eDisclosure Information Project

“Although there is inevitably much commonality between products, there are also differences. There are major differences of principle, minute differences of user interface, and a host of points of middling importance – middling, that is, until you need what suddenly appears to be an obvious function which you had not thought about and discover that the developer had not thought about it either.” Continue reading →

“When the experts start chattering at each other in dog Greek, you know they want to exclude you. Metadata means “information about data” and generally has three sub-classes – descriptive metadata (generally appearing on its face, such as its date), administrative metadata (often not visible e.g. where it came from) and structural metadata (e.g. the instructions for using it).

Used in the context of electronic Disclosure, these distinctions are blurred into one and “metadata” is generally taken to refer to the information which is hidden behind electronic documents. ” Continue reading →

“You might also, I suppose, think back to the good old days when a “document” was one or more pieces of paper filed with others in a ring binder, when the “data” about them was a typed list of documents in the form laid down in the 1965 White Book, and when “metadata” was a mystery which you were content to leave with botanists, geographers and librarians.” Continue reading →

“This might give the undiscerning reader the impression that such devices and documents are immune from the “reasonable and proportionate search” which the Disclosure Statement relates to. It does not. Indeed, the very recital (the detail of which may surprise some who think of Her Majesty’s Judges as rather above “PDA devices” etc) is supposed to make the certifier (who is of course the client not the lawyer) think hard as to whether he or the company on whose behalf he is signing has any such devices. ” Continue reading →

“Furthermore, since a “document” is “anything in which information of any description is recorded” then whole PCs, servers, laptops and Blackberries are potentially disclosable. And that is the case regardless of your election to give your general Disclosure electronically. The obligation to disclose is independent of the manner of Disclosure and you do not increase that obligation by an election to give Disclosure electronically, nor brush it under the carpet by avoiding electronic Disclosure.” Continue reading →

“He had been tempted to ignore his new-found knowledge because, valuable though it was in many ways, he still had no idea what to do with the box on his desk. At that moment, a letter had come in from Rott, Weiller & Goebbels LLP, acting for the other side, strongly suggestive of a rough ride at the CMC if he was not ready to exchange Disclosure data PDQ.” Continue reading →

“Your guess is that between 2,500 and 5,000 documents are involved, but whilst you can more or less measure paper files by eye, it is hard to assess what is on the CDs. The enthusiasm with which the expert speakers have infected you has evaporated a little with the realisation that, whilst your existing knowledge of Part 31 CPR has now been topped up with a theoretical understanding of metadata, FSA best practice and multi-jurisdictional Disclosure, you do not have a clue how to start applying what you have learned to simple Disclosure of the boxes of papers and disks on your desk.” Continue reading →

The seminars on electronic Disclosure cover every aspect of it – except the everyday knock-about cases which every firm has. The suppliers of litigation software and litigation services promote their expertise in every kind of litigation – as long, apparently, as it is document-heavy and preferably multi-national. E-Disclosure is in fact within the reach of most firms, but you have to look quite hard to find it. Continue reading →

My article The Mysteries of Disclosure, published on 3 January 2007 by Computers & Law here suggested that litigation support suppliers could do more to offer packaged and costed solutions which might persuade the converted but uncommited to make a start with eDisclosure. I suggested that one of them would market their services in this way and that the rest would follow.

Continue reading →