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Category Archives: Metadata

The ABC’s of Fielding Data.

29 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Computer Forensics, Discovery, E-Discovery, Fielded Data, Legal Technology, Metadata, Native Format

≈ Comments Off on The ABC’s of Fielding Data.

Tags

Ball in Your Court, Craig Ball, E-Discovery, Fielding Data, Metadata

The Virtues of Fielding, by Craig Ball, Ball In Your Court

https://ballinyourcourt.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/the-virtues-of-fielding/

I am a member of the typewriter generation. With pencil and ink, we stored information on paper and termed them ‘documents.’ Not surprisingly, members of my generation tend to think of stored information in terms of tangible and authoritative things we persist in calling ‘documents.’ But unlike use of the word ‘folder’ to describe a data directory (despite the absence any folded thing) or the quaint shutter click made by camera phones (despite the absence of shutters), couching requests for information in discovery as demands for documents is not harmless skeuomorphism.  The outmoded thinking that electronically stored information items are just electronic paper documents makes e-discovery more difficult and costly. It’s a mindset that hampers legal professionals as they strive toward competence in e-discovery.

Does clinging to the notion of ‘document’ really hold us back? . . .

Continue reading →

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Philadelphia Legal Opinion on Duty to Preserve Social Media Evidence.

25 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Admissibility, Authentication, Discovery, E-Discovery, Evidence, Litigation Hold, Metadata, Preservation, Social Media

≈ Comments Off on Philadelphia Legal Opinion on Duty to Preserve Social Media Evidence.

Tags

Evidence, Facebook, From the Sidebar Blog, Hayes Hunt, Jeffrey Monhait, Litigation Hold, Rule 3.4, Social media, Trial Tips & Techniques

Lawyer’s Duty to Preserve Social Media Evidence, by Hayes Hunt and Jeffrey Monhait, From the Sidebar Blog

http://tinyurl.com/nn6tmor

Lawyers must take ‘appropriate’ steps to preserve their clients’ potentially relevant and discoverable social media evidence. That is the key take-away from an ethics opinion recently issued by the Philadelphia Bar Association. However, lawyers may advise a client to restrict access to the client’s social media so long as the attorney neither instructs nor permits the client to permanently destroy that information. An attorney may even instruct a client to delete information from the client’s page if the attorney preserves that information, including metadata.

You Can Hide, But You Must Preserve
Changing social media settings to ‘private’ merely restricts who may access a web page. The opposing party can still access relevant and discoverable information through discovery or by issuing a subpoena. The committee concluded that this position satisfied Rule 3.4’s prohibition against altering or destroying evidence. As long as the attorney preserves the complete evidentiary record, including metadata, an attorney may advise a client to restrict access to the client’s social media evidence, or remove social media content entirely.

You ‘Must’ Produce Complete Social Media Content
To comply with discovery requests, a lawyer ‘must’ produce the client’s complete social media content if the attorney is aware of this content’s existence. This duty arises from Rule 4.1, which prohibits attorneys from making ‘a false statement of material fact or law to a third person,’ and Rule 8.4, which prohibits ‘conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.’ A lawyer that purposefully omits portions of social media content, or permits or directs the client to destroy social media content, violates these rules.

Also, a lawyer must take reasonable steps to obtain relevant information from the client when the lawyer ‘reasonably believes’ that the client possesses relevant information, such as photographs, links, or other social media content. Despite being obligated to take reasonable steps, a lawyer need not obtain information that was neither in the client’s possession nor the lawyer’s possession.
Frankly, this isn’t groundbreaking or a new duty, it merely reinforces the need for lawyers to better understand social media for purposes of litigation.

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Don’t Offer An E-Database If You Can’t Afford It.

14 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Appellate Law, Criminal Law, Databases, Discovery, Document Review, E-Discovery, Metadata, Preservation, Requests for Production

≈ Comments Off on Don’t Offer An E-Database If You Can’t Afford It.

Tags

Concordance, Database, E-Discovery, K&L Gates, Metadata

Despite Alleged Budget Constraints, Government Ordered to Continue to Pay for Database to Avoid Prejudice to Criminal Defendants, Electronic Discovery Law, published by K&L Gates

http://tinyurl.com/led86em

In this criminal case, the Government was ordered to continue to maintain a Relativity Database (the ‘Database’) utilized by the parties to review documents produced by the Government and to continue to provide Defendants with the access and support that the parties had previously negotiated, despite the depletion of funding for the Database which was accelerated by the Government’s voluntary actions. . . .

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If Your Copier Has A Hard Drive, Is Its Stored Data Susceptible to E-Discovery?

09 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Confidentiality, Databases, Discovery, E-Discovery, Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Litigation Hold, Metadata, Native Format, Office Procedures, Preservation, Sanctions, Technology

≈ Comments Off on If Your Copier Has A Hard Drive, Is Its Stored Data Susceptible to E-Discovery?

Tags

Adolph J. Levy, Copiers, Digital Devices, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery, Fax Machines, Hard Drives, Out-Of-The-Box Lawyering Blog, Requests for Production

Be Aware: Copying Machines Can Have Hard Drives And Store Copies – That’s Potential Out-Of-The-Box Discovery, by Adolph J. Levy, Out-Of-The-Box Lawyering Blog

http://tinyurl.com/mmpkd5h

Did you know that some copying machines have hard drives and store digital copies of the copies they have made? Or that the hard drives could even contain 25,000 copies that have been made? Copier + Hard Drive: A Dangerous Combination.

Lawyers are used to discovering e-mail, but now what about using discovery to find copies that a opposing party made over time? Wouldn’t you like to be at your opponent’s office and see the originals of all the copies that were being made?

Well, now, fortunately — or unfortunately — you might be able to. . . .

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E-Discovery Federal Rule Amendments and More.

06 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Bankruptcy Law, Case Law, Court Rules, Discovery, E-Discovery, Federal District Court Rules, Federal Law, Litigation, Mandatory Law, Metadata, Preservation, Primary Law, Regulations, Research, Sanctions, State Law, Statutes, Technology, The Sedona Conference, Trial Tips and Techniques

≈ Comments Off on E-Discovery Federal Rule Amendments and More.

Tags

Bankruptcy Law, Case Summaries, E-Discovery, K&L Gates, Legal Research, Local Rules, Sedona Conference, State Court E-Discovery Rules

Category Archives: FEDERAL RULES AMENDMENTS, by Electronic Discovery, K&L Gates

http://www.ediscoverylaw.com/articles/federal-rules-amendments/

 Notice and analysis of electronic discovery federal rule amendments. You can count on this website to be updated promptly and the information and analysis is accurate. Free subscription by RSS feed.

While you are there, it is worth your time to browse the variety of information published by K&L Gates. They are experts on e-discovery. You will find, among other things:

  • E-Discovery Case Database <http://www.ediscoverylaw.com/e-discovery-case-database/>;
  • State Court Rules on E-Discovery <http://www.ediscoverylaw.com/state-district-court-rules/>; and
  • Case Summaries <http://www.ediscoverylaw.com/articles/case-summaries/>; and
  • Resources <http://www.ediscoverylaw.com/articles/resources/>.

Just poke around. I do not think you will be disappointed. -CCE

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Teaching Metadata and ABA Metadata Ethics Opinion Chart.

07 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Metadata, Research

≈ Comments Off on Teaching Metadata and ABA Metadata Ethics Opinion Chart.

Tags

ABA, Ethics Opinions, Legal Research, Metadata, RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Shawn Friend

Teaching Metadata As Part Of Legal Research, by Shawn Friend, RIPS Law Librarian Blog

http://tinyurl.com/kgbsmb8

Please note the ABA Chart in the quote below. If you have trouble with the link, try:  http://tinyurl.com/4fld5lt. The chart is definitely worth a bookmark. -CCE

This issue has been around for some time. The ABA has formal ethics opinions on the release of and use of metadata. There is a compiled chart of action taken on metadata by the state bars or ethics commissions.

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Was It Appropriate to Produce Word Documents as PDF Files?

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Adobe Acrobat, E-Discovery, Federal District Court Rules, Legal Technology, Metadata, Native Format, Requests for Production, Trial Tips and Techniques, Word

≈ Comments Off on Was It Appropriate to Produce Word Documents as PDF Files?

Tags

.pdf, Bow Tie Law Blog, E-Discovery, Joshua Gilliland, Magistrate Judge William Hussmann, Microsoft Word, Native Files, Request for Production

Who Knew What When About the Form of Production, by Joshua Gilliland, Esq., Bow Tie Law Blog

http://bowtielaw.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/who-knew-what-when-about-the-form-of-production/

Magistrate Judge William Hussmann put a new spin on form of production analysis in Crissen v. Gupta: What form was discovery in and when was it in that form?

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Craig Ball Answers His Mail.

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in E-Discovery, Emails, Evidence, Forensic Evidence, Legal Technology, Metadata, Trial Tips and Techniques

≈ Comments Off on Craig Ball Answers His Mail.

Tags

Ball in Your Court, Craig Ball, E-Discovery, Email, ESI, Evidence, Metadata, Native Format

Good Questions!, by Craig Ball, Ball in Your Court Blog

http://ballinyourcourt.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/good-questions/

As always, Craig Ball delivers. Great answers to e-discovery terminology and best practices. -CCE

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A Better Way to Request E-Discovery in Requests for Production

19 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Databases, Discovery, E-Discovery, Metadata, Requests for Production

≈ Comments Off on A Better Way to Request E-Discovery in Requests for Production

Tags

Craig Ball, Databases, Discovery, E-Discovery, ESI, Metadata, Requests for Production

Can We Craft Discovery as Up-to-Date as the Evidence?, by Craig Ball, Ball in Your Court
http://bit.ly/14IZFAz

(Please note the reference to Craig Ball’s article entitled, The Streetlight Effect in E-Discovery, at p. 252 of this collection of articles.)

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