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- Relativity expands its Justice for Change program to EMEA and its philanthropic initiatives with Microsoft
- The conflict between eDiscovery and GDPR – Norra Stockholm Bygg AB
- Relativity Predictions Webinar – Q1 2023
- Revisiting useful old judgments: deleted messages and adverse inferences
- Ireland’s Legal Tech Conference 2022 on 29 November in Dublin
- AI and Data Management lead the story at Relativity Fest
- A full agenda at Relativity Fest from 26-28 October in Chicago and online
- Wrapping up two UK disclosure cases which caught the public eye
- Farewell to Charles Christian, who brought legal technology to lawyers
- Interlocutory orders and contempt – the “burn it” judgment
- Relativity acquires Heretik for contract review and intelligence
- Cabo Concepts v MGA – lack of disclosure supervision brings indemnity costs order
- A glut of disclosure stories just as I turn my back
- Disclosure duties and audit – not as easy as some may think
- Everlaw Clustering: making eDiscovery enjoyable
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Category Archives: Part 31 CPR
Justice takes a bashing but litigation work goes on
To say, as I did in a recent article, that that “civil justice in the UK has plunged off a cliff” is not the same as saying that civil disputes are in decline. Litigation lawyers, at least at the mid- to … Continue reading
Mitchell and relief from sanctions under CPR 3.9 Part 3: eDisclosure compliance
Two preceding articles have considered the implications of the Mitchell judgment, one in general terms and one more specifically, with a look at alternative approaches which we might see from the courts. This third post looks at what the disclosure … Continue reading
Posted in Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Part 31 CPR
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7th eDisclosure Forum in London on 15 November. Are you ready to benefit from the new eDisclosure rules?
The reforms consequent on Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations will take effect in April 2013. A conference taking place in London on 15 November will focus on those which relate to eDisclosure, stressing the benefits which will flow to lawyers and … Continue reading
Content Obesity: an interesting parallel between human and corporate health problems
I have two reasons for referring you to an interesting pair of articles by IBM’s George Parapadakis on his personal blog For what it’s worth…. One is that they introduce an interesting parallel between growing data volumes and a medical … Continue reading
Interview with James Moeskops of Millnet on Predictive Coding
In the light of Judge Peck’s Da Silva Moore Opinion approving the use of predictive coding in US Federal civil proceedings, I recently interviewed James Moeskops of Millnet about the use of this technology in English courts. The result is … Continue reading
Greg Wildisen of Epiq Systems on Predictive Coding in UK eDisclosure
The Society for Computers and Law has published on its website an article by Greg Wildisen, International Managing Director at Epiq Systems with the title E-disclosure: Training Technology. Epiq offers predictive coding through the integration of Equivio’s Relevance product into Epiq’s … Continue reading
Disclosure and eDisclosure – filming a video primer with Dominic Regan
I took part in a video webinar with LexisNexis this week, part of their rolling programme of Butterworth’s Dispute Resolution webinars. The key fact which I want to put right at the top of this article is that 2,340 viewers … Continue reading
Who explains eDisclosure sources to the lawyers and the court?
An article by US lawyer and eDiscovery expert Jon Resnick of Applied Discovery has application in UK proceedings as well as in the US. Who on your side actually understands where the client’s data is and what is involved in … Continue reading
E-disclosure Great Debate at The Lawyer
The Lawyer today carries a report by editor Catrin Griffiths of an edisclosure panel last week hosted by The Lawyer as part of a series of such debates. The panel included Senior Master Whitaker, Phil Beckett of Navigant, and senior … Continue reading
Aggressive Transparency and Strategic Cooperation in Electronic Disclosure
Lieutenant Schrank: You hoodlums don’t own these streets. And I’ve had all the rough-house I can put up with around here. You want to kill each other? Kill each other, but you ain’t gonna do it on my beat. … … Continue reading
Metadata and Data Exchange Formats in Electronic Disclosure – a US model for a common-sense approach in the UK
UK lawyers are rightly sceptical about the relevance of US e-discovery rulings to their own cases. Occasionally, however, one comes along which is grounded in universally-applicable common sense or which throws light on some basic technological point which has not … Continue reading
Posted in AccessData, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Part 31 CPR
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LDM Global webinar on 27 January – Sampling for Dummies: Applying measuring techniques in ediscovery
We all have a notion of what “sampling” means. My dictionary defines it as a “small separated part of something illustrating the qualities of the mass”. In electronic disclosure / e-discovery terms it can be useful at an early stage … Continue reading
International discovery, sanctions, ethics and US-UK comparisons at Georgetown
I was, I think, the only UK speaker (or, indeed, delegate) at the Georgetown Advanced e-Discovery Institute. If the primary reason for going was to talk about US-EU differences, there was progress made too on the continuing US-UK dialogue about … Continue reading
Master Whitaker and Trilantic encourage e-Disclosure in Dubai
There is much emphasis in these pages on the fact that discovery of documents (“disclosure”, for some reason, in England & Wales) is a common law tradition not found in civil law jurisdictions such as those of mainland Europe. We … Continue reading
Posted in Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Part 31 CPR, Trilantic
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Over-estimating both costs and risks in the eDisclosure Practice Direction
There is a general sense that the eDisclosure Practice Direction has broad acceptance amongst lawyers – those who have read it before commenting on it, anyway. It is not just another CPR burden, nor is it something to fear – … Continue reading
E-Disclosure in Liverpool with Cats Legal, Epiq Systems and Dominic Regan
I have to take back what I said yesterday about my rail trip to Liverpool. I had expected the usual shambles, those delays with risible explanations and insincere apologies which are the norm on our overcrowded, badly-run rail network. In … Continue reading
IQPC the best London e-disclosure conference again
The three-day IQPC Information Retention and eDisclosure Management Summit is over for another year. It is the biggest and best conference in the London calendar and one which genuinely aspires to do better each year. Everyone I spoke to seemed … Continue reading
Posted in Case Management, Court Rules, CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Epiq Systems, Ernst & Young, FRCP, Guidance Software, IQPC, Judges, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Masters Conference, Nuix, Part 31 CPR, Recommind, Trilantic, Women in eDiscovery
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E-Disclosure law, practice and technology in one educational package
The first of the E-disclosure seminars organised jointly by Professor Dominic Regan and me took place yesterday at Ely Place Chambers. Dominic and I were joined by Senior Master Whitaker and by speakers from three technology providers, 7Safe, Legal Inc … Continue reading
Structured data is neither as easy nor as difficult as it sounds
Lawyers tend to overlook structured data. If they think of it at all when giving disclosure, it goes into the box marked “too difficult to deal with”. A decision that it is disproportionate to handle it may be right, but … Continue reading
Chris Dale and Dominic Regan on e-Disclosure at Ely Place Chambers on 12 May
Professor Dominic Regan and I will lead a session on electronic disclosure at Ely Place Chambers, 30 Ely Place, London EC1N 6TD on Wednesday 12th May 2010. The event starts at 2.00pm and will run until 5:15pm The Chambers notice … Continue reading
More coming on the Shoesmith – Ofsted – Balls e-Disclosure fiasco
We do not really do breaking news here, but rumour reaches me that we may hear more today about Ofsted’s disclosure failures in Sharon Shoesmith’s application for judicial review of the decision to dismiss her. Even as I write, apparently, … Continue reading
Posted in CPR, Discovery, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Part 31 CPR
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Vector Investments: successful claimant made to pay for unhelpful disclosure
Is quite rare to come across UK cases where the quality and costs of disclosure become the subject of a reported judgment. In rare cases such as Digicel, Earles or Goodale, disclosure is either the primary subject-matter of the judgment … Continue reading
New e-Disclosure articles on the SCL website
The website of the Society for Computers & Law has two new articles about electronic disclosure. One is by barrister Clive Freedman of 3 Verulam Buildings and is called Disclosure: the Proposed Rule Changes. It summarises succinctly the elements in … Continue reading
Standards and outcomes: Hitler, the NHS, the police, social workers – and e-Disclosure
My heading, I appreciate, looks like the components of some random word game. There is in fact a connection, and it is to do with the supremacy of result over procedure and of destination over the journey. Hitler, the NHS … Continue reading
Goodale v MoJ – a template judgment for active management of eDisclosure
The publication of Senior Master Whitaker’s judgment in Goodale v Ministry of Justice is important for reasons beyond the fact that the parties used the ESI Questionnaire which is annexed to the proposed e-Disclosure Practice Direction and which is also … Continue reading
You cannot really complain at a full InBox and lots of tweets
A day in London leaves me with a pile of e-mails and a heap of tweets – all signs of a lively market, and to be welcomed despite the time it will take to catch up. Add a crusading podcast, … Continue reading
There is more to FTI Technology than Attenex and Ringtail
My self-imposed job description involves flitting between all the players in the electronic disclosure / electronic discovery world, picking up information and ideas from one place and dropping them in another. I talk to judges, lawyers and technology suppliers, read … Continue reading
Posted in Attenex, Case Management, CPR, Discovery, Early Case Assessment, eDisclosure, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, Forensic data collections, FRCP, FTI Technology, Judges, Litigation, Litigation costs, Litigation Support, Lord Justice Jackson, Part 31 CPR, Regulatory investigation, RingTail
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Containing the interest in the eDisclosure Practice Direction and ESI Questionnaire
There has been much interest in the draft eDisclosure Practice Direction and the Questionnaire which forms part of it. Lawyers and education providers keep asking for a sight of it. Lord Justice Jackson commended it. Rule-makers in other jurisdictions have … Continue reading
Letter in the Times about destruction of ESI
Amongst my predictions for 2010, published on the website of the Society for Computers & Law on 21 December, was this one: Another side-effect of the Earles judgment will be a debate as to what the law of preservation and … Continue reading
The e-Disclosure Information Project in 2009 and 2010
My e-Disclosure predictions for 2010 are up on the website of the Society for Computers and Law. I have not checked back to my previous years’ SCL predictions, but I think that this batch have much more, and much better-grounded, … Continue reading
Strategic alliance allows 7Safe to host Anacomp’s CaseLogistix
What is the seating etiquette if you go to a wedding knowing both parties? Do you have to make an invidious choice between one side of the church and the other? Perhaps you sit in the aisle or hang from … Continue reading
Parallel and cross-border developments in handling electronically stored information
The second session at the Thomson Reuters Fifth Annual e-Disclosure Forum in London on 13 November was called Parallel and cross-border developments in handling electronically stored information. I was the moderator, although if Air Miles were the qualification for talking … Continue reading
Welcome to Stratify as new Project sponsor
I am very pleased to welcome electronic discovery software company Stratify as a sponsor of the e-Disclosure Information Project. Their addition to the list of sponsors coincides with the opening of their London office and data centre, as well as … Continue reading
The Continuing Challenges of Preservation, Collection and Exchange
The first session at the Thomson Reuters e-Disclosure Conference in London last week was called The Continuing Challenges of Preservation, Collection and Exchange. George Socha’s panel included a solicitor, a software provider and a judge – Matthew Davis of Lovells, … Continue reading
Master Whitaker addresses London Solicitors Litigation Association on e-Disclosure
I went to listen to Senior Master Whitaker speak last night to the London Solicitors Litigation Association about electronic disclosure. I was not expecting to hear much that was new to me – I have heard him speak five times … Continue reading
Discovery explorers need a map
You can kill an analogy with overuse, just as every cliché was once a clever new phrase. Describing e-discovery / e-Disclosure in terms of explorers and maps, however, does not become hackneyed, because exploration itself continues to excite and because … Continue reading
Costs penalty for non-compliance with e-disclosure obligations
A judgment given yesterday by His Honour Judge Simon Brown QC sitting as an Additional High Court Judge in the Birmingham Mercantile Court, will focus minds on the need to comply with the requirements of Part 31 CPR and the … Continue reading
Packed programme for Masters Conference
The 2009 Masters Conference takes place in Washington on 12 and 13 October. Its title, Global Corporate Change – Navigating Discovery, Risk and Security covers only a fraction of the subjects covered in two days. The best part for me … Continue reading
Posted in CaseLogistix, Clearwell, Court Rules, CPR, Data privacy, Data Protection, Discovery, E-Discovery Suppliers, eDisclosure, eDisclosure Conferences, eDiscovery, Electronic disclosure, FRCP, Guidance Software, Judges, Litigation Support, Masters Conference, Nuix, Part 31 CPR, Recommind
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Reaching informed agreement that e-disclosure is not needed
Having just published an article about whether electronic disclosure is needed in all cases, I turned to Ralph Losey’s blog to discover that he had just published an article about whether electronic discovery is needed in all cases. We do … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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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
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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
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
Irish discovery rules embrace electronic documents
By happy chance, the discovery rules in Ireland have the same number as those in the Civil Procedure Rules of England & Wales. Order 31 of the Rules of the Superior Courts give the court the power to order discovery … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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Law Society Disclosure Seminar in London
I am presenting a two hour seminar in London next Monday 9 March under the auspices of the Law Society. Sponsored by Legal Inc and Millnet, both well-known suppliers of electronic disclosure solutions, this is a nuts-and-bolts review of everything … Continue reading
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
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Fannie Mae – be careful what you agree to with e-discovery orders
The American Fannie Mae case shows what can happen if a lawyer unskilled in electronic disclosure agrees to something which is beyond his skills and knowledge. UK judges may baulk at questioning an advocate’s expertise, but they have an absolute … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
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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
LexisNexis and LDM joint venture
LexisNexis and LDM Global were hosts at a party on 6 November at the Andaz Hotel at Liverpool Street. The occasion was a link-up between them which brings together LDM’s role as a provider of a wide range of legal … Continue reading
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
How to build and validate effective keyword filters
The use of keywords to cut through large volumes of data is a vital skill. A webcast next week focuses on how time and costs can be saved by the effective use of keywords. If I had a couple of … Continue reading
Guidance Software launches Real eDiscovery
Guidance Software has produced the first edition of a new quarterly magazine called Real eDiscovery. The costs and risks of compliance with the demands of litigation discovery and regulatory investigations were going up the corporate agenda even before the recession … Continue reading
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
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
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
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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
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
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
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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
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
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
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
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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
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