Rupert Collins-White is Head of Content and Community at legalsupportnetwork.co.uk and runs a LinkedIn Group of the same name. I met Rupert when he was Features / Commissioning Editor at the Law Society, and he now brings to legalsupportnetwork the same vigourous approach to stimulating discussion around topics of interest to lawyers.

He has picked up on the article to which I referred in a recent post in which Computers and Law combine two articles of mine (my post-LegalTech look at the year ahead and my e-Disclosure predictions made for the SCL at the turn of the year) to make a single article called Trends: e-Disclosure and Legal Practice in the Recovery Position.

Rupert correctly identifies that I am optimistic about the year ahead, both in relation to what we might expect from the courts and from the perspective of suppliers. You might like to join the LinkedIn group anyway, but it is worth setting out Rupert’s summary. He says this:

Britain’s e-discovery standard-bearer Chris Dale wrote two articles about predictions for 2010 movements in e-discovery adoption and some specific drivers for change/influencing factors in law firms’ attitude and use of e-discovery, and the Society for Computers and Law helpfully roped them together and published them – the link is below.

It’s a really interesting article for lots of reasons, but Chris sums up why you should read this well right at the end:

“The near future is not all about defensiveness and being forced to do things one would rather avoid. 2010 will be a year of opportunities for those willing to grab them.

New technology, new ways of doing the work (whether by outsourcing it, using technology or a combination of both) and new ways of funding it, and in England and Wales the proposed new practice direction and the effects of Jackson, will meet new sources of work as post-recession litigation, investigations and increased regulation start to bite.

I look forward to lots of positives in 2010 and beyond – for those who act positively.”

I’d be interested to hear below, in this thread, LSN users’ views on e-discovery (especially relating to cloud solutions) and how it relates to the vital support positions in law firms – as Chris says on his site about the article: “this is not just a subject for the hands-on litigators, but also for those responsible for developing new business and managing the work when it comes in”, and I think he’s absolutely right.

http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ed14974

It will be interesting to see what feedback we get from the group.

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