Litigation Hold

Legal hold is a communication or notice requiring a company to preserve all data that may relate to a legal action involving the company. This requirement ensures that the data in question will be available for the discovery process prior to litigation.   Legal holds can encompass business procedures affecting active data, including, but not limited to, backup tape recycling.

Also known as also a hold, preservation order, suspension order, freeze notice, hold order, or hold notice.

OCR and Extracted Text

OCR
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is the electronic identification and digital encoding of printed or handwritten characters by means of an optical scanner and specialized software.

Extracted Text
Text that already exists in the native files such as MS Word, MS Excel, HTML files and PDFs.

e-Discovery

e-Discovery is how electronic data is requested, located, acquired, and then searched in the course of civil or criminal litigation. e-Discovery covers a broad range of data including audio files, photographs, animation, software, email, and online documents.

Litigation Workflow Chart

Know Your Courtroom

After 3 years of preparing, it's the first day of trial.  All the discovery data has been loaded to the attorneys laptops. New flat screen monitors have been delivered for everyone on the team and even one for the judge.  A wide screen projector lines the wall so that the consultant can run through the trial presentation software.  The entire team has arrived an hour early.  What could  go wrong?
Well, unfortunately everything if you don't get to know your courtroom.  Nothing worse than getting to the courtroom and realizing that you can power on the 10 laptops you need because there are only 2 power outlets.  Below is checklist

1. The moment the venue has been set, schedule a walk through. 
2. Get a floor plan.
3. Check for power outlets.
4. Determine if there is secure storage room available.  Toting boxes back and forth gets old very soon.
5. Speak with clerk beforehand to determine what A/V equipment is available on-site.
6. Schedule a dry run day to practice fully setting up all the equipment in the courtroom. 
7. Speak with the facility management.  Let them know how much power you will need to utilize to prevent possible blackouts in the middle opening arguments.

7 Websites You Should Know

ABAnet.org

Martindale.com
The crown jewel of the legal commodities search.  Find law firms, lawyers, and legal services.

Law.com
This site is actually just 1 of  more than 15 ALM sites.  Legaltechshow.com, MA3000.com, Lawjobs.com, etc.

ILTA.com

Litigation Support Today

LinkedIn.com
Stay in touch with other legal industry professionals.  There's also an App for it, too.

The Sedona Conference

Let Us Know: Concordance or AD Summation?

When you think of the major players in the Litigation Support database world, Concordance and Summation are usually the first that come to mind.  They both have a loyal following reminiscent of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.  You either like one or the other, but not both. 

So our question to you is what is your database of choice? Concordance or Summation?

If you use another database or databases, let us know your preference.