This Day in Legal History

james.crane@altep.com — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Corporate legal departments dedicate anywhere from 5 – 50% of their legal department assets to the enforcement of intellectual property rights.

The first federal law of copyrights, the Copyright Act of 1790, was signed into law by George Washington on May 31, 1790. The goal of [...]

New Study Shows Outbound Emails Continue to Concern Corporations

james.crane@altep.com — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Proofpoint has released results from a March 2008 survey of 301 US companies with more than 20,000 employees regarding email and data loss. The highlights from the responses include:

41% employ staff to read or analyze outbound email. 22% employ staff whose primary job is to read outbound email. 38% perform regular audits of outbound email. 44% investigated a suspected email leak of confidential information in the past year. 23% stated their business was impacted by the exposure of [...]

What is MD5?

james.crane@altep.com — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

One of the basic terms you will encounter in computer forensics is MD5. MD5 (message-digest algorithm 5) is the most commonly used cryptographic hash function with a 128-bit hash value and is represented by a 32 digit hexadecimal number. It was designed by MIT professor Ron Rivest in 1991 and first published in 1992. If you have a deep interest in cryptography and computer forensics, check out his site here. He maintains many links to resources and his published works.

In Case You Missed It: Failure to Preserve and Produce E-mail Supports Adverse Inference Instruction

james.crane@altep.com — Mon, 26 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

In Connor v. Sun Trust Bank, the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Georgia held that an adverse inference instruction is appropriate when an employer did not take the steps to properly preserve and produce an email relating to an FMLA claim by a former employee. The key players were the former employee, Connor, the defendant employer, Sun Trust, and the supervisor of the former employee. At issue in the case was a relevant February 12th email written by the [...]

Some of the Best Legal Profession Websites You May Not Know

james.crane@altep.com — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

In my role as Senior e-Discovery Counsel with Altep, I work with many of the finest legal professionals in the world. That group includes attorneys, paralegals, litigation support specialists, and various IT personnel. One of the most interesting aspects of this collaboration is how much one can learn by gaining knowledge of the different perspectives of each of the players in the execution of a legal matter. Since my readers include people from every angle of the legal profession, I wante [...]

Corporate Counsel Magazine Names Qwest the Nation�s Top Legal Department

james.crane@altep.com — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

As a Denver-based attorney, I was proud to see that Qwest and their General Counsel Rich Baer were given the honor of Top Corporate Legal Department in Corporate Counsel. In the Denver legal community, Mr. Baer is known as hard working attorney, and an all-around great guy. I’ve always been impressed that Qwest was able not only to withstand all of the lawsuits and inquiries that swirled around telecom earlier in the decade, but that they came out if it that much s [...]

The Consequences of Production Gaps

james.crane@altep.com — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

In the world of corporate defense, production gaps can turn a winnable case upside down the moment the opposing party switches into discovery attack mode. Any seemingly small error in gathering or producing data invites the spectre of spoliation. If the corporate client is unable to present a detailed explanation and justification for any alleged oversight, sanctions will probably follow.

The sanctions for spoliation vary based on culpability and the [...]

Litigation Hold Basics

james.crane@altep.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Every organization needs a litigation hold process that is consistent, defensible, and repeatable. At a minimum, the hold program must:

Outline a communication protocol between counsel and the corporate client that describes the relevant information to be preserved; Maintain a reliable method for capturing and collecting the data; Account for all information whether it is active or archived, it location(s), and backup protocols, as well as all of the client’s a [...]

Interesting Insight from the Bench

james.crane@altep.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Well, IQPC's E-Discovery Conference was a big success. Our discussion was well received, and I gained some important insights from the other speakers and attendees. One of the programs featured Chief US Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck of the Southern District of New York and Chief District Judge James Rosenbaum of the District of Minnesota. Both gentlemen were extremely interesting and tech-savvy, and posed some thought-provoking items.

Some of my f [...]

Getting Started on the Big Case With Altep

james.crane@altep.com — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Partnering with Corporate Law Departments on large-scale actions has been Altep's specialty for more than a decade. As a result, we have planned and executed many of the world’s largest e-discovery cases to a successful conclusion. So, when corporate counsel comes to us with a matter and asks “Ok, what do we do?” we have the answer - complete with point-by-point itemized checklists of what to do, timelines, cost and performance considerations, etc.< [...]

Heading to the 5 th E-Discovery Conference in Las Vegas Next Week

james.crane@altep.com — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

The Altep team is heading to Las Vegas next week to attend the IQPC 5 th E-Discovery Conference and present our program entitled "Defending Class Actions Across Multiple Jurisdictions." I will be moderating a talented panel with decades of experience in e-discovery, serial litigation, using technology in large-scale actions. We’ll talk about considerations prior to class action certification, all the way through productions in multiple jurisdictions. We&r [...]

Blog Entries - May 2008