Insight into where e-discovery, information governance cybersecurity, and digital transformation are heading – who is doing what now or in the future, what works and what doesn’t, and what people wish they could do but can’t – gleaned from recent publications
EDRM May 15-17 Annual Workshop – The Duke/EDRM workshop and forum is an annual gathering of highly motivated judges, practitioners, consultants, service providers, and software vendors who collaborate on exciting and challenging ediscovery and other IT projects that impact the industry and the profession. Join us in an intimate environment on Duke Law School’s campus, develop and broaden professional relations, and avail yourself of ample opportunities to talk directly to federal judicial and bar leaders.
E-DISCOVERY
Persisting e-discovery challenges – Frank Ready of Legaltech News links to a series of articles five e-discovery challenges that won’t be going away soon:
- Preservation and collection risks: E-Discovery Still Putting Lawyers Under Pressure, Despite Fewer 37(e) Sanctions
- IoT data: Former Obama Homeland Security Adviser: IoT Cyber Threat Needs More Attention; E-Discovery’s New Challenge: Not Ignoring Internet of Things Data
- Growing e-discovery outlays: Inevitable Expense? Corporate E-Discovery Spend Likely to Increase Next Year
- Resources for small firms: Despite Lower Costs, E-Discovery Reluctance Remains Among Small Law
- Training: E-Discovery Training Lagging in Most Legal Departments
CYBERSECURITY & DATA PRIVACY
CLOUD Act white paper and FAQ – Katie Townley & Alysa Zeltzer Hutnik of Kelley Drye report that the Department of Justice recently released a white paper and set of 29 FAQs, “Promoting Public Safety, Privacy, and the Rule of Law Around the World: The Purpose and Impact of the CLOUD Act”. Enacted to “speed access to electronic information held by U.S.-based global providers that is critical to our foreign partners’ investigations of serious crime”, the CLOUD Act “authorizes executive agreements between the United States and trusted foreign partners that will make both nations’ citizens safer, while at the same time ensuring a high level of protection of those citizens’ rights.”
Financial services business, GLBA & CCPA – Helen Foster of Davis Wright Tremaine discusses the implications for financial services businesses of the California Consumer Privacy Act and how the combination of that Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and its implementing regulations affect those businesses.
The unknown CCPA – In a Corporate Counsel article, Dan Clark covers a MediaPRO survey the key takeaway of which is that 46% of employees in the US have never heard of the CCPA.
CCPA amendments – Hogan Lovells notes that seven amendments to the CCPA are advancing through the California Assembly and eighth was withdrawn:
- AB 25: Modify definition of “consumer”
- AB 846: Amend the anti-discrimination provision (§1798.125)
- AB 873: Amend definition of “deidentified”
- AB 874: Amend the definition of “personal information”
- AB 981: Exempt insurance institutions, agents, and support organizations to which the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act applies
- AB 1146: Limit the scope of CCPA’s exemption for vehicle information shared between a dealer and the vehicle’s manufacturer
- AB 1564: Modify §1798.130 requirement that mandates a business make available two or more designated methods for consumers to submit access requests
- AB 1760 withdrawn: Had proposed various changes including requiring affirmative opt-in consent
Texas data privacy legislation – Texas has introduced a new data privacy bill, report Eric Levy of Husch Blackwell in a Legaltech News article and John Tomaszewski and Ted Murphree of Seyfarth Shaw in a firm post. House Bill 4390, the Texas Privacy Protection Act (TPPA), would place restrictions on the ability of certain for-profit businesses to collect and process PII and requirements that they adequately safeguard that information. It also would give individuals the right to access their PII.
Massachusetts data privacy legislation – Massachusetts has proposed legislation that would regulate the use of a consumer’s personal and biometric information, writes Amy Harwath of Sheppard Mullin. Bill S.120, An Act relative to consumer data privacy, draws on the CCPA and has parallels to Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, but differs in several ways as discussed in the article.
Privacy Shield and Brexit – William RM Long and Jasmine Agyekum of Sidley report that both the UK and US governments have taken Privacy Shield actions in light of the UK’s possible departure from the EU. The UK government passed the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) (No.2) Regulations 2019. The US Department of Commerce updated Privacy Shield and the UK FAQs.
Sedona cybersecurity commentary – The Sedona Conference announced it has published a public-comment version of “The Sedona Conference Commentary on Application of Attorney-Client Privilege and Work-Product Protection to Documents and Communications Generated in the Cybersecurity Context”. The comment period is open through June 25.
LEGAL TECHNOLOGY & DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Lawyer duty of technology conference – Bob Ambrogi of LawSites reports that Michigan could be the 37th state to adopt the duty of technology competence for lawyers, now that the Michigan Supreme Court has posted a notice that it is considering adopting the duty. Bob maintains a roster and map of such states with links to each state’s technology competence provisions.
Legal tech incubators expand –
Slaughter and May announced the first cohort of its Collaborate legal tech program, as noted by Artificial Lawyer. The six cohort members reflect the focus that law firms are putting on legal tech development:
- Tabled: Platform to helps lawyers manage tasks and projects
- StructureFlow: Platform to help lawyers and their clients visualize legal structures and transactions.
- Clarilis: Document automation tool
- JUST: Access: Transcription and dictation solution using AI and natural language processing
- Logiak: – A no-code tool to create logic/rule-based systems
- LitiGate: – AI-powered litigation platform
Mishcon de Reya launched a new program, M:Tech, that offers free legal advice and mentoring to early-stage UK-based tech businesses, reported Artificial Lawyer.
PwC is launching Scale | LawTech, a 10 week program that will support B2B and B2B2C scale-ups to expand and grow within the legal sector – another report from Artificial Lawyer.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Conferences, webinars, and the like can provide insight into where e-discovery, information governance cybersecurity, and digital transformation are heading