Get Off of My I-Cloud: Role of Technology in Construction Practice Sanjay Kurian, Esq. Trent Walton, CTO U.S. Legal Support
A Story
The Attorney’s Technical Concerns at Trial/Arbitration/Mediation Use of photographs, video and documents Use of demonstratives Admissibility issues Courtroom limitations
Challenges for the Construction Lawyer Learning curve and initial investment Dynamics of technology evolution – (un)planned obsolescence Different levels of experience of clients and other parties Emerging trends in technology Evidentiary issues Different levels of experience of tribunals
The Attorney’s Technical Concerns Providing Documents to the experts The “Cloud” Discoverability of the cloud Electronic Discovery Planning – Client Documents – Opposing party
The Attorney’s Technical Concerns at Trial/Arbitration/Mediation Use of photographs and documents Use of demonstratives Admissibility issues Courtroom limitations
Developments in eDiscovery Acceptance of Technology Assisted Review Acceptance of Social Media Discovery Acceptance of Cloud Computing and Storage The American Bar Association Passed New Model Ethics Rules Regarding Technology
Goals of eDiscovery Fulfill Preservation Obligations Get the Evidence Needed Integrate into Legal Strategy Manage & Predict Costs Reduce Volume
EDD v. Forensic Analysis EDD (Electronic Data Discovery) – Document oriented – Generally large numbers of Pages – Goal is attorney review Forensic Analysis – Usage oriented – What happened on the computer (deletions, copying, modifications) – Timelines are critical
Case Strategy Find the Data! Litigation holds Definitions Interrogatories Discovery requests Protocols ESI Discovery Calendar
Where Could the data be? Computers Servers Mobile Phones Social Media and Web Sites Cloud and Storage
Data Collection Types of Collections Survey custodians – Scope – Locations – Basis for strategy Allow self collections? – Benefits and hazards – Limit spoliation exposure Identify relevant file types Estimate collection costs
Typical Collection Costs Billable metrics (Industry Estimates) – By device Computer: $500 to $900 – By hour Certified Forensic Examiner: $250 to $350 eDiscovery Technician: $130 to $200 – By mean Physical location – More hours, travel, hotel, car Remote
Computer Forensics Find and Recover Deleted Files and s Create Timelines of Internet History and Browsing Tell When and If Files Were Copied Uncover Intentional Evidence Destruction Find Evidence of Data Theft Write Declarations, Reports and Testify to Opinions and Findings
A War Story The Salesman Conspiracy
Early Data Assessment Attorney driven Data sampling Can be used to prepare for Meet & Confer Low price Data filter – DeNist – DeDuplicate – Date range – Custodian – Sender domains – Doc type Determine search terms Estimate processing costs
Data Processing Assign document s Hash files – Protect from spoliation Extract meta-data OCR documents without extractable text Track conversation threads Export to review platform
Document Review Review format – Native vs Image review Review types – Linear – Full disclosure – Technology Assisted Review Bulk tagging – Parent-child relationships – conversations – Folders Review platforms – Hosted vs In-house Review costs – Calculate estimated attorney review hours
What is TAR? Typical Review – Keyword Searching – Categorization Synonyms Technology Assisted Review – Predictive Coding (i.e. Netflix, Amazon) Concept Based – Pre-Build Conceptual Search Index – Code related documents Support Vector-Based – Concept + Analytics
TAR Workflow Start Technology Assisted Review Produce Analyze Evaluate Train Train: Identify Train Set Subject Matter Experts Analyze: System learns from training prioritizes documents suggests categories Evaluate: Review machine suggestions Review production set
Document Production Production formats – Native vs Tiff – Current ESI production standards “As kept in normal course of business” Produce for requested review platform – Summation – Concordance – CaseLogistix – PDF… – Tracking productions
General Questions? Litigation Strategy Data Preservation and Collection Computer Forensics vs. eDiscovery Forensic Analysis Early Data Assessment Document Review Document Production
Essential Attorney Questions Who will be handle the electronic discovery? Who will operate the technology at mediation or trial? Who will interface with the experts on technology issues? Do we have in-house strength to handle these tasks? Ultimately the lawyer is responsible
Get Off of My I-Cloud: Role of Technology in Construction Practice Sanjay Kurian, Esq. Trent Walton, Chief Technology Officer U.S. Legal