ACEDS March 2015 Members Only Webcast - Why What We Do Is Important

1. Why What We Do Is Important
ACEDS Members Only Webcast
Tom O’Connor
Advanced Discovery
Senior ESI Consultant
ACEDS Advisory Board

3. Presenter
• Senior Consultant, Advanced Discovery
• Director, Gulf Coast Legal Technology
Center
• Nationally known expert, author and
speaker in areas of computerized
litigation support systems and e-
discovery
• ACEDS Advisory Board
Tom O’Connor
Senior Consultant
Advanced Discovery

4. Topics

5. Too Much Stuff

6. “Understanding
information
technology is a
necessity for litigators.
Why? Because that’s
where the evidence
lives. “
Why is this important?

7. Humans: 44,000 years
Greek democracy: 500 BC
Magna Carta: 1215 AD
Enlightenment: 1660-1780 AD
American Revolution: 1776

8. Confidence in Justice

9. Confidence in Justice

10. Access to Justice
• ABF:
• 70%% of poor households have a legal problem
• Only 4% consult a lawyer
• Don’t know they have a legal issue!
• Middle Class
• 60% with legal problem don’t consult a lawyer
• Too expensive

11. Duties of Counsel
• Duties to Client
Confidentiality
Loyalty to Client
• Duties to Court
Oversee Discovery
Confer Early
• Technical Competence
• SAME AS IT EVER WAS
11

12. Better Solutions
Technology is NOT the key to
successful management of
e-Discovery
WHAT IS?

13. “Litigation habits and customs
learned in the days of paper
must be revisited and revised.
The culture of bench and bar
must adjust.”
Hon. Lee Rosenthal
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.
Former Chair, Standing Committee on Rules of the Judicial Conference
Paradigm Shift

14. Education

15. Cooperation
• FRCP say “what” and
“when”
• Preservation
• Discovery plan (including
production format)
• Mancia case says “how”
• Sedona Cooperation
Proclamation

16. Community

18. Contact
• Tom.oconnor@advanceddiscovery.com
• 504-324-1141
• www.advanceddiscovery.com