Digital Detectives

Discovery, as all lawyers know, is the process of collecting and exchanging information about the court case to prepare for the trial. Traditionally, this was done by many lawyers over countless billable hours in which every page of potential evidence was examined for important information. Because of this, the more information existed in reference to a case, the more expensive the case was. As technology developed, law firms began using computers to do keyword searches and conceptual searches. Unfortunately, there were problems including picking the right keywords or concepts, misspelled words, how to structure the items, and that these searches only yielded 20% of important data. Recently, technology has advanced to predictive coding, or teaching a computer program to think like a lawyer would. But how cost effective and practical is predictive coding, and how well does it actually work? In this episode of The Digital Detectives, Sharon Nelson and John Simek discuss the evolution of technology and case disc

In 2006, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure rule-makers developed and put into practice amendments dealing with electronically stored information (ESI) and e-discovery. However, most of those involved believed these amendments did not adequately deal with lost or missing ESI or "the spoliation issue." In 2014 the rule-makers proposed Rule 37(e), which deals with the issue of spoliation equally across all federal courts, resolving the issue of inherent authority, or judges making decisions individually for each case. What are these changes and how will they affect the way businesses deal with e-discovery and data preservation? In this episode of The Digital Detectives, Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview ESI preservation expert James Kurz about how Rule 37(e) works and what the consequences are for the future of ESI preservation. Kurz explains that the rule, which only deals with ESI, proposes a three part test before considering spoliation issues: the ESI should have been preserved in the anticipation or

Despite all the attention that e-discovery has received over the last decade, it is still a relatively new part of the litigation process. For those lawyers who were never exposed to e-discovery in law school or their formative years, the systems and products involving data collection and analysis can be overwhelming and complex. How much do lawyers need to know about information governance, data collection, data analysis, managed document review, and electronically stored information (ESI)? Alternately, for those data collection practitioners who are already intricately involved in the culling and analysis, how is the technology and process changing? In this episode of Digital Detectives, Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview e-discovery solutions expert Aaron Lawlor about what is involved with ESI and data collection, current trends in data analysis, and future advances in technology and process. Lawlor urges every litigator to become experienced with the state and federal rules involving e-discovery in or

Every law firm can run into incidents of employee misconduct, data breaches, and intellectual property theft. In the age of modern technology, data breaches, insider trading, and other security problems require extensive technological forensics. Partners and firm owners, as well as lawyers working within the firm, need to understand why a digital investigation is needed, what steps should be taken within an investigation, and who should be involved. Having this knowledge can save the firm thousands of dollars while uncovering the truth. In this episode of Digital Detectives, Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview ediscovery and compliance attorney Patrick Oot about how attorneys should be prepared on technology issues when they start to investigate criminal and civil matters. Everyone leaves technology footprints, Oot explains. Whether dealing with an internal investigation or with client data, the most important asset is unbiased, comprehensive, and well documented research. When hiring a digital investigato

All lawyers have an ethical obligation to employ security measures when sharing information and data with their clients. Whether that means encrypting all important emails or properly researching cloud based file-sharing services like Dropbox, it is incumbent on lawyers to understand the levels of security available. LexisNexis recently did a survey on what tools lawyers and legal professionals are using to protect their clients' privileged information. 77% of the lawyers surveyed did not have adequate security for their confidential client data. How important is encryption and what can lawyers do to change the way they share data? On this episode of Digital Detectives, Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview Bob Ambrogi, a lawyer and journalist who recently wrote about the LexisNexis survey. They ask him about the implications of the survey, what security measures lawyers should be taking, how frequently clients are hurt by lack of security, and why lawyers are generally resistant to learning about data encry

On February 12th of 2008, the FBI announced that it had hired Lockheed Martin to build its Next Generation Identification system (NGI) to deploy multimodal matching to biometric data of US citizens. Today, NGI's database contains several types of unique identifiers including fingerprints, iris prints, and facial recognition. On this episode of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview Jennifer Lynch from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Together they discuss false identifications, mandatory background checks, and the First Amendment right to be anonymous. Tune in to learn more about EFF's FOIA request and how the FBI is using the data of the innocent to look for guilty parties. Jennifer Lynch is a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to defending civil liberties in the digital world. At EFF, Jennifer works on privacy issues in new technologies such as biometrics, domestic drones, and location tracking devices. She successf

Some experts believe that, in addition to being prohibitively expensive for law firms to manage, maintaining immense amounts of client data increases the probability that it will be exposed to the public through a security breach or hack. That is why many like-minded firms are outsourcing data management to companies that specialize in it. On this episode of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview Ralph C. Losey from Jackson Lewis P.C. Together, they discuss how to manage large amounts of data, when to outsource, and what to do with unprocessed information. Tune in to learn more about dark data, how to select outside vendors, and hosting costs vs. storage costs. Ralph C. Losey is a shareholder of Jackson Lewis P.C., a law firm specializing in labor and employment law with over 52 offices nationwide and 800 attorneys. Ralph serves as the firm's National e-Discovery Counsel in charge of electronic discovery issues. Ralph has limited his practice to e-discovery since 2006 and is the auth

Some technology experts believe it's not a matter of if law firm communications can be hacked, but when. With continuing reports of the NSA and foreign entities monitoring the privileged attorney-client communications of US law firms, lawyers may be required to take additional measures to protect client information. On this edition of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek discuss the growing dangers and evolving duties for clients and attorneys with cyber security expert David Ries from Clark Hill Thorp Reed. Among the many changes to legal practice are alterations to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, increased contractual expectations from clients, and a growing need to encrypt portable devices. Tune in to learn more about these developing areas of attorney responsibility. David Ries is a member in the Pittsburgh office of Clark Hill Thorp Reed, LLP where he practices in the areas of environmental, commercial, and technology law and litigation. He regularly deals with privacy and secu

From malware and hackers to BYOD and TYOD, the biggest threat to law firm data could be the attorneys themselves. On this episode of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek interview data expert Ben M. Schorr and discover complex new threats to data security and the simplest solutions to reduce them. Schorr is a technologist and Chief Executive Officer for Roland Schorr and Tower, a professional consulting firm headquartered in Flagstaff, Arizona with offices in Hawaii and Oregon. He is also the author of several books and articles on technology, including The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Outlook, The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Word, and Microsoft OneNote in One Hour for Lawyers. He's been a Microsoft MVP for more than 15 years and involved with management and technology for more than 20 years.

In this edition of Digital Detectives hosts Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek invite Jason R. Baron, former director of litigation at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration to discuss Information Governance as it relates to e-discovery, privacy, record keeping and security. Baron connects the dots between all these areas and helps lawyers understand they need to know about information governance and the current trends he is see in this area. Baron serves as counsel to the Information Governance and E-Discovery Practice Group at the law firm of Drinker Biddle and Reath, in Washington, DC. His prior career in the federal service included acting as trial lawyer and senior counsel at the Department of Justice, and for the past 13 years as director of litigation at the US National Archives and Records Administration. He is an internationally recognized speaker on the subject of electronic records.

The first thing guest Alan Goldberg highlighted was the colossal cost of data breaches. He explained that the minimum cost is $100,000 and it has the potential to amount to millions. In this edition of Digital Detectives, your hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek invite Goldberg to discuss the usual reasons for a breach, likely consequences, prevention, and more. Goldberg is a solo practitioner in McLean, Virginia. A past President of the American Health Lawyers Association, he teaches Health Law and Health and Information Technology as an adjunct professor at American University, Washington College of Law, and George Mason University School of Law. Special thanks to our sponsor, Digital WarRoom.

The Honorable John M. Tran uses the terms digital natives and digital immigrants when referring to judges. Coined by author Marc Prensky, digital natives are those born into technology and digital immigrants are learning the field as they go. It's not uncommon for judges to be digital immigrants, forcing them to confront issues on the bench that they have never experienced. In this edition of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. and John W. Simek invite long-time friend Judge Tran to discuss how his colleagues keep up to date on technology, his views on cooperative discovery as both a judge and a past litigator, and what he's seen as the best way to address discovery in the courtroom. Judge John M. Tran started his career at a boutique litigation law firm in Virginia where he had extensive experience in e-discovery matters, in both the state and federal court. Now he is a state judge in the Fairfax Circuit Court, in the 19th judicial circuit of Virginia. He is a graduate of the George Washington

Edward Snowden's leaks about NSA surveillance have been a hot topic in the media for the last few months. But what do lawyers, specifically, need to worry about? The answer is: a lot. On this edition of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek take the stage and examine NSA surveillance as it relates to lawyers. Tune in for an overview of Snowden and the NSA surveillance controversy, how effective (or ineffective) encrypting data is, whether the surveillance is having a chilling effect on lawyers, how to abide by the Model Rules of Professionalism 1.6, and an answer to the underlying question - has George Orwell's dystopia, 1984, arrived a few decades late?

Lawyers hold some of their clients' most private communications, which makes them a top target of all hackers. As technology competence becomes the required norm, lawyers need to understand not only how to protect their clients' information but how to react if a cyber attack does happen. On this episode of Digital Detectives, Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. and John W. Simek invite Steven Chabinsky to discuss cyber-risk management for lawyers. Steven Chabinsky is senior vice president of legal affairs, general counsel, and chief risk officer for the cyber-security-technology firm CrowdStrike. He is also is an adjunct faculty member of George Washington University and the cyber columnist for Security Magazine. Prior to joining CrowdStrike, Chabinsky had a distinguished 17-year career with the FBI, during which he was the top cyber lawyer, then the head of the Cyber Intelligence Section, and ultimately deputy assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division. Tune in to hear the major threats law firms are facing, what la

This episode of Digital Detectives discusses e-discovery vendor trends. Hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. and John W. Simek welcome entrepreneur and friend Andy Wilson to share his insights on what's going on in the industry and what's to come. Andy Wilson is CEO and co-founder of Logik, whose e-discovery platform, Logikcull, was created to make complicated e-discovery projects easy and manageable. He focuses on product design and management and serves as the company's visionary behind product marketing and strategy. Logik is now offering infinite storage to its customers, and Wilson believes this is the future of storage pricing. Tune in to hear about the impact of the new normal on e-discovery vendors, the consolidation of the marketplace, how vendors need to change to survive, what Wilson predicts will be the next big trend in the field, and more. Thanks to our sponsor, Digital WarRoom.

On This edition of Digital Detectives, co-hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. and John W. Simek discuss the Georgetown E-Discovery Training Academy with Tom O'Connor. The training consists of a week-long curriculum for those interested in becoming fluent in e-discovery through small-group discussions and interactive-learning sessions. O'Connor is a senior consultant for Gallivan, Gallivan & O'Melia, creators of the Digital WarRoom e-discovery software. He is co-author of the book E-Discovery for Small Cases: Managing Digital Evidence and ESI. The book was noted by PRWeb as the first book to "mainstream" e-discovery for all cases. He is a frequent author and speaker on legal technology and dedicates his work to making advances in the field. If you couldn't make it, here's your chance to learn about the conference: who was there, what they learned, and the plans for next year. Thanks to our sponsor, Digital WarRoom.

It's easy to get caught up in the fast-paced transition to paperless E-discovery review. Firms are now converting evidence into TIFF files. What's a TIFF file? It's just an easy way to manage and send large amounts of evidence, right? Wrong. On this episode of Digital Detectives, guest Craig Ball explains that a TIFF image turns the evidence into a small, non-searchable image. "They are not offering you the evidence in anything like the form in which they created and used the evidence." Ball explained in a recent article, " Instead, they propose to print everything to a kind of electronic paper, turning searchable, metadata-rich evidence into non-searchable pictures of much (but not all) of the source document." Ball is a certified computer forensic examiner, a court special master, and author of the Law Technology News Column and blog both titled Ball in Your Court. After years of experience practicing law and winning clients' cases using technology in the courtroom, he is now a consultant to help courts a

Digital Detectives hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. and John W. Simek, president and vice president of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., welcome Stewart Baker of Steptoe & Johnson to discuss the 2013 Verizon Data Breach Report, cybersecurity legislation, and more. • Stewart Baker has been described by The Washington Post as "one of the most techno-literate lawyers around." His long list of experience includes serving as the first Assistant Secretary for Policy for the Department of Homeland Security and the General Counsel of the National Security Agency. His current law practice covers homeland security matters, travel and foreign investment regulation, international trade, cybersecurity, and data protection. Tune in to hear Baker explain the difference between active defense against cyber-defense and vigilantism, the meaning of the Attribution Revolution, and what President Obama Cybersecurity Executive Order means and how it may be amplified by pending legislation.

Find out what the experts in computer security saw at ABA TECHSHOW 2013 - things like attendees with no passcode on their tablets or smartphones and people connecting to insecure networks which monitored their data traffic (through a scary device called a Pineapple). Digital Detectives hosts Sharon Nelson, Esq. and John Simek, president and vice president of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., welcome Ben Schorr of Roland Schorr to talk about the best ways to secure your home and office devices Ben Schorr has been a technical consultant for businesses for two decades. Microsoft named him Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for both their Outlook product group and their OneNote product group. He was recently named by the Pacific Technology Foundation as one of the Top 50 Technology Leaders in Hawaii, where he is CEO of Roland Schorr, an IT management and support company. This episode will help you understand how to connect to the Internet securely when you are out of the office, to create secure passwords for your devic

In this October edition of Digital Detectives, co-hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc. and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, join returning guest, attorney Craig Ball, to talk about special masters in e-discovery. Craig describes how an ESI special master gets involved in a case, what a special master does to fix broken discovery efforts and how to select an ESI special master.