Electronic Discovery in a Global Environment The Law and the Technology
University of Virginia Law School
Monday -Thursday, October 12 to 22, 2009
Classes meet at WB 121 from 8:30 to 9:50 ET
Course Lead: John Tredennick
Monday, October 12: Introduction to the Law and Practice of Electronic Discovery
Lecturer: John Tredennick
In our first session we will start with an introduction to electronic discovery and the relevant Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. We will talk about the problems surrounding the explosion of digital content and the globalization of the business world. I will also introduce you to Catalyst CR and the TREC problem on which we will be working.
Suggested Reading
- Discovery of Electronic Evidence: This chapter was co-written by John Rosenthal, one of our faculty, and is an excellent introduction to the legal side of our subject.
- Introduction to Electronic Discovery: The slides from day one.
The Zubalake Cases
The Zubalake Cases: A series of cases issued by District Court Judge Scheindlin in New York set forth new duties for counsel and client and arguably started modern eDiscovery as we know it today. I have excerpted the three most important cases (out of five) for your review. These will be discussed and referred to throughout the course.??
- Zubalake?I (excerpted)
- Zubalake IV (excerpted)
- Zubalake V (excerpted)
Optional but Reasonably Fun Reading
- Thoughts on the Qualcomm Debacle: The Qualcomm case resulted in sanctions of about $10 million and had attorneys retaining criminal defense counsel. Here are my irreverent thoughts on the case.
- Five Lessons Every Lawyer Should Learn from Qualcomm: Another column I wrote on the Qualcomm matter. It provides a good introduction to the field.
- E-Discovery and the Combative Legal Culture: This is a quick read and makes for a nice introduction to the essential e-Discovery paradox?does all this lead to more or less justice?? I am not sure if this article was ever published; I found it on the Sedona? site and I think it is worth a read.
Tuesday, October 13: "Where Angels Fear to Tread. . ." A Judicial Perspective on Electronic Discovery
Guest Lecturer: Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola, United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Learn more. . .
Judge Facciola has written some of the most significant opinions on electronic discovery issues. He has agreed to share his thoughts on many of this difficult and important issues.
Suggested Reading
- Covad Final Opinion
- D'Onofrio Memo Order re Privilege Logs
- Heller v. Applegate Capital Managmenet
- In Re Freight Rail Bifurcation
- NLRB v. Jackson: Privilege Logs
- NLRB v. Jackson: Order for Transmittal
Optional Reading
- BALCO Opinion (This is an excerpted copy of an interesting 9th Circuit opinion regarding e-Discovery in a Criminal Case)
Wednesday, October 14: Sherlock Holmes Goes Digital?Computer Forensics for Lawyers
If Sherlock Holmes lived today, he might well be a forensics technologist. This session will cover what data can - and cannot - be recovered from computers, cell phones, flash drives, digital copiers, iPods, GPS devices, cameras, computer swipe cards, etc. How do you find good experts? How do you make sure the evidence is preserved? What really happens in a computer forensics lab? How do experts cull, de-dupe, de-NIST, analyze and extract data? How do you work with these experts? What pitfalls exist and how do you avoid them? This session will cover the basics of computer forensics in plain English.
Guest Lecturers: Sharon Nelson and John Simek, Sensei Enterprises Inc., Fairfax VA.??Learn more. . .
Suggested Reading
Thursday, October 15: Search Strategies and Introduction to the Law of Search
Guest Lecturers: Jim Eidelman and Chris Toomey, Catalyst Consulting, Denver CO?(by Web Conference). Learn more. . .
Suggested Reading
- Link to class recording.
- The Powerpoint presentation on the Search Cases given by John Tredennick
- The Powerpoint presentation on Developing Defensible, Effective Search Strategies given by Jim Eidelman and Chris Toomey.
- Best Practices Commentary on the Use of Search and Information Retrieval Methods in E-Discovery
- Victor Stanley v. Creative Pipe and its Progeny (Excerpts from several key cases on search)
- U.S. v. O'Keefe (Excerpted version--Judge Facciola was the first to declare that search was the province of experts)
Optional but Fun Reading to Skim Through
- Predictive Ranking: (A Catalyst white paper)
- Understanding the Limits of Key Word Search
- Concept Search: Perspectives on Next Generation Information Retrieval (A Catalyst white paper)
- U S v. O'Keefe (Full Version--if you are interested in reading more)
- Victor Stanley v. Creative Pipe (Full Version)
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