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A legal hold is the term used to describe the actions an organization must take in order to preserve all forms of relevant information when a legal obligation arises; it is the first critical step in an effective electronic discovery program. While much has been written about the legal requirements and the pitfalls of failing to effectively implement legal holds, for today’s purposes I will address the processes and decisions that should be considered when developing a Legal Hold Playbook.

Law firm libraries provide essential business services that are often overlooked by leaders of their organizations. While it may be tempting to assume that firm leadership is to blame for the oversight, the issue often lies in communication gaps that exist between law libraries and firm stakeholders. Historically, senior administrative leaders were partners that directly experienced the value of the library. However, over the past decade, there has been a shift to non-lawyer leadership and as a result the library’s value is no longer apparent to firm leaders.

The majority of companies report that Law Department e-Discovery operations are still in the adolescence stage of maturity.

Law firms are continuing to navigate and adjust to the “new normal” of the legal business environment. Firms are exploring a variety of strategies, including leveraging technology, reviewing alternative staffing structures and exploring new service delivery models, in an effort to make fundamental long-term changes. Each of these tactics not only requires a significant amount of time, but often a substantial upfront investment before the benefits can be fully realized. 

Evolving case law, new proposed rules and technology advances provided no shortage of complex topics at this year’s conference. The Annual Georgetown Advanced eDiscovery Institute never fails to deliver engaging topics that are top of mind for lawyers and technologists practicing in the electronic discovery realm. The industry has experienced a number of innovation milestones over the past several years as it has adapted to the complexities presented by discovering relevant evidence in this ever-changing electronic age.

The 13th Annual Law Firm COO & CFO Forum: Fostering Innovation in Law Firms provided domestic and global COO and CFOs with an opportunity to learn how their peers’ are approaching the ever popular theme of “innovation.” While many firms are embracing innovation, some are still in a state of resistance. Below are ten “take-aways” that we gathered from the day and a half-long forum.

ALM's recent Special Report on the state of Big Law is absolutely spot on.

In mid-June, I had the pleasure of attending a series of HP hosted User Group Events.  Of the four in this series, I was able to participate in Washington DC, New York and Toronto.  Although they represent very different demographics, there were many areas of commonality. The few notable differences focused mainly around the cloud and issues of data sovereignty in Canada. With the annual ILTA Conference approaching next week, I look forward to seeing how HP carries the themes of the customer events forward into what is arguably the most important trade show of the year.