Category Archives: CPR

Fifth Annual eDisclosure Forum in London for only £99

London’s Fifth Annual eDisclosure Forum takes place on 13 November. Run by Thomson Reuters with Sweet & Maxwell, it is generally agreed to be one of the best in the London calendar. The delegate fee is only £99 + VAT, … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

I disclose the discovery that Britain is on its own

The UK cast itself off from the US and the rest of the common law world when we renamed “discovery” to “disclosure”. Now the whole Special Relationship has apparently died. US-UK cooperation on discovery/disclosure will survive that. Inevitably, this column … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP | Leave a comment

Judicial College gives hope of e-disclosure training

Today’s Times reports on the launch of a new Judicial College which will give judges the opportunity to top up their skills and keep up to date with developments in the law, practice and procedure. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

The CPR were a product of their time. That time has gone.

If I were peddling porn or a political party, I would gauge the success of this site by the number of hits each day. I am content enough with that indicator, but what is more interesting to me are comments … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Civil justice, Court Rules, CPR, Litigation | Leave a comment

Electronic Disclosure – Jackson by numbers

I have some heavyweight writing in hand at the moment involving, amongst other things, an analysis of the costs figures which Lord Justice Jackson set out in his Preliminary Report on Litigation Costs. Most of my articles come from my … Continue reading

Posted in CPR, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

Jackson Litigation Costs Review consultation ends

A few seconds before midnight on Friday, an e-mail arrived from Abigail Pilkington, the Clerk to the Review of Civil Litigation Costs. It was a bit eerie, really. The East Wing of the Royal Courts of Justice is a cavernous, … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Attenex, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, DocuMatrix, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Equivio, FTI Technology, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, RingTail | Leave a comment

Woolf v Genn: the decline of civil justice

My post’s heading, Woolf v Genn: the decline of civil justice, is taken from an article in the Times of 23 June 2009 which I missed. I do not altogether blame myself for not seeing it — the people who … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Judges | Leave a comment

Getting away from it all

I have never been much good at this holiday lark. I can manage the logistics of travel, and I do not suffer from any illusion that the world’s continuing rotation depends on my being at my desk. I can flit … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Judges, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Outsource edisclosure and share the load

The outsourcing of legal functions is suddenly topical as a result of Rio Tinto’s decision to set up an outsourced legal resource in India and Pinsent Masons’ plan to have first pass litigation review done in South Africa – see … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, CPR, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, Litigation, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Cooperative hands across the sea

My post about the increasing exchange of ideas between the US and UK on matters of electronic discovery (Preserving the old ways, protecting the new ways) followed a spate of references in US e-discovery commentaries to what is happening in … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Data privacy, Data Protection, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Preserving the old ways, protecting the new ways

This column, as you may have noticed, is deeply attached to the old principles of discovery of documents as a means of bringing evidence before the court. It is also a determined advocate of new ways of managing it. The … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Legal Technology, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

US-UK cross-fertilisation for discovery

Vince Neicho, litigation support expert at Allen & Overy in London, has an interesting article in Legal Week about the increasing amount of discussion and shared ideas between those interested in e-discovery / eDisclosure in the US and the UK. … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Australia at the centre of the discovery world

The default map of the world shows Britain in the middle and near the top, with Alaska at top left and New Zealand at bottom right. Perhaps that is because Europe invented the Greenwich Meridian; maybe it is a legacy … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, eDiscovery Tools, EDRM, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, FTI Technology, Guidance Software, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Nuix, Part 31 CPR, RingTail | Leave a comment

Ark Group e-Disclosure Conference 2009

You can generate a lot of notes in six conference days in three countries in nine days and have little time to transcribe them. I am quite good at actually recording what people say, less so at the small but … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, Forensic data collections, Litigation, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Jackson conference challenge to litigation support providers

Lord Justice Jackson laid down a challenge to litigation support providers at the Ark Group e-Disclosure 2009 conference in London last week. They must, he said, find a way to bring down the cost of e-disclosure; if they cannot, then … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Labour’s fall may be matched by litigation’s recovery

I have just sent off my slides for my keynote speech at the Ark Group’s e-disclosure conference on Monday 9 June. Its title is The Empty Bear Garden, and it is about the decline of litigation since the CPR of … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, DocuMatrix, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, Epiq Systems, Litigation, Litigation costs | Leave a comment

Parallel and cross-border developments in eDiscovery

I have just had to turn down the opportunity to speak at a conference organised by LexisNexis in Hong Kong on 20 and 21 July. The invitation was to deliver the keynote speech at the start of the first day … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, Data privacy, Data Protection, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Regulatory investigation | Leave a comment

Jackson launches costs management trial in Birmingham

Lord Justice Jackson went to Birmingham on Tuesday to encourage its litigation solicitors to take part in a costs management trial in the specialist courts. The details are interesting, but less so than the policy considerations which underlay Sir Rupert’s … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Litigation, Litigation costs, Lord Justice Jackson, Mercantile Courts | Leave a comment

Making a play to sugar the e-disclosure pill

In a previous post (The discovery of disclosure commonality with a trans-Atlantic judicial panel)  I told how IQPC had, at my suggestion,  invited US Magistrate Judge John Facciola and Chief US Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm to come to their Information … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Guidance Software, IQPC, Litigation costs, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

The discovery of disclosure commonality with a trans-Atlantic judicial panel

If I were to define a perfect working day it would go something like this: wake up in a comfortable hotel and take a five minute stroll to Piccadilly; sit on a platform with the two leading US and the … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Guidance Software, IQPC, Litigation, Litigation costs, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

Describing the ediscovery elephant

It is pouring with rain here in Orlando. Every so often, a flash of lightning illuminates the large plastic elephants which stand in the pool beside me. Even the most assiduous English official, never stuck for something to put up … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, CPR, Data privacy, Data Protection, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, Guidance Software, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Compliance with the demands of an e-disclosure diary

I don’t think I envisaged a peaceful life when I decided to commit all my time to promoting electronic disclosure, but I am not sure either that I foresaw this much activity compressed into a short space. It is just … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Forensic data collections, IQPC, Litigation, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Trilantic | Leave a comment

Something for everyone in the Jackson litigation costs report

Lord Justice Jackson’s interim report on civil litigation costs weighed in at 650 pages, not the 1,000 pages which rumour anticipated. It is as well that I am commentator not a newshound journalist, because I missed the big day and … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

The untapped potential of YouTube as a promotional medium

You can launch political policies, bands and brands on YouTube, but perhaps not 1,000 page interim reports on litigation costs. Lord Justice Jackson will do his launch tomorrow with an old-fashioned press conference. Other things, however, bring the marketing and … Continue reading

Posted in Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, IQPC, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

E-Disclosure in the £50,000 case

The article to which I am about to refer you is in fact called E-Discovery in the $50,000 Case by Conrad Jacoby and not as my heading shows it. We in the UK renamed the ancient process known as discovery … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Keyword searching for e-disclosure documents is not like using Google

There is no one-size-fits-all answer when deciding what keywords (and what else apart from keywords) to use to arrive at the “right” set of documents for disclosure. You have to educate yourself to know what the court expects. There is … Continue reading

Posted in CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

LexisNexis debate marks ten years of the CPR

LexisNexis, publishers of the Civil Court Practice 2009 “The Green Book” marked the tenth anniversary of the Civil Procedure Rules with a debate chaired by Lord Neuberger which considered the impact of the CPR and assessed its strengths and weaknesses. … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, eDisclosure, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Informed comment in the Times adds to the Woolf rules debate

No sooner had I published my post Have the Woolf reforms worked? yesterday when Jonathan Maas flicked me a link to an article in Times Online on the same subject. It is called Sad and unsatisfactory – but not destroyed … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, eDisclosure, Electronic disclosure, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

Have the Woolf reforms worked?

An article in the Times of 9 April had the title Have the Woolf reforms worked? Written by Lawrence West QC, it makes an uncompromising start with the assertion in the first paragraph that “the reforms — known as the … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

KordaMentha picks EnCase from Guidance Software for Australian eDiscovery

Like sport and so much else, the idea of proving a legal case by discovery of documents is an old English concept which was adopted wherever the English had a hand in establishing a system of law. America kept it … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Forensic data collections, FRCP, Guidance Software, Litigation, Litigation Support, Regulatory investigation | Leave a comment

Catching up with KPMG

Part of the function of the e-Disclosure Information Project is to keep up with what the providers of software and services are doing. Given my emphasis on the human aspects of this business (which recurs in this blog and elsewhere … Continue reading

Posted in Attenex, Case Management, Clearwell, Commercial Court, CPR, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FTI Technology, KPMG, Litigation, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR, Regulatory investigation | Leave a comment

Explaining the Procrustean Bed

My post Zander sees his Woolf CPR predictions fulfilled refers you to an article by Michael Zander QC. As an aside, a generation deprived of a classical education may be puzzled by Zander’s reference to a “Procrustean bed”, as I … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, eDisclosure, Electronic disclosure, Judges, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Zander sees his Woolf CPR predictions justified

Michael Zander QC, now Emeritus Professor at the LSE, was a forthright and eloquent critic of the Woolf reforms which led to the Civil Procedure Rules in 1999. Few took much notice of his predictions, least of all Lord Woolf. … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Mediation and ADR, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Free e-disclosure podcast from CPDCast

I recorded a podcast last week with James Sheedy of CPDCast. You can listen to it for free and solicitors, barristers and ILEX member can get CPD points for doing so. There is a note at the bottom of this … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

The growing importance of metadata preservation in eDiscovery

If UK lawyers do not share the US enthusiasm about the preservation, collection and use of metadata, that is in part because they are not clear what it is and how it might be used. A forthcoming webinar will be … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, CaseLogistix, Commercial Court, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Forensic data collections, FRCP, Guidance Software, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Ark Group Conference 8-9 June 2009

The brochure came out today for Ark Group’s e-Disclosure conference taking place in the Ibis Hotel, Earls Court, London on 8-9 June. The main attraction is Lord Justice Jackson who will be presenting a review of the litigation costs working … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Document Retention, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Mediation and ADR, Mercantile Courts, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Law Society Seminar – Disclosure – the risks after Hedrich

I spoke yesterday at a seminar organised by the Law Society and sponsored by Legal Inc and Millnet. The theme was as foreshadowed in my article Law Society Disclosure Seminar in London and was implicit in the name I gave … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, Electronic disclosure, Judges, Law Society, Litigation, Litigation Support, Millnet | Leave a comment

Legal Inc panel at LegalTech lives up to its billing

Litigation support providers from the relatively small UK market  made a good showing at LegalTech in New York this year. Amongst them was Legal Inc who hosted a panel of luminaries moderated by Charles Christian of Legal Technology Insider. LTi … Continue reading

Posted in Andrew Haslam, Attenex, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Ernst & Young, FRCP, LegalTech, Litigation Readiness | Leave a comment

E-Disclosure Taster Menu in Bristol

I went down to Bristol last week with a group of electronic disclosure suppliers at the invitation of the Western Chancery & Commercial Bar Association. The aim, as in Birmingham last year, was not just to talk about electronic disclosure, … Continue reading

Posted in CaseMap, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, EDRM, Electronic disclosure, Equivio, Forensic data collections, FoxData, Judges, LexisNexis, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Mercantile Courts, Part 31 CPR, Trilantic | Leave a comment

Judge Facciola LegalTech messages are for UK as well as US lawyers

There was something almost surreal about the discovery that the LegalTech organisers had failed to record US Magistrate Judge John Facciola’s keynote speech, given that Facciola regularly delivers Opinions castigating parties either for faulty decisions about technology or for technological … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Judges, LegalTech, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Collections trainees seek Guidance on civil e-discovery

One of the benefits of being linked to the companies who sponsor the e-Disclosure Information Project is the opportunity to talk to those who work for them. These are the people who are out meeting with and working with the … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Forensic data collections, FRCP, Guidance Software, Litigation, Regulatory investigation | Leave a comment

LegalTech lessons for lawyers from extinct species

Only one practising UK commercial lawyer came to LegalTech in New York. Recession hit the litigation support industry before our eyes. One of the recurring themes there was that the clients are taking discovery in house.  Down the road we … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, Data privacy, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, LegalTech, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Jackson sets out some litigation costs issues

A thoughtful article by Simon Davis and Simon James of Clifford Chance has appeared on the Lexology site. A purist might quibble about its title – Jackson’s dilemma – or how to cut the cost of litigation – on the … Continue reading

Posted in Access to Justice, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

Plenty to write about but no time to write

I had a patch recently when I had no time to write for a few days. Someone sent me a message, not exactly complaining, but making it clear that my apparent dereliction of duty had been noticed. It is not … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Law Society, LegalTech, Litigation, Litigation costs, Millnet | Leave a comment

SCL Summary of Digicel v Cable & Wireless

I have written much about the Digicel case Digicel (St. Lucia) Ltd v Cable & Wireless Plc [2008] EWHC 2522 (Ch) but delayed writing a summary of the actual judgment because I knew that barrister Clive Freedman was doing so. … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs | Leave a comment

Identify early and co-operate in 2009

As I sign off for Christmas, I would like to thank all those who have sponsored, supported or in any other way encouraged the e-Disclosure Information Project in 2008 and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Civil justice, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation, Litigation costs | Leave a comment

Mancia: interest in US being interested in them

A growing theme on this site which will get more important in 2009 is that electronic discovery in the US is getting to be of more interest to us in the UK. This is not because the English courts are … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Judges, LegalTech, Litigation, Litigation costs | Leave a comment

Audio recordings of SCL e-disclosure seminar

My article Electronic Disclosure: Meeting the Challenge was a report of a seminar presented by the Society for Computers & Law in October. Janet Lambert, Christine Gabitass and I were the speakers under the chairmanship of Clive Freedman. The sessions … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

SCL Predictions 2009

Computers & Law, the web site and magazine of the Society for Computers & Law always collect predictions at this time of the year from some of those who work at the intersection of law and computing. One of mine … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure | Leave a comment

Mancia – US discovery lessons for UK lawyers

Many UK lawyers and judges affect disdain for the American way of litigating and, in particular, for the way US lawyers handle electronic documents. The UK lawyers’ perception that e-disclosure is all very expensive not only confuses cause and effect … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs | Leave a comment

Getting expert search evidence in front of the court

Yet another important new UK case on electronic disclosure, Abela v Hammonds, reaches me whilst I am listening to a US webinar about searching. The theme of both is knowledge, understanding and expertise – and co-operation to arrive at a … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, H5, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Australian judgment served via Facebook

Lawyers in Australia have served a default judgment on borrowers by sending it via Facebook. The Supreme Court of Australian Capital Territory gave leave for service to be effected in this way because the borrowers had left their last-known address. … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Legal Technology, Litigation, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Is Hedrich more important than Digicel for e-disclosure?

A cigarette packet carries the warning that smoking can kill you. Solicitors’ standard terms of business should carry a warning that litigation can cost you. For litigation is an inherently risky business: there are no certain winners; and very often … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs | Leave a comment

Webinar: Benchmarking E-Discovery Methods

The webinar anticipated in this post has now taken place. My report on it, and its fortuitous coincidence with a new UK case,  can be found in my post Getting expert evidence in front of the court which also includes … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Masters Conference | Leave a comment

Reviewing the Commercial Court Recommendations

The risk that contentious work might shift to arbitration or to other jurisdictions such as Germany is reason enough for us to fight to keep it here. The Commercial Court Long Trials Recommendations may have had too wide a focus. … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Civil justice, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Outsourcing, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Ignorance of mainstream technology may cost you

Internet telephony, like litigation technology, is now accessible and affordable. Ignoring VOIP merely passes up the chance to cut your telephone bill. Ignoring litigation technology may cost you rather more. The problems, and the solutions, are the same everywhere A … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Legal Technology, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

The revolutionary consequences of Digicel

The importance of Digicel v Cable & Wireless lies not in any new law and still less in allocating blame for the outcome. We cannot predict its consequences but what matters is that everyone now knows about the Practice Direction … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

E-Disclosure Information Project first birthday

November marks the first anniversary of what became the E-Disclosure Information Project. It did not have that name when I ran a half-day training session for judges in Birmingham last November but it was effectively launched with that event. This … Continue reading

Posted in CaseLogistix, CaseMap, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, DocuMatrix, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, Ernst & Young, Forensic data collections, FoxData, Guidance Software, ILTA, Legal Technology, LegalTech, LexisNexis, Litigation, Litigation costs, Masters Conference, Part 31 CPR, SEO, Trilantic, Web Sites and Blogs | Leave a comment

What exactly is it that you do?

A career devoted to court rules and electronic documents is not an instant turn-on for dinner party conversation. The subjects are, however, important ones for businesses beyond those which actually work in litigation, and the rate of change is increasing … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Judges, Legal Technology, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Millnet | Leave a comment

Autonomy Early Case Assessment at the Ritz

Most of my speaking engagements are of the nuts-and-bolts, cradle-to-grave variety where I speak for a couple of hours about the issues raised by electronic documents and about how proper use of the Civil Procedure Rules, coupled with an understanding … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, EDRM, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Electronic Disclosure: Meeting the Challenge

This was the title of a seminar presented by the Society of Computers & Law on 20 October when our hosts were Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. The Chairman was barrister Clive Freedman and the speakers were Janet Lambert, a partner … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Jackson and CJC focus on costs models

Lord Justice Jackson’s review of litigation costs will presumably cover a wide range of subjects from rules and procedures, to the actual practice in the courts, to the better use of technology, to training matters and beyond. One of the … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, CPR, Litigation, Litigation costs, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

Birmingham Law Society e-disclosure seminar

A collections expert, a data archive specialist, a commercial barrister and a judge took a Birmingham audience – the second audience there in three weeks – through the stages of data handling, from organising it on the clients’ server, through … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, CaseMap, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, LexisNexis, Litigation, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Judgment in Digicel (St Lucia) v Cable & Wireless

I wrote about this case on the basis of a short summary of the judgment – see Case law at last on scope of reasonable search. In summary, I described it as important not because it made any new law … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Catching up with CaseLogistix

Products and suppliers have taken a back seat in this blog whilst wider issues and travelling have taken most of my time. Anacomp’s CaseLogistix has been busy, with a new paper on the discovery of audio files. It has a … Continue reading

Posted in CaseLogistix, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation Readiness | Leave a comment

Getting disclosure information out of SharePoint

I was interviewed last week by one of the big computer magazines about the ever more ubiquitous Sharepoint – Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) to give it its full name. The context, unsurprisingly given my own area of practice, was … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, CPR, Disclosure Statement, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Lord Justice Jackson to head litigation costs review

The Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, has appointed Lord Justice Jackson to head a committee to review the costs of civil litigation. The appointment apparently follows a meeting between Sir Anthony Clarke and Bridget Prentice, Parliamentary Under Secretary … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Civil justice, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Legal Technology, Litigation, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Ministry of Justice | Leave a comment

Speaking and listening in Australia

Sydney feels familiar from the moment you step off the plane. It is not just its culture, language and architecture which makes you feel at home – its law, its information management issues, the remedies available to judges and the … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, CaseMap, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Disclosure Statement, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, Guidance Software, KPMG, Kroll, LexisNexis, Litigation, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Betting on certainties in the information war

The odds on gaining improved information management from the recession are better than those on offer for Peter Mandelson’s resignation before the next election. The war to tame the information needed for litigation and regulation, like other wars, will breed … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, CPR, Document Retention, Legal Technology, Litigation, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Birmingham barristers see e-disclosure applications

A seminar in Birmingham allowed an audience of lawyers to see some of the applications used to handle electronic disclosure topped and tailed by some explanation of the litigation context. It was not just a trade show but a visual … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, CaseMap, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Disclosure Statement, Discovery, DocuMatrix, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, EDRM, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, FoxData, Judges, LexisNexis, Litigation, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR, Trilantic | Leave a comment

Case law at last on scope of reasonable search

We at last have a reported case on the scope of a reasonable search for electronic documents and on the duty of parties to co-operate. You do not need case law to validate a clear rule, but Digicel (St Lucia) … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Disclosure Statement, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Judges | Leave a comment

What will recession do for civil justice?

I nearly did Gordon Brown an injustice last night. My notes for a talk to be given in Birmingham included the observation that “our weasel-worded Prime Minister has not yet found the guts to admit that we are in or … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Civil justice, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Judges, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Going the extra mile to understand discovery

It takes roughly twice as long to travel from Sydney to London via Washington as it does to fly directly eastbound. I could have been home in Oxford in about half of the 30 or so hours of travelling time … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Masters Conference | Leave a comment

Judging the importance of form over function

The parties are gathered for a Case Management Conference. It has been the diary for some time, and no-one is in any doubt as to the time, date, place or nature of the business to be discussed. The summons is … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation | Leave a comment

Discovery of Australian and US connections

The purpose of the e-Disclosure Information Project is to assimilate and disseminate information about electronic discovery / disclosure. As you may conclude from my silence on this site for a fortnight, I have been doing more assimilating and less dissemination … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, EDRM, Electronic disclosure, Litigation, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Take the best and discard the worst from US litigation

The Vikings brought with them some habits which were deplored by their hosts, but they also brought technology which we turned to our advantage. We do not much like some of the practices in US civil courts, but we can … Continue reading

Posted in Attenex, Case Management, Clearwell, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Ernst & Young, FRCP, KCura, KPMG, Legal Technology, Litigation, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Reforming Case Management

The Commercial Court Long Trials Recommendations inevitably took centre stage in the session entitled Reforming case management at the Legal Week Litigation Forum last week. I reached it in time to hear Ali Malek QC making it clear at the … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR | Leave a comment

Smoking guns, haystacks and teeth

It is not often that I devote a whole article merely to the opening remarks of the chairman of a conference, but then it not often that one has a former Lord Chancellor in the chair. Lord Falconer’s speech at … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Legal Technology, LexisNexis, Litigation, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Litigation Forum: Facing the Future

Legal Week’s Litigation Forum this week, sponsored by Ernst & Young, was rather different from the (many) others I have been to this year. They have been e-disclosure conferences with litigation practice and procedure as a context. This week’s event … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Ernst & Young, Litigation | Leave a comment

Masters Conference in Washington

Details are coming in of the Masters Conference taking place in Washington on 16 and 17 October. This year’s title is Viewing E-Discovery Through the Corporate Veil – see the Masters Conference web site for more details. The focus is … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Practical Guidelines for e-Disclosure Management

Litigation solicitors in private practice and in-house lawyers would have done well to be at the Ark Group conference last week. Run over two days within spitting distance of the Tower, it had the title Adopting Practical Guidelines to e-Disclosure … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, CaseLogistix, CaseMap, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Data Protection, Discovery, DocuMatrix, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Forensic data collections, FoxData, Guidance Software, LexisNexis, Litigation Readiness, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Understanding transparent search for UK litigation

The US courts are laying increasing stress on the technology and the methodology used to find documents relevant to a case. Even US lawyers are pulling the blanket over their heads at the implications of this, and UK lawyers will … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, CaseLogistix, Clearwell, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Disclosure Statement, Discovery, DocuMatrix, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, FRCP, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

e-Disclosure conference list updated

The next round of conferences begins on 10 and 11 September with Ark Group’s Adopting practical guidelines for E-Disclosure management at which I am again speaking with HHJ Simon Brown QC. Our subject is Preparing Judges to make effective e-Disclosure … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Hobs Legal Docs praise RingTail and IPro

London-based Hobs Legal Docs has strengthened its relationship with FTI Ringtail and now has five Ringtail Certified Services Technicians – apparently the largest headcount outside the US. Managing Director Terry Harrison is also enthusiastic about IPRO’s eCapture which Hobs uses … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Some conclusions from Socha-Gelbmann

As the dust settles on the 2008 Socha-Gelbmann Survey, it is perhaps useful to pick out a couple of the conclusions which particularly affect UK corporations, law firms and suppliers. As I have reported elsewhere (Project sponsors ranked by Socha-Gelbmann) … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, Document Retention, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, EDRM, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

A big culling exercise on holiday

After a while at this game, one begins to see parallels with the EDRM stages in areas of life which have nothing to do with documents. I am just back from a week in a remote cottage in Cornwall whose … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Document Retention, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, EDRM, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

The Aussie e-Discovery Dream Team

Renée Lee, International Marketing Director at Guidance Software, is leaving Guidance and will shortly be joining eDiscovery Tools. The e-Disclosure Information Project’s loss on one side is balanced by a gain on the other I had been two days in … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, eDiscovery Tools, Electronic disclosure, Guidance Software, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Meeting FoxData properly at last

Nearly a year after FoxData agreed to be the first sponsor of the e-Disclosure Information Project, I have at last been to see the company’s premises and met Ian Manning properly The order in which logos appear beside these pages … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Forensic data collections, FoxData, KPMG, Legal Technology, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Waltzing off to Australia

I have for some time been mentioning Australia as the jurisdiction to watch for developments in court rules and procedures relating to case management and, in particular, the handling of electronic documents. They warrant a closer look on my part, … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, eDiscovery Tools, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Aikens and Jackson go to the Court of Appeal

Two of the new appointments to the Court of Appeal attract my attention for different reasons. Sir Richard Aikens was one of those responsible for the Commercial Court Recommendations, and I used to instruct Sir Rupert Jackson when he was … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Lord Justice Jackson | Leave a comment

Meeting people is right

Before you entrust your clients’ disclosure documents to a litigation support provider, it is worth getting to know a few, and that means real human contact, not just reading up about them. Meetings do not have to involve sitting round … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, KCura, Legal Technology, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Catching up will have to wait

I had hoped by now to have written up the talks which HHJ Simon Brown QC and I gave to two groups of judges in the last two weeks, but time is against me and a short summary will have … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, DocuMatrix, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, FoxData, FRCP, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

A US view on UK electronic disclosure

Although the conferences referred to here were both in London, they were not specifically about electronic disclosure in the UK. There was plenty, though, to interest those on both sides of the Atlantic, not least the possibility that part of … Continue reading

Posted in Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

E-Disclosure conferences give plenty to think about

Those who expect a daily addition to this collection of notes and essays (and I know there are a few such) may have wondered if I have run out of things to say from the paucity of posts recently. Far … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, CaseMap, Commercial Court, Court Rules, CPR, Disclosure Statement, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Ernst & Young, KPMG, LexisNexis, Litigation Support, Part 31 CPR, The Lawyer, Trilantic | Leave a comment

If I had known the cost was hundreds not thousands….

The reactions at an e-disclosure conference point up the value of getting an idea of the likely costs before deciding that electronic disclosure is not for you. You cannot assess proportionality without doing so, and may be surprised by the … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, DocuMatrix, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, FoxData, LexisNexis, Litigation Support, Trilantic | Leave a comment

The Court of Appeal on the scope of disclosure

Nichia Corporation v Argos may have been a patent case, but the sum involved was not very big and the principles as to proportionate disclosure and judicial case management are applicable everywhere The ideal in legal commentary is that you … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, Part 31 CPR | Leave a comment

Access to justice goes wider than the environment

The UK’s treaty obligations to provide legal remedies which are “adequate … effective …fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive” in environmental cases applies in all cases and in all courts. UKELA, the UK Environmental Law Association, recently published the … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Rocket Dockets in Australian case management

We do not need an express “rocket docket” jurisdiction for everyone to agree that some or all of the case stages may be speeded up or dispensed with. It is, however, worth seeing what is happening in Australia. Seamus Byrne … Continue reading

Posted in Australian courts, Case Management, Commercial Court, Court Rules, Courts, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Litigation Support | Leave a comment

Ambiguous appearances in the House of Lords

I scan the Times Law Reports occasionally, looking out for decisions relevant to case management. What I am after is a Court of Appeal decision upholding an order from, say, a Mercantile Court, where the judge has hacked down the … Continue reading

Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, Courts, CPR | Leave a comment