager, E-Discovery Services - eDiscovery - Litigation Support - Cybercoders.com - Westport, CT* Manager, E-Discovery Services - eDiscovery -...

*10th Circuit: 3 Discovery Strikes & You're Out* A discovery-focused opinion worth a read was issued this week by a federal judge who is not named...

*Murder Conviction Reversed: MySpace Authentication Issue* The Maryland Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded for a new trial the defendant's...

*Need a Social Media Subpoena?* The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a handy list of law enforcement guides for the various social network...

*Court Declines to Hold that Lack of Written Litigation Hold Allows Presumption that Relevant Evidence was Lost or Destroyed* *Steuben Foods, Inc....

BBC News

Jobs Report Has More Bad News Than Good News CNBC.com AP There was more bad news than met the eye to Friday's jobs report, even beyond the bump up in the unemployment rate. While the top-line number of 244000 jobs created sounded great when it came off the tape, the internals were somewhat weaker. ... Snap Analysis: Jobs report shows strength with a caveatReuters Strong Job Report Shows US Economy Gaining SteamNew York Times US Economy Adds Jobs, but Unemployment Rate RisesWall Street Journal Bloomberg -Los Angeles Times -TheStreet.com all 699 news articles »

Information sharing group takes aim at litigation in information age Columbus Business First While its name might suggest a new segment on Sesame Street, the Columbus Friends of E-Discovery is anything but child's play. The information sharing group is “a valuable way for members to discuss” their electronic discovery successes, failures and ...

Guidance Software Reports Record Q1 2011 Revenue Bradenton Herald As part of the agreement, Guidance Software Professional Services electronic discovery experts will help the retailer build a world-class e-discovery Center of Excellence to support the retailer's ongoing e-discovery efforts. and more »

Detroit Legal Imaging Chooses Trial Solutions as Technology Partner PR Web (press release) Detroit-based technology services provider Detroit Legal Imaging announced today that it has become a Technology Partner with Houston-based Trial Solutions, a leading provider of OnDemand® electronic discovery review and processing platforms. ... and more »

*E-DISCOVERY/PERMANENT PARALEGAL/PA - Coleman|Nourian - Pennsylvania* Large Suburban Corporation seeks Paralegal with E-Discovery experience. Must...

eTERA Consulting Announces Integr1ty One (sm) Discovery Management Services American Banking News (press release) ... today announced its Integr1ty One (sm) Discovery Management Services that provide law firms, corporations and government agencies with flexible electronic discovery solutions that delivers speed, accuracy and quality necessary to cull, analyze, ...

New York Post

President meets a 'harsh' critic New York Post A 10-year-old boy whose firefighter dad died on 9/11 was thrilled to meet President Obama during yesterday's wreath-laying ceremony, but that didn't stop him from offering the commander in chief a critique of the raid that killed ... Thousands converge on Ground Zero, await President Obama's arrivalThe Star-Ledger - NJ.com At Firehouse in Midtown, a VIP Stops By for LunchNew York Times 10-year-old whose father died on 9/11 shares emotional moment with President ...New York Daily News Washington Post -Atlanta Journal Constitution -SILive.com all 275 news articles »

Tom Mighell and I have recorded two more episodes of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast since I’ve last posted about podcasts on this blog. They are now available on the Legal Talk Network and on iTunes, with an RSS feed here. Our last two episodes: The Curse of the Next New Technology (#54) The episode description: [...]

*e-Discovery Senior Project Coordinator - Deloitte - Hermitage, TN* in Hermitage, TN for e-discovery and computer forensics work. Deloitte FAS'...

*e-Discovery Project Manager - Deloitte - Hermitage, TN* in Hermitage, TN for e-discovery and computer forensics work. Deloitte FAS' E-Discovery...

The other day, I caught this article from Politico regarding House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman (R-Calif.) Darrell Issa's desire to get his committee's hands on White-House-generated emails, Facebook posts and Tweets. Nothing unusual about that, we would agree....

Sydney Morning Herald

Former Marine Found Guilty in Wife, Sons' Murder Case Fox News | AP WATERLOO, Ill. -- A jury has convicted a former Marine of three counts of first-degree murder in the strangulation deaths two years ago of his wife and their two sons. The jury returned the verdict Thursday against 34-year-old Christopher Coleman ... Coleman guilty of killing familyUPI.com Coleman guilty on three counts of murderSTLtoday.com Lawsuit filed against televangelist for 3 murdersChicago Tribune phillyBurbs.com -KSDK -KMOX.com all 372 news articles »

No doubt jealous of all the attention our beloved Judge Shira Scheindlin receives, two days ago U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Judge Neil M. Gorsuch issued an order in Lee v. Max International, LLC affirming a terminating sanction in discovery. Woo hoo!

In one fell swoop, Judge Gorsuch does the following:

1) Establishes a "3 Strikes and You're Out!" rule:

How many times can a litigant ignore his discovery obligations before his misconduct catches up with him? The plaintiffs in this case failed to produce documents in response to a discovery request. Then they proceeded to violate not one but two judicial orders compelling production of the requested materials.

After patiently affording the plaintiffs chance after chance, the district court eventually found the intransigence intolerable and dismissed the case as sanction. We affirm. Our justice system has a strong preference for resolving cases on their merits whenever possible, but no one... should count on more than three chances to make good a discovery obligation. (emphasis added)

2) Enlightens us on the karma of discovery:

[T]here is such thing as discovery karma. Discovery misconduct often may be seen as tactically advantageous at first. But just as our good and bad deeds eventually tend to catch up with us, so do discovery machinations.

3) Establishes the "gimlet eye" standard of review:

We view challenges to a district court’s discovery sanctions order with a gimlet eye.

The lesson: Don't mess with District Judges and Magistrates in discovery.

Read the coverage at Above the Law where ALL YOUR DOCS ARE BELONG TO US.

<!--Thanks to flickr user Andrew Scott for the Gimlet Eye pic (to the left).-->

<!--Thanks to flickr user Malingering for the grand pic of Barry Bonds striking out!-->

Folks, for anyone who's following SB-761 (the Lowenthal "Computer spyware" bill), here's the in-depth analysis and text of the proposed law, as amended April 25th, 2011.

Guidance Software Reports Record Q1 2011 Revenue EON: Enhanced Online News (press release) As part of the agreement, Guidance Software Professional Services electronic discovery experts will help the retailer build a world-class e-discovery Center of Excellence to support the retailer's ongoing e-discovery efforts. ... and more »

Kansas City Star

Worried investors dump raw materials Financial Times A record plunge in oil prices led the sharpest sell-off in commodities in two years on Thursday as investors fled the market amid mounting concern over the strength of the global recovery. Investors dumped dollar-denominated commodities that would ... Crude, Gasoline, Heating Oil Tumble on Economy: Oil ProductsBloomberg Oil's Plunge, Dollar's Rise Trigger Broad SelloffWall Street Journal Oil drops below $100 on worry of weaker US demandFayetteville Observer Transport Topics Online -Sydney Morning Herald -Los Angeles Times all 1,738 news articles »

USA Today

Osama bin Laden death: Intelligence reveals US rail threat from al-Qaida The Guardian Pakistanis walk by the house where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed. Information found at the scene has revealed a desire by al-Qaida to attack the US rail network. Photograph: Nathalie Bardou/AP The first intelligence from the treasure trove ... Osama Bin Laden Evidence: Al Qaeda Considered 9/11 Anniversary AttackABC News Osama bin Laden dead: al-Qaeda 'planning to attack trains on 9/11 anniversary'Telegraph.co.uk Al-Qaeda weighed train attack to mark Sept 11AFP Monsters and Critics.com -New York Daily News -NBC New York all 384 news articles »

*Electronic Discovery Project Manager - Concordance - Summation - Cybercoders.com - Westport, CT* Electronic Discovery Project Manager, EDD,...

*E-Discovery Project Manager - Oracle - SQL - litigation support - Cybercoders.com - Westport, CT* SQL - Growing E-Discovery company - Skills...

*Manager, E-Discovery Services - eDiscovery - Litigation Support - Cybercoders.com - Westport, CT* Support Manager, E-Discovery Services -...

Legal Talk Network Releases Sensei's Digital Detectives Podcast: "The Five ... PR-USA.net (press release) Podcasters Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. and John W. Simek, Sensei's President and Vice President, welcomed California attorney and e-discovery expert, Josh Gilliland, the noted author of the Bow Tie Blog to discuss the five hottest topics in e-discovery ... and more »

PRLog.Org (press release)

Litigation Support Industry Veteran Ed Cruz Joins Document Technologies, Inc. PRLog.Org (press release) The brand new location, which opened Monday, May 2, features DTI's full suite of electronic discovery services. Mr. Cruz brings to DTI more than 15 years of litigation support experience in the Bay Area, having directly consulted with many local ...

Steuben Foods, Inc. v. Country Gourmet Foods, LLC, No. 08-CV-561S(F), 2011 WL 1549450 (W.D.N.Y. Apr. 21, 2011)

Relying largely on the holding of Pension Comm. of Univ. of Montreal Pension Plan v. Bank of Am. Secs., defendant argued that plaintiff’s failure to issue a written litigation hold and subsequent failure to produce three allegedly relevant emails allowed for a presumption that relevant evidence was lost, thereby warranting spoliation sanctions.  Declining to adopt such a holding, the court denied defendant’s motion for sanctions absent evidence that plaintiff was responsible for the destruction or loss of any relevant evidence.

Plaintiff in this breach of contract case issued only an oral litigation hold and failed to produce at least three emails, which defendant argued were relevant to the case.  (Defendant received the emails from another defendant in the case.)  Accordingly, based on the holdings of Pension Committee, defendant argued that relevant evidence should be presumed lost, thereby warranting spoliation sanctions.

Beginning its analysis, the court set forth the relevant law of spoliation:

A party bringing a spoliation motion must demonstrate that: (1) the party charged with destroying the evidence had an obligation to preserve it; (2) the records were destroyed with a ‘culpable state of mind’; and (3) the destroyed evidence was relevant to the party’s claim or defense.

Additionally, "[c]ourts have found that actual destruction or loss of relevant documents is a prerequisite for sanctions based on spoliation."

Here, the court found that “the record fail[ed] to reveal any evidence that Plaintiff was responsible for the destruction or loss of any relevant evidence.”  For example, as to one email identified by the defendant as relevant but not produced, plaintiff argued (without opposition) that the email was merely overlooked for purposes of production.  Moreover, the court reasoned that even if the identified emails had been lost because of preservation oversights, the emails were not relevant to defendant’s defense.

Turning next to defendant’s reliance on Pension Committee, the court concluded that such reliance was “misplaced.”

In contrast to the facts in Pension Committee, Plaintiff has produced a substantial number of documents and there is no reason to presume that important documents have been lost as a result of Plaintiff’s negligence as Campbell alleges.  The three emails relied on by Campbell are a wholly inadequate basis on which to find or presume such loss or destruction by Plaintiff.  Nor will the court find that the failure to issue a written litigation hold justifies even a rebuttable presumption that spoliation has taken place.

Further justifying its rejection of Pension Committee the court reasoned that “the requirement of a written litigation hold notice, as stated in the Pension Committee case, as a ground to presume or infer loss of relevant documents, has not been adopted in this district.”  Moreover, the court declined to do so in this case:

Accordingly, the court in this case declines to hold that implementation of a written litigation hold notice is required in order to avoid an inference that relevant evidence has been presumptively destroyed by the party failing to implement such written litigation hold.

The court went on to note that in the present case, "the relatively small size of Plaintiff lends itself to a direct oral communication of the need to preserve documents in this case" and that "[s]uch considerations have been found persuasive as reasons why a written litigation hold is not essential to avoid potential sanctions for spoliation.  See, Orbit One Commc’ns, Inc. v. Numerex Corp., 271 F.R.D. 429 (S.D.N.Y. 2010).

Finally, the court concluded that because Campbell had been provided the emails by another defendant, it could not establish it was prejudiced by Plaintiff’s failure to produce the emails, “even assuming the electronically stored copy of the original in Plaintiff’s files was lost as a result of Plaintiff’s negligence.”  The court went on to find sanctions were unwarranted where defendant “failed to establish that Plaintiff destroyed any relevant evidence even in the absence of a written litigation hold.”

The court also denied defendant’s request to conduct discovery “directed to Plaintiff’s document preservation actions in this case.”

A copy of the full opinion is available here.

New York Daily News

Obama Visits Ground Zero msnbc.com President Barack Obama and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, left, meet with police officers and first responders at the First Precinct before visiting the National Sept. 11 Memorial at Ground Zero. When using Facebook Connect your image and ... AP Source: Obama to meet some from bin Laden raidSan Jose Mercury News Witnesses say man may have pulled gun as Obama motorcade passed near Ground ZeroThe Star-Ledger - NJ.com Obama thanks officers at NYC police stationSeattle Post Intelligencer Politico -The Week Magazine -New York Daily News all 322 news articles »

*Introduction* InterLegis offers the widest range of eDiscovery technologies in one end-to-end application: Discovery360™. The solution guides the...

In this state post-conviction relief action, the defendant argued that his trial counsel was ineffective because of his failure to...

My friend and EDD colleague Tom O'Connor read my recent blog post about Craig Ball's EDna challenge and let me know that he has created a counterpart: The Ernie Challenge. I'll let you read the details of the challenge for...

Contributor: Law Office of Shannon Brown [View: Profile | Documents]

Significant New York state court decisions have recently been rendered on the issue of spoliation of electronically stored information.

The Appellate Division, 1st Department, in Ahroner v. Israeli Discount Bank of New York,[FOOTNOTE 1] which affirmed that an adverse inference instruction under the circumstances was an appropriate sanction for ESI spoliation, set forth the standard needed to demonstrate that ESI spoliation has occurred and made clear that grossly negligent conduct may serve as a predicate for such a sanction.

In a decision in Ahroner on renewal of the underlying decision that was issued two months before the Appellate Division ruled,[FOOTNOTE 2] the motion court held that defendant at trial would have the opportunity to rebut the adverse inference.

The decisions discussed here emphasize that the "punishment must fit the crime" and that any spoliation sanction should be proportionate under the circumstances to the degree of mens rea of the offending party. This means taking into account the failure to comply with disclosure requests and court orders, if any; appropriate and timely notice of an obligation to preserve the ESI; and, significantly, the relevance of the ESI and "prejudice" to the moving party, which would include any negative effect on the actual prosecution or defense of an action, as well as the monetary expense of moving for a spoliation sanction.

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Source: law.com
By: Mark A. Berman

Lighthouse Hires Chris Dahl As Director Of eDiscovery Solutions PRLog.Org (press release) PRLog (Press Release) – May 04, 2011 – Lighthouse Document Technologies, Inc., a leader in electronic discovery services, announced that Chris Dahl has joined its team as Director of e-discovery Solutions. In this role, he is responsible for providing ...

*EDna, Meet Ernie: Tom O'Connor Posts a New EDD Challenge* My friend and EDD colleague Tom O'Connor read my recent blog post...

*Annapolis, MD - Conflict Management Supervisor - FTI Consulting* finance and restructuring, disputes and investigations, economic consulting,...

Telegraph.co.uk

Obama to lay wreath at Ground Zero but won't glorify Bin Laden killing The Guardian Obama on his way to visit Ground Zero, boarding an Air Force One plane at Andrews air force base in Maryland. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Barack Obama is to lay a wreath at Ground Zero in New York on Thursday night and meet the families of ... Obama looks forward to private meetings at Ground ZeroUSA Today Obama Visit to Ground Zero Strives to Bring Closure for VictimsFox News President Obama lands at Kennedy Airport, heads to Ground ZeroThe Star-Ledger - NJ.com NBC New York -Capital New York -Wall Street Journal (blog) all 874 news articles »

The Guardian

Jackie Cooper dies at 88 Washington Post The actor rose to prominence as a child star and remained in show business for six decades. Actor Jackie Cooper, shown in 1978, died May 3, 2011. "He just kinda died of old age," attorney Roger Licht told the Reuters news service. "He wore out. ... Six Facts About Jackie CooperHollywood Reporter Jackie Cooper Passes Away As Superman Gets EngagedContactmusic.com "Our Gang" Star Jackie Cooper DiesMyFox Washington DC OzarksFirst.com -TMZ.com -BBC News all 684 news articles »