Are you ready for the new year?

Are you ready for 2012? Have you aligned your career goals with your personal goals? What do you need to learn about electronic discovery in order to achieve your professional goals for this year?

Let’s take a look at some of the predictions from industry insiders for what we can expect in 2012:

What do you think? Do you have any predictions of your own? If you’re planning to go to Legal Tech NY in a few weeks, what are you hoping to learn more about while you’re there? New techniques for managing electronic discovery and/or new technology? What did you learn in 2011 that will save you and your team both time and money in 2012?

The 8 Habits of Highly Effective Project Managers

The PM Student blog (a fantastic resource for anyone interested in learning to be a better project manager) covers the The 8 Habits of Highly Effective Project Managers in a recent post. I’ve listed them below with links to additional resources for you to explore as you work towards building better habits as an e-discovery project manager.

1.  Effective Project Managers Are Lifelong Learners

2.  Effective Project Managers Are Clear Communicators

3.  Effective Project Managers Are Analytical

4.  Effective Project Managers Are Focused

5.  Effective Project Managers Value Planning

6.  Effective Project Managers Are Empathetic

7.  Effective Project Managers Are Self-Starters

8.  Effective Project Managers Are Good Listeners

If you were to add two more habits to this list, what would they be?

Performing Quality E-Discovery Searches: Is it Time to Set Some Standards?

Is it time to set some standards when it comes to quality searching in e-discovery? On Digital Detectives, co-hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc. and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises welcome Jason R. Baron, the Director of Litigation for the National Archives and Records Administration, to talk about e-discovery searches and whether it is time to set some standards to ensure quality searches. Jason talks about how best to search for electronic evidence in civil litigation, how searching has changed since the early days and also how the courts are handling thorny questions involving searches. He also shares information on the upcoming DESI IV workshop.

via Performing Quality E-Discovery Searches: Is it Time to Set Some Standards? | Legal Talk Network.

This topic was also addressed recently on the e-Discovery Team blog:

In Search of Quality: Is It Time for E-Discovery Search Process Quality Standards? « e-Discovery Team.

One more post from the e-Discovery Team’s guest blogger, Sony Sigler of Cataphora

ALSP Free Webinars Spring 2011

This post was copied from an email I received earlier today. I recommend attending at least one, if not all, of the learning opportunities below… If you’re a member of ALSP, then you’ll be able to access the on-demand recordings at a later time.

- erika

 

Please join ALSP  for these free upcoming webinars, open to members and prospective members.

 

THIS WEDNESDAY – Education: Legacy Data Remediation (Cosgrove, Fasching, Rummelhoff)

A Practical, Innovative and Experienced Approach to Legacy Data Remediation; Real-world examples of Paper and Electronic Projects

There are plenty of people echoing the risks associated with legacy data and a “keep everything” mentality. Join us for a webinar that will take those discussions a step further, offering insight from both a legal and technical perspective into how remediation projects can be managed cost effectively and in a manner that does not up-end everyday business operations. During this one-hour discussion, Redgrave LLP Partner Andy Cosgrove and Analysts Diana Fasching and Christian Rummelhoff will also outline a defensible framework for the disposition of legacy data, and share real-world examples of paper and electronic remediation projects. Victoria Edelman, Vice President of Education for the ALSP and Director of Training for iCONECT Development, facilitates.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time (New York)
Duration: 1 hour

Click here to register.

THIS THURSDAY – Education: The Top Ten (or So) E-Discovery Predictions for 2011 (Grossman, Hedges)

Join Maura R. Grossman, Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and Ronald J. Hedges, former United States Magistrate Judge, for a lively discussion of the top ten (or so) developments in the e-discovery world — both ominous and exciting — expected for the coming year. Among other topics, we’ll discuss major milestones, case law surprises, the impact of new technology, and recap the biggest developments in 2010. Victoria Edelman, Vice President of Education for the ALSP and Director of Training for iCONECT Development, facilitates.

 

 

Thursday, March 31, 2011 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time (New York)

Duration: 1 hour

Click here to register.

 

 

Education: Analytic Search Software (Crowley)

Conor R. Crowley, Esq. of the Crowley Law Office will review the different types of analytical software available and will discuss the rules and case law supporting the use of such technologies in civil discovery. Conor will also discuss the need for quality assurance when employing analytical software for relevance review and how to design an appropriate quality assurance process. While no specific software products will be discussed, Conor will cover the general varieties and how they work. Victoria Edelman, Vice President of Education for the ALSP and Director of Training for iCONECT Development, facilitates.

 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (New York)
Duration: 1 hour

Click here to register.

 

 

Education: Statistical Sampling for Dummies: Applying Measurement Techniques in E-Discovery (Grossman, Cormack)

Join Maura R. Grossman, Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and Gordon V. Cormack, Professor, David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, for a primer on statistical sampling and its application to e-discovery. Among the topics to be covered are the kinds of questions sampling can and cannot answer; what “random sampling” is and how a random sample may be generated; what “confidence intervals” and “confidence levels” are; how to choose the correct sample size; and sampling traps for the unwary. Victoria Edelman, Vice President of Education for the ALSP and Director of Training for iCONECT Development, facilitates.

 

Thursday, April 21, 2011 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time (New York)
Duration: 1 hour
Click here to register.


Product Demonstration: Index Engines

Tape Discovery Via the Cloud – Collecting electronically stored information (ESI) from backup tapes has historically been a time consuming and difficult process. The content archived on backup tapes is extremely valuable as it is a point in time snapshot of files and email based on the date of the backup. However, this data is often not leveraged as it has been expensive to identify and collect. Index Engines cloud-based discovery service for backup tapes, powered by Index Engines patented direct indexing and extraction technology, solves this problem. Attend this webinar and learn more. Jim McGann, VP of Information Discovery for Index Engines presents. Victoria Edelman, Vice President of Education for the ALSP and Director of Training for iCONECT Development, facilitates.

Thursday, May 12, 2011 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time (New York)
Duration: 1 hour
Click here to register.

 

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Phone: +1.713.375.2728 · · http://alsponline.site-ym.com/

e-Discovery Origins: Zubulake | e-Lessons Learned

e-Lessons Learned is a great blog for following case law updates in the e-discovery world. As they point out below, anyone getting started in understanding why we do what we in e-discovery should learn about the Zubulake case.

 

Welcome to our signature feature, e-Discovery Origins: Zubulake, designed to give readers a primer on the e-discovery movement through blog posts about Zubulake, the series of court opinions that helped form the foundation for e-discovery. e-Discovery Origins: Zubulake takes each Zubulake decision and distills its key elements into what has become our trademark – simple, witty, easy to understand e-Lessons.

e-Discovery Origins: Zubulake also takes a behind-the-scenes look at those who have most influenced the e-discovery movement and offers insight into their contributions. As one leading e-discovery guru put it, “if you are a novice to e-discovery case law this is a must read.”

via e-Discovery Origins: Zubulake | e-Lessons Learned.

Advancing your skill set w/ MSOffice 2007

As a practicing litigation support professional, you may or may not have a technical background and your may or may not have had a reason to use most of the large feature set of Microsoft Office in your every day work. However, it is important to have strong MSOffice skills (including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Visio) as a litigation support professional and/or e-discovery project manager. In fact, most job descriptions require it. Thankfully, Microsoft offers free online training on their website. Here are the links:

Access - you will be expected to manipulate data, generate queries, run reports and create custom databases on the fly to meet client and attorney needs in litigation (I once had to create an access database to cross=reference political contribution checks involving the bonuses of employees of a company and the checks written by their spouses to a single political campaign.)

Excel - you will be expected to manipulate data (ie. load files), filter information, modify formulas, create charts and possibly assist attorneys in reviewing/ understanding spreadsheets that have been produced from the opposing party

PowerPoint – if you get involved in trial presentation work, you will be expected to know how to create a presentation; if you become a team leader or trainer, you will be expected to present from time to time either on an e-discovery best practice or a project plan for your discovery matter

Project – while I’m not a big fan of Project for litigation projects, you may have to use it for organizational process improvement projects so it’s probably a good idea to become as familiar with it as you can

Sharepoint - generally speaking, this is a highly customized tool that many organizations use for many different reasons; I recommend learning some of the basics in the event that you’re on a planning team preparing to implement a Sharepoint solution at your organization

Visio - you will be expected to be able to visually articulate a project plan and/or review workflow especially, as an e-discovery project manager

Word - you probably are very familiar with this program but there are a few things that e-discovery project managers are required to do including: writing project plans, training guides, job aides, check lists, formal status reports. Some of the more advanced features may be necessary is creating professional looking documents

If your firm is using MSOffice 2010, click here.