If lawyers want to leverage the power of the cloud for their clients’ needs, can they use software-as-a-service (SaaS) products? Are there any ethical concerns? Well, yes, of course, but they are not prohibitive. In this post, I discuss what ethics opinions require regarding SaaS for attorney competency, preserving confidentiality, safeguarding client property (other than client funds), and responsibility for non-lawyer assistance.
The rise of cloud computing has been one of the most disruptive technologies the legal sector has faced since the introduction of online legal research. Cloud computing is the reality of how law firms and their clients work, and attorneys should have knowledge about software-as-a-service (SaaS) computing to comply with technology competence requirements adopted by 31 states and counting.
The December 1, 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and robust new technology have ushered in a new age for attorneys to benefit from artificial intelligence in the ediscovery practice.
In summary, the process includes conducting a macro review to determine which documents can be safely culled and/or mass tagged as nonresponsive to winnow down the potential set of responsive documents, randomly sampling that set to obtain a prevalence estimate of particular tags and quality control (QC), performing the review using a combination of DISCO AI and more traditional keyword searching, followed by a final sampling to ensure the results are acceptable.
Is it e-discovery, E-discovery, eDiscovery, or ediscovery? While some may say the derivation of a word should dictate it’s spelling, others argue that communication has become a fashion; the method, spelling, and even the meaning of language should change to match the current social and cultural climate.
If you were born before 1985, it’s likely that you immediately get the reference to Festivus, the anti-commercial holiday “for the rest of us”, that was invented by George Costanza’s father and celebrated on Seinfeld. Of course, Festivus wouldn’t be complete without an unadorned aluminum Festivus pole, a dinner where the guests engage in the "Airing of Grievances" and recognition of "Feats of Strength" as well as proclaiming easily explainable events as "Festivus miracles".
In my previous post, I identified the principal reasons I believe Predictive Coding or Technology Assisted Review (“TAR”) has not yet caught on in mainstream litigation. Let me summarize very briefly: complexity, opacity, and cost. That is, most TAR systems are difficult to set up, difficult to use, difficult to understand, and usually expensive.
My military background gave me a true appreciation for technology as a force multiplier. If my wingman and I use our two modern aircraft with superior targeting technology to demobilize ten enemy aircraft at once, we have provided the same impact as ten less capable aircraft — two modern aircraft become ten. Great litigation technology can also be a true force multiplier that allows legal teams to be more cost-effective and efficiently manage large amounts of potentially relevant data over the course of any given case.