Welcome to the first Discussions of 2006!
- For all the esoteric technology issues that abound in the world of electronic discovery, sometimes the most mundane problems can bite us. Steven Clark, Esq. describes some of the simple mistakes that he saw with backup procedures during his time as a project attorney dealing with electronic discovery. The mistakes may seem obvious or even crude, but they do happen and they can be costly. His article gives a few hints on the kinds of things to watch out for.
- In Reckoning with Metadata, Shari Claire Lewis comprehensively addresses this interesting and very important component of electronic documents and its significance for attorneys.
- Finally, we recommend a blog. Short for web log, a blog is an online personal journal or notebook. This one is written by electronic discovery expert Michael Arkfeld.
By Steven Clark
In this world of ever-increasing electronic communication, it is becoming more imperative for corporate personnel (executives, business managers, information technology staff, and counsel) to work together to manage the organization’s electronic business records. While the technical, or IT, aspects of an organization — creation and maintenance of large volumes of electronic data for complex business systems — may seem like black magic to the uninitiated, it is precisely this area that may put the organization at greatest risk at the onset of litigation. Often, it is simple steps that are overlooked or mundane tasks that are neglected which lead to the greatest exposure.
Visit http://cataphora.com/out.php?go=87694 to read the rest of the story
By Shari Claire Lewis
The Democratic National Committee was surprised recently when conservative bloggers accessed "metadata" in the DNC's Word document about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. in order to disclose the authors of the memorandum and the date it was created.
This was not the first time that organizations, including the United Nations and a prominent software company, have permitted inadvertent disclosure of private (and potentially embarrassing) information due to a lack of awareness or disregard of metadata.
Read the rest of the article on the Legal Technology website at http://www.law.com/jsp/ltn/pubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1134727514156
A blog by Michael Arkfeld
Michael Arkfeld is the author of Electronic Discovery and Evidence, a comprehensive resource for discovering and admitting electronic evidence. He also writes a blog by the same name, which we invite you to visit for a daily update of matters relating to electronic discovery.
Michael Arkfeld's Electronic Discovery and Evidence blog can be found at http://arkfeld.blogs.com/ede/
This newsletter is also available online at http://www.cataphora.com/newsletter/20060110/index.html
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