EDD Update

2008 Socha-Gelbmann EDD Survey Sneak Preview

The anxiously awaited 2008 Socha-Gelbmann EDD Survey executive summary will be published in the August issue of Law Technology News, but here is a sneak preview to whet your appetite.

This year we gathered information from or about 107 EDD services and software providers, and from 29 law firms and 19 corporations.  Using more than 350 qualitative and quantitative factors, we ranked those providers - top overall EDD services providers, top overall EDD software providers, and top EDD providers in various categories.  Although one can, and perhaps should, take issue with the specific rankings, we feel that the providers listed below represent the best of the best, an elite cadre singled out from a field of well over 600 organizations that offer some form of EDD services or software.

CaseCentral Names Steven d'Alencon New CMO

CaseCentral has named Steven d’Alencon as vice president of product management and marketing and Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining CaseCentral, d'Alencon was vice president of product marketing at Kazeon Systems, and is the co-chair of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Evergreen working group. Read more here.

Clearing Out the In-Box

Some old news that got buried in my in-box:

* Rick Wolf of Lexakos posts on While Legal Hold Management is an Important Internal Control, on The Datakos Blog, here.

* Jonathan Maas of DLA Piper UK reports that UK judges are now getting training in edisclosure/ ediscovery and their long-awaited use of LiST work product.  An independent consultant, Chris Dale ... is leading the charge (and I have had a small part in it) and has a web site and blog full of stuff relevant to what is going on (and technology in law generally)."

* Chris Kruse, of CaseCentral, reports that the company has brought on Tom Thimot as CEO. "Tom is the perfect choice to help lead CaseCentral through our next phase of growth. He brings a wealth of experience and an incredible portfolio of success at both public and private technology companies.

MoFo CIO Haraf Departs

The fabulous Jo Haraf, CIO of MoFo and a member of LTN's edit board, has decided to pursue life, liberty and happiness outside of legal tech. Details here, and yes, contact her if you are interested in her job and  live either in SF Bay Area or on airplanes.

Bye Bye Rob

Rob Robinson is shuttering his Info Governance blog. See his adios here.

Lone Star State of Technology

Greetings from Texas! Having an amazing time in the beautiful  Lone Star state...

It's been non-stop EDD, with visits to Stored IQ, Renew Data, Liquid Litigation Management , IEDiscovery and Message One in Austin, along with a chance to visit with LTN's EDD columnist Craig Ball and his wonderful wife, Diana Ball.

We also had a great lunch with Trisa Thompson, of Dell Inc.'s legal department, who has graciously agreed to join LTN's editorial advisory board!

The only sour note: our ALM  colleague Joe Pavone took a spill and shattered his achilles tendon and limped back to Phoenix -- send him a get well message to cheer him up!

We had planned to drop in and surprise ILTA's Randi Mayes -- but Joe's adventure unfortunately curtailed THAT plan.

Then it was off to Houston, where we met with Bridgeway Software Inc.,  and the gang at DataCert before we dove into Chere Estrin's Litigation Support Leaders SuperConference, at the Crowne Plaza.

If you are in the Houston metropolitan area, don't miss this conference. The faculty roster is loaded with LTN's "usual suspects,"  including keynote speakers Mike Arkfeld and George Socha, along with LTN edit board members Brett Burney and Tom O'Connor. We'd love to see you.

It's a great crowd, with top firms and corporate legal departments, including Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Bingham McCutchen, Howrey, Thompson Hine, Ropes & Gray, et al. Come join us! The fun starts at noon today.

Chere has kindly offered a FOF (friend o' faculty) discount of 10% -- so just tell them you saw it in EDD Update to claim your not-really-early-bird discount. Pop her an e-mail at for details or visit the website.

(Click to enlarge photos)

New CMO for LexisNexis

LexisNexis Group has signed Joe Eberhardt to the new position of Global Chief Marketing Officer. He joins LexisNexis from DaimlerChrysler and is based in the company’s New York City headquarters reporting directly to Andy Prozes, Chief Executive Officer.

Press release here.

Cataphora expands sales team

Cataphora Inc., which sells evidence analytics and review software, has added five employees to its sales and business development teams. Read more about the new hires here.

Our very own Craig Ball is in The New York Times

Craig Ball is featured in today's edition of The New York Times, in its "Fresh Starts' column by Barbara Whitaker (page 19 of the Sunday Business section for those of you with hard copies). "On the Trail of Digital Secrets" details his forensics work, discussing how this area has opened up as a new job market. Congrats, Craig!!!

Realllly kewl photo by Benjamin Sklar, for The New York Times. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Cataphora Adds Int'l Executives

Cataphora Inc. has added two executives to its European team. Markus Morgenroth is managing director of European operations, based in Germany. Mathieu Feulvarc’h, based in France, is vice president of customer support. Press release here.

Apple GC Rosenberg Bolts to Qualcomm

Our colleagues Zusha Ellison and Jessie Seyfer at The Recorder  report that Apple Inc. has lost general counsel Donald Rosenberg (top right) to troubled tech giant Qualcomm after less than a year in the role.

He will be replaced at the helm of Apple's legal team by Daniel Cooperman, (bottom right) previously general counsel at database management system company Oracle. Cooperman is due to start at Apple on 1 November and will report to chief executive Steve Jobs.

Full story here. (Sub req'd)

Photos: Jason Doiy, The Recorder.

Littler Hires Weiner as National EDD Counsel

Littler Mendelson has hired Paul Weiner as its national e-discovery counsel, reports Vesna Jaksic of The National Law Journal: (subscription req'd).

"Weiner will provide guidance on electronic discovery and knowledge management issues. The firm said Weiner, an expert on e-discovery, will bolster expertise in the firm's privacy and data protection group. Weiner, who was previously a partner in Pittsburgh's Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, will be based in Philadelphia," reports Jaksic.

Arkfeld Pens Deal with LexisNexis

Congratulations to Michael Arkfeld, (one of our new blog's co-authors), who has just signed a deal with LexisNexis to publish his popular EDD treatises and newsletter, including the just-released second edition of his Arkfeld on Electronic Discovery and Evidence.

For more info, click here and here.