Capturing Lightning

One of the lessons of The Social Network is how lightning fast a new technology can feel like it's been with us forever. It's almost impossible to grasp that Facebook was launched in 2004 — the same year Google had it's initial public offering. 2004 — seven short years ago.

Andrew Grove, in Only the Paranoid Survive — talks about the moments in time when there is a tsunami change to technology that isn't just a quiet evolution, it changes everything. 

We are there. I'm always cautioning new journalists to be skeptical of the declarations that a new technology is "revolutionary,"  but I am now convinced that  Twitter, text messaging, and Facebook are indeed worthy of that word. (Throw in Skype and iPhones/iPads to the mix as well). Can it really be that Facebook — which started out as essentially a boys' club for dating — may end up being one of the most influential technologies in the history of this planet. And I don't think I'm being hyperbolic, here.

Monday's edition of The New York Times' DealBook (Andrew Ross Sorkin) notes today that financial giant JPMorgan Chase wants a piece of Twitter. The firm, he says, has established "new fund aimed at investing in social-media companies is seeking to buy a minority stake in Twitter that could value the service at close to $4.5 billion, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Sunday. The $1.22 billion JPMorgan fund appears to see Twitter as its beachhead in the highly popular social-media sector, much as Goldman Sachs established its presence in the category by raising $1.5 billion to invest in Facebook, an amount that included $1 billion collected from wealthy private individuals outside the United States. It is not clear whether the fund, known as the J.P. Morgan Digital Growth Fund, will invest directly in Twitter, or buy current investors' stakes with the company's consent," says Sorkin who not related to The Social Network's screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Full story here.

Of course, the flip side of all this change is how fast technology can disappear. Just ask anyone (like me) who bought an eight-track cassette player or Beta rather than VHS.

Three's the Charm

The always-prolific Craig Ball has sprinted faster than even his usual brisk pace, with not one, not two, but three contributions to Law Technology News in the last few days. Last week, he shared details of how Facebook has added a new tool that will be a boon for e-discovery, allowing its users to easily capture their content on the sizzling social media site. (By the way, if you have not yet seen "The Social Network", don't miss it! Hopefully, it won an Oscar last night for Best Screenplay, if not Best Picture -- Aaron Sorkin's astonishing writing grabs you from the film's first images.)

Today, Ball takes a break from electronic discovery to discuss another one of his passions — Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software. Anyone who's ever seen Ball give a speech will testify that he has some of the most creative slides in our industry. In "PowerPoint Powers Up: 9 New Features," Ball raves about nine new changes to the popular software, and explains how you can use the new tools to create dynamic (and literally animated) images.

Tomorrow, visit the top stories area of our homepage to see the March edition of the "Ball in Your Court" e-discovery column, which addresses effective protocols for metadata, including a detailed list of what information should be produced. A particularly relevant topic in light of Southern District of New York Judge Shira Scheindlin's latest opinion in National Day Laborer Org. Network v. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 11655 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2011). Here's a recent story, "Much Ado About Metadata," from Jennifer Rearden and Farrah Pepper about the ruling.

Your Chance to Rate the Technology Vendors

Frustrated with your legal technology? Elated? Share your experience and help your peers pick the best technology vendors. The second annual ALM Technology Vendor Satisfaction Survey is underway, via a simple online survey. Conducted by our "Legal Intelligence" research unit, the survey asks questions about technology products and servcies, such as software and web-based offerings that target law firms and law departments.

There are six categories: research libraries, e-discovery and compliance, litigation support, mobile lawyering, and office technology. The deadline to participate is April 8, 2001. Take the survey here, learn more about it here. 

Participants will receive a brief analysis of the results; full results will be available for purchase for $950 (participants get a 15% discount). The results also determine the 2011 LTN Vendor Awards, so let your voice be heard!

Here's my analysis of the inaugural 2010 survey, "Help Please!," which confirmed (by a whopping 77% of respondents) that the number one criteria for choosing a vendor is customer service. More than anything else, we all want quick responses and prompt resolutions to technology problems.

What will emerge as the top issues of 2011? We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Socha & Gelbman Go High Tech

Among the famous "couples" of legal technology (no, not THAT kind of partners, no Brangelinas!) are Minnesota consultants George Socha and Tom Gelbmann — who have been monitoring electronic data discovery vendors since 2003. They conduct exhaustive research, publish an summary of the results every August in Law Technology News, and make drill-down information available to subscribers.

  Through 2008, their LTN report included both analysis and detailed charts, ranking vendors both for overall achievement, and comparing vendors within specific areas (e.g., identification, preservation, collection, etc.).

But in 2009, the pair (who also run the Electronic Discovery Reference Model www.edrm.net) decided to end the tradition of ranking, because, ironically, it had become way too successful. Instead of doing appropriate due diligence, firms and individuals would simply rely on the Soc-mann rankings — which chilled the two consultants, because doing so defeated the whole purpose of their research: to help folks evaluate vendors, not just grab a list. They talked about the decision in this Law Technology Now podcast.

This week, Socha (far right) and Gelbmann (near right) have gone high tech, launching Apersee, a web-based tool designed to help firms and individuals make educated decisions about which vendors to approach. The tool works with most browsers (without any plug-ins or additional software), and is compatible with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7+, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome (but iffy with IE6, fixes in progress).

"Apersee comes from the French word aperçu (pronounced a-pər-ˈsü), meaning an immediate understanding or insight," they explain on the product's website (www.apersee.com). "That's exactly what we want you to find here. With minimal time and effort, the Apersee Selection Engine can give you insight into the e-discovery products and providers who can address your unique needs and priorities."

The search engine "draws heavily" from both EDRM and the survey material. Users "choose the criteria that matter the most to them, assign priorities to those criteria, evaluate the results, and modify searches until a decision is made." The system is customizable and flexible, and there is no cost to consumers to use Apersee.

Vendors "can tailor their listing to fit their specific offerings and include as much or as little information as desired, including adding videos, images, links or specialty areas," says Soc-Mann. Like most directory services, basic information about a vendor is provided for free, but vendors will pay fees via "per-view" pricing for enhanced listings, Socha told LTN.

Another Exit from Fios

CEO John Hesse, president and CEO of Oregon-based Fios, abruptly left the company Wednesday (Feb. 16) after a "personal disagreement" with its board of directors. The board of directors immediately added CEO to the title of its chair William Lyons.

Fios' senior director of marketing Donna Peterson is framing the departure with a positive spin:  "This is an orderly transition, continuing Fios’ positive momentum coming out of 2010, which was a banner year for processing volume and repeat customer business."

But no matter what pretty face Fios puts on the latest changes in the executive suite, the company has had a lot of upheaval in the last two years. Last October, counsel Mary Mack defected to ZyLab.

Hesse, who previously served as CFO and COO, replaced Chris Junker in May, 2010, who had joined Fios from Autonomy, in September 2009 and resigned "due to undisclosed personal reasons (but remained on the board).  (Junker had replaced CEO Gerald Massey "as part of a formal succession plan.) Other 2009 departures included consultants Prashant Dubey,  Sam Panarella, and Cynthia Bateman (now director of evidence and discovery management, forensic technology services at KPMG) when the short-lived consulting unit was shuttered — and sales/marketer Jeanette Sieplan, and PR chief Deborah Caldwell.

Lyons, right, previously served as chair and CEO of AXS-One, Inc. (an electronic archiving and retrieval company that was acquired by Unify in 2009), and according to his bio, "has a an extensive background in management, sales and marketing, operations, research and development, and mergers and acquisitions. He has successfully taken several companies public," which no doubt will fuel the long-brewing speculation that Fios (like so many e-discovery companies) may be looking to be purchased.

One industry veteran, who asked not to be identified, reads the latest executive suite move as "continued efforts to sell the company. Gerald Massey made no bones that was what he was doing but never got a deal done. I always thought Hesse was interim until they found someone else and looks like this is it," he said.  

Observes consultant George Socha, who has been tracking vendors for several years, "An interesting thing about Fios has been that since shortly after they opened their doors in 1999, every six months or so stories have circulated about their impending demise.  And still, here they are, alive and, they tell me, in a stronger financial position than ever."

No press release is yet available.

Update: We had a chance to question Lyons about the transition. Here's the Q&A conducted 2/22/11:

1. There’s been a lot of turnover in the top spot at Fios over the last few years. Why?

While there have been a number of transitions, the changes at the top spot have been orderly and measured, though of course, not pre-planned. Gerald Massey was Fios’ CEO for more than 6 years before he requested a change. The board instated John Hesse, then CFO, to the interim position until we named Chris Junker as CEO in September 2009. For personal reasons, Chris resigned so he could spend more time in Chicago. However, Junker has remained on our board, which has insured a smooth transition, with no loss of momentum. Similarly, when we promoted John Hesse from CFO and COO to CEO in April 2010, I was named chair. Therefore, when John Hesse left to pursue other interests, Fios had in me an experienced high-tech CEO (20 years as CEO) already completely up-to-speed on Fios’ strategy, supportive of its goals/plans and very familiar with the senior team.

2. What do you hope to accomplish in your tenure as CEO?

I hope to continue the momentum we are experiencing coming out of the economic downturn. We had a record year in 2010 for data processing volume and percentage of repeat customers. And 2011 is off to a very strong start. In addition, Fios has a well-known brand in e-discovery earned through our successful engagements with major companies and law firms since 1999. It is my goal to aggressively drive our strategy, which leverages Fios’ know-how with technology to facilitate our clients’ underlying e-discovery processes to ultimately give Fios an edge in this very competitive market.

3. Is Fios, like many e-discovery companies, looking to be purchased in the near future? Will investigating those options be a priority for you during your tenure?

No and no. We are with George Socha: acknowledge the reality vs the rumor. Stories have circulated that Fios is on the verge of acquisition/merger/demise since 1999, and yet, we are here and still going strong. Note that we carry no debt and maintain a strong cash position. While I do think there will be consolidation in the e-discovery space, I believe market share will be won by the companies with innovative solutions and innovative pricing, packaging and partners — these are my priorities. We intend to be one of the winning companies.

4. What are Fios’ key goals for 2011 — and beyond?

Our goal is to gain market share through continued focus on client satisfaction, execution of our plan, leveraging our brand and technology innovation. This of course means we are measuring and expecting improved revenues, profits and products, as well as industry-leading customer satisfaction. This should enable us to be an e-discovery leader for years to come.  

 

Fast Takes on Scheindlin's Latest Opinion

U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin, perhaps the most influential jurist in the development of electronic data discovery protocols, has issued another opinion that has the EDD community a-flutter, ruling on Feb. 7 that metadata must accompany documents that federal agencies send in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and consultant Michael Arkfeld quickly sent out alerts about National Day Laborer Org. Network v. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 11655 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2011) [ Download]. Explains the firm in its Feb. 10 E-Discovery Trends:  "...a dispute arose regarding the format in which the defendants produced responsive information. The defendants produced several thousand pages of documents in five non-searchable PDF files, merging all records without indicating any separate files, merging paper with electronic records, failing to produce e-mails with attachments, and failing to produce any metadata associated with the documents."

"Judge Scheindlin apparently viewed this as a teachable moment regarding how parties should produce [electronically stored information]. While not of the scope of her opinions in Zubulake and Pension Committee, her decision nevertheless provides helpful guidance regarding the form of production and the parties' obligations to discuss these issues in the Rule 26(f) meeting of counsel," observed Gibson Dunn's e-discovery team.

Among her admonishments, Scheindlin declared that "Responding parties should produce reasonably accessible metadata that will enable the receiving party to have the same ability to access, search and display information as the producing party."

In Tuesday's edition of Arkfeld's Discovery and Evidence Alert, Arkfeld notes that Scheindlin chastised litigants for failure to cooperate in discovery, with a broader net than usual. Wrote the judge: "While certainly not rising to the level of a breach of an ethical obligation, such conduct certainly shows that all lawyers -- even highly respected private lawyers, government lawyers, and professors of law -- need to make greater efforts to comply with the expectations that courts now demand of counsel with respect to expensive and time-consuming document production."

Scheindlin "reiterated the dispute resolution procedures contained in Rule 34, if the parties have a disagreement regarding the form of production," says Arkfeld, a former federal prosecutor and member of Law Technology News' editorial advisory board. The opinion offers an extensive discussion of load files and required metadata, and sets out specific metadata fields for e-mail and images, he notes.

Finally, if a party discloses the improper ESI form, they will be stuck with the tab for a redisclosure -- and parties can't downgrade the "searchability" of ESI.

Stay tuned! LTN's e-discovery columnist, Craig Ball, will be addressing the important role of metadata in an upcoming article. And for an update of key 2010 EDD cases, please see "Drama & Destruction," by Cecil Lynn III, in the February issue of LTN magazine.

Case PDF courtesy of Michael Arkfeld.

 

IT Talent Shortfall? Blame it on the Boomers!

Is an IT talent shortage on the horizon? That's what CIO Insight suggests in a recent article by Dennis McCafferty. Just another thing you can blame on the Baby Boomers, who are beginning to contemplate retirement, according to two surveys (CareerBuilder and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers) that will give law firm leaders another reason to reach for the Prilosec. 

Boomers make up 26% of the IT workforce, according to staffing firm TekSystems -- and the first crop hits 65 this year. Despite the icy grip of the recession that makes many folks leery to let go of steady paychecks, the surveys found that worries about finances "are clearly on the decline." 

And the survey of state IT leaders found that about half of them were already have trouble finding staff. Others worry that the won't have enough money to attract the best candidates. 

To help cope with the anticipated departures, some experts are counseling firms to set up "technical talent management programs" so that institutional knowledge "doesn't walk out the door" with the retirees, observes McCafferty.

And managing talent might be focusing more on teamwork and sharing knowledge than creating stars. Another recommendation: cross train! "Let employees trade roles on a temporary basis."

Others suggest that CIOs set expectations at the job interview. "Describe department goals, culture, and day-to-day practices honestly and clearly during the interviews," advises McCafferty. "This way, there are no 'unpleasant surprises' after a new hire comes on board." 

Legal IT

After reading the CIO Insight story, I wondered if our legal community had any specific nuances to this dilemma, so I gave a shout-out to headhunters Michael Potters, of New Jersey-based Glenmont Group, and David Cowen, managing partner of New York City's The Cowen Group.

Potters' advice to firms: "First of all, don't be naive (or wishful), believing that your people will never want to leave your firm." He echoes the suggestion to create "farm teams" of junior people being mentored by veterans, "so knowledge is shared, and culture is improved. This way, when someone leaves, a new person can plug right it."

Further, says Potters, put it in writing! "Document (map) the corporate IT knowledge, including current initiatives, so that if the 'brain trust' leaves, you do not have to scramble to figure things out." 

Cowen observes that law firms tend to be "reactive in their management practices, not proactive," and typically operate quarter-to-quarter. "Firms will not prepare for departures. Firms will react to departures."

The bottom line, says Cowen, is that "legal IT, as well as low- and mid-level substantive legal work will continue to move offshore," especially to India, which "is well-positioned to provide the additional capacity we will want/need to fill the upcoming and growing worker gaps." Do the math, he says. "$125,00 U.S. v. $12,000 India."

Cowen applauds the concept of developing teams with shared knowledge, "but in the AmLaw 200, I cannot think of more than five firms that have executed this type of program (and corporate America is no better). Developing teams is hard work and requires real investment in people, training, and program development, It's a long term commitment. And it costs money — that does not pay off for many years."

Among the findings of the two surveys:

• 65% of overall IT workers 60+ say they're putting off retirement because they can't afford it (72% said that last year).

• 28% of workers 60+ plan to retire within the next 2 years; 27% 3-4 years; 18% 5-6 years, 16% 7+ years. 

• Greatest hiring challenges include security (52.4%), project management (50.5%), app/mobile app development and support (47.6%) analysis and design (42.9%)

LegalTech NY as Kingmaker?

Everybody at LegalTech New York was abuzz last week as speculation increased that Mohamed ElBaradei will be the next president of Egypt. Why the trending spike? Because the Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke a year ago at LegalTech -- on Feb. 1, 2010 -- about The Rule of Law and the Role of Information in Verifying Compliance in Developing Nations.

So Gonzalo de Cesare, (right) who presented this year's Feb. 1 keynote about the technology used in international war tribunals, received much teasing about what country he will lead in 2012.

De Cesare was this year's LTNY "rock star" with his ALM trifecta: first, with his powerful and moving keynote address; second, with his article, "History Repeats Itself," which appears in the newly redesigned Law Technology News inaugural issue that debuted at the show; and third, he was selected by our independent LTN Awards jury as the 2010 LTN IT Champion of the Year, and received his award immediately following his keynote address.

De Cesare, a native of Peru, has served as information officer for the United Nations, and has been deeply involved with international war crime tribunals, where he has focused on discovery and disclosure issues -- with the goal of establishing "repeatable processes" that can help safeguard the rights of all participants while processing millions of documents.

De Cesare and his team have developed disclosure standards for the trial of Slobodan Milosevic (the late president of the former Yugoslavia and Serbia), and prosecutions in Rwanda and Cambodia, incorporating legal technology such as the ZyLab eDiscovery System, LexisNexis CaseMap, West LiveNote, and IBM Lotus Sametime.

De Cesare is now serving as political advisor at the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Kosovo, the teams are using Google Maps to pinpoint villages and other locations that are relevant to investigations.

So who knows what the future holds for de Cesare? And we'll all anxiously await news of who will be at the LegalTech podium on February 1, 2012!

Check out the LTN Video interview with de Cesare.