Close to 40 Colorado ACC members met at 6 am on February 8th to hop ... More >>]]>

Fortunately for Falcon Discovery, the Colorado chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) brought back their annual Ski & CLE® event for 2012 and asked Falcon to be a part of it. Skiing at Vail while earning CLE credit? How could we turn that down?

Close to 40 Colorado ACC members met at 6 am on February 8th to hop on board a bus heading to Vail Mountain. En route, attendees were treated to a continental breakfast and coffee while they earned CLE credit, during which, Falcon Discovery had the opportunity to share our thoughts and e-discovery predictions for 2012.

After a full morning of skiing and a mid-mountain private lunch, the group took to the Nastar race course and battled it out for top honors. The only thing to top the determined looks on the racers faces as they crossed the finish line was the après ski laughter and fun that spilled over into the ride home.

Many thanks to Carmel Gill and the ACC Board for bringing this incredible event back to life.

In this new technology-laced playing field, it is important to know how discovery is conducted and managed. Participants will learn how the discovery process works, the dangers of failing to prepare for litigation, how to prepare your organization before litigation arises, ... More >>]]>

Falcon’s CEO, Don McLaughlin, recently co-facilitated a web seminar with ARMA International entitled ‘Litigation – Preparation, Legal Holds, and Beyond’.

In this new technology-laced playing field, it is important to know how discovery is conducted and managed. Participants will learn how the discovery process works, the dangers of failing to prepare for litigation, how to prepare your organization before litigation arises, and most importantly, what to do once you are in litigation. After completing this seminar, you will be able to identify and avoid the common pitfalls that can cost your organization time, money, and even a positive outcome.

This web seminar is qualified for 1 ICRM Maintenance Credit. For more information about this event, click here.

From January 30th through February 2nd, Falcon Discovery worked arduously to sift through all the vendor announcements and educational sessions ... More >>]]>

Now that Falcon Discovery’s team has caught up on some sleep, digested those street pretzels, and finally gotten that conference theme song out of their heads, they’ve compiled a list of key highlights from the LegalTech 2012 conference in New York.

From January 30th through February 2nd, Falcon Discovery worked arduously to sift through all the vendor announcements and educational sessions to uncover and distill key emerging trends in eDiscovery and information governance. Several key trends were identified during Falcon’s video interviews with thought leaders and legal technology award winners (available on Falcon’s blog), and in its participation and attendance at several panels during the conference. Set out below are a few of Falcon’s highlights from the conference. For Falcon’s complete summary of emerging trends identified at LegalTech, sign up for Falcon’s newsletter here.

• Man v. Machine debate. During a well-attended and lively panel moderated by Symantec’s Dean Gonsowski, Ralph Losey delivered the wake-up call: “don’t live in denial” about an emerging recognition that the human review process should not be considered the “gold” standard. Maura Grossman underscored the point by reiterating that the accuracy of attorney eyes-on-review is far from 100%. Honorable Judge Peck urged audience members not to wait for a court ruling to bless technology assisted review, stating that as long as a party can explain its methodology, the use of advanced technology to reduce litigation costs is a smart move.

• Hot Topics in E-Discovery: Point-Counterpoint discussion with Craig Ball and Ralph Losey. Few panel sessions were as talked about as this standing-room-only debate. This discussion, moderated by the Honorable Judge Peck, turned a little fiery when the topic case Pippins vs. KPMG came up. Mr. Losey asserted that there were three things wrong with the order: 1) it “dissed” proportionality in preservations, 2) it assumes everybody in a class action case is a key player, and 3) it called a non-forensic collection of a hard drive “spoliation.” Mr. Ball did not agree. He argued that to destroy evidence before they’ve certified the class is a shady practice, and to not capture parts of a hard drive (like slack space) that may contain relevant information to the case was imprudent. When the debate turned to the Federal Rules changes, the two were slightly more agreeable but could not agree that specific changes need to be adopted. Mr. Losey called for a clarification in the rules to keep justice affordable and the rules up to date with the ever-emerging technology. Mr. Ball argued that the rules were well-written and flexible as is.

• Harnessing Search Technology Effectively. As a panelist for this session, Falcon’s founder and CEO, Don McLaughlin, helped hammer home the message that predictive coding is not a silver bullet and that without proper human interaction, the latest and greatest technologies can be misleading and ineffective. The highly interactive session allowed audience members to gain a much better understanding about where search technology is most effective throughout the discovery life cycle, and how it is often misused when the specific limitations of the search technology are unknown.

Interviews, Interviews and more Interviews. With help from some of its trusted partners, Falcon Discovery interviewed industry leaders to find out what was on their minds during the conference. Falcon learned about vast improvements in the review/analysis process, in-house perspectives on the new Model Order for patent cases, and details about the latest cutting-edge legal technologies. Click here to view these videos.

For years in-house legal departments relied on outside counsel to meet specialized legal needs. With the dramatic increase in outside counsel fees and the rising pressure to cut costs, many are considering new strategies to keep legal ... More >>]]>

…to see some old colleagues speak about leveraging technology and cost-cutting models for in-house legal departments at the University of Colorado School of Law.

For years in-house legal departments relied on outside counsel to meet specialized legal needs. With the dramatic increase in outside counsel fees and the rising pressure to cut costs, many are considering new strategies to keep legal budgets lean. Strategies utilized include: (1) direct management of outsourcing and reliance on non-traditional entities for basic legal processes  (i.e., electronic discovery); (2) adoption of performance metrics to drive greater efficiencies and increase productivity; and, (3) employment of in-house attorneys with an eye towards better managing legal needs. Rich Baer, EVP and CLO at UnitedHealth Group and Mark Chandler, SVP, GC and Secretary at Cisco will be among the professionals that will be evaluating all three-and other-effective strategies for managing costs.

For more information on this Silicon Flatirons event, please click here.