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
ABOVE THE FOLD
Relativity Fest Oct. 20-23 – Join us this fall at Relativity Fest in Chicago where I will be speaking on three sessions: LIE291972 – Is It Time to Rethink the EDRM?; PD311742 – A Call to Action: Building an e-Discovery Pro Bono Platform and Network; and PR311751 – Let’s Take This Online: Managing Mobile Data in Relativity Short Message Discovery.
BDO Knows California Consumer Privacy Act – BDO offers a series of insights into the impact of and approaches to the California Consumer Privacy Act.
CYBERSECURITY & DATA PRIVACY
CCPA –
- 10 Reasons Why the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Is Going to Be a Dumpster Fire
Alec Stapp (Truth on the Market) (July 1) - Countdown to CCPA #3: Updating your Privacy Policy
Catherine Meyer, James Franco, and Fusae Nara (Pillsbury) (July 8) - CCPA Privacy FAQs: If a company receives a ‘right to be forgotten’ request, does it have to delete the request itself?
David Zetoony (Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner) (July 8)
Whose data is it, anyway? – In a recent Brookings Institution article, Why data ownership is the wrong approach to protecting privacy, Cameron Kerry and John Morris Jr. suggested adoption of a baseline federal privacy law that directly protects the interest individuals have in personal information about them while also enabling social benefits that flow from information sharing.
New and expanded data breach notification laws – Chris Cwalina, Jeewon Kim Serrato, Anna Rudawski, and Alexis Wilpon of Norton Rose Fulbright published a list of new and expanded 2019 state data breach notification laws, as did Tandy Mathis of Moore & Van Allen:
| State | Law | Description | Effective Date | Source |
| Arkansas | Expanded scope of covered biometric data and enacted data breach notification requirements | 4/2019 | MVA | |
| Illinois | SB 1624 | Proposed notification requirements to Attorney General | NRF
MVA |
|
| Maine | LD 946 | Placed new restrictions on internet service providers | 7/2020 | NRF
MVA |
| Maryland | HB 1154 | Imposed new requirements on entities following a security breach | 10/2019 | NRF
MVA |
| Massachusetts | HB 4806 | Expanded data breach notification obligations | 4/2019 | NRF
MVA |
| Nevada | SB 220 | Bans sale of certain collected consumer information | 10/2019 | MVA |
| New Jersey | S. 52 | Expanded definition of personal information and modified notification standards | 9/2019 | NRF
MVA |
| New York | SB5575B | Expanded scope of protection under the law and established standards for businesses to protect consumer information | NRF
MVA |
|
| Oregon | SB 684 | Expanded scope of protected data and notification requirements for vendors | 1/2020 | NRF
MVA |
| Texas | HB 4390 | Added definitive notification timeline and established advisory council | 1/2010 | NRF
MVA |
| Utah | New law to protect electronic information individuals had shared with certain third parties | 5/2019 | MVA | |
| Washington | HB 1071 | Expanded definition of personal information and set new notification requirements | 3/2020 | NRF
MVA |
Oregon passes IoT data security law – Deborah George of Robinson+Cole wrote that Oregon has passed a law, Oregon House Bill 2395 amending ORS 646.607, that requires manufacturers of internet connected devices that make, sell or offer to sell the devices in the state to equip the device with reasonable security features.
Illinois biometrics class actions analyzed – Gerald Maatman, Jr., Thomas Ahlering, and Alex Karasik of Seyfarth Shaw examined class actions filed under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act., looking at trends in number of filings, filings by firms, and industries targeted.
LEGAL TECHNOLOGY & DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Survey reports –
- The Association of Corporate Counsel and Major, Lindsey & Africa have published their 2019 Global Legal Department Benchmarking Report. The 34-page report contains six substantive sections: Key Benchmarks — Staffing; Key Benchmarks — Spending; Key Benchmarks — Workload and Work Allocation; Key Benchmarks — Law Firms and Fee Structures; Use of Technology; and Performance Scoring. In a Legaltech News article, Victoria Hudgins covered some of the report’s highlights.
- Ron Friedmann of Prism Legal delivered the results of survey on legal innovation that he, Jean O’Grady of DLA Piper, Marlene Gebauer of Greenberg Traurig, and Darrin Fox of the University of Oklahoma conducted recently. There were 81 responses, 50 of them from law firm personnel. The key takeaway seems to be that launching an innovation program is a start but actual adoption is hard to achieve.
- EY published Reimaging the legal function report 2019, the results of a survey of 1,058 legal practitioners. The report contains five chapters: Chapter 1: Cost pressures and demands for transparency are driving change; Chapter 2: A need to capitalize on technology and break down innovation barriers; Chapter 3: Confidence around the regulatory environment; Chapter 4: Challenges attracting and deploying talent; and Chapter 5: Re-evaluation of operating models
Litigation trends report – Bloomberg Law has published Litigation Trends and Opportunities in 2019, a 19-page document with five sections: AI Brings Challenges and Efficiencies to Law Firms; Litigation Finance Growth Spawns Oversight Concerns; Data Protection Laws Complicate Cross-Border Discovery; Tech Alters Big Law-Big Four Dynamic; and Automation Revamps Litigation, Raises Ethics Issues.
$1.7B invested in legal tech in 2018 – Citing a Forbes article from January, Sam Skolnik of Bloomberg Law reported that investments in legal tech in 2018 reached a record $1.7 billion, up from $233M two years ago.
Legal Tech Hub Vienna – Artificial Lawyer reported that seven Austrian law firms, most with less than 100 lawyers, have banded together to create the Legal Tech Hub Vienna incubator, which has just completed its first incubation cohort.
Duty of technology competence – Bob Ambrogi wrote that the Michigan Supreme Court has put out a request for public comment regarding proposed amendments to the official comments to Rules 1.1 and 1.6 of the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct, changes that would add it to the list of 36 states that have adopted the duty of technology competence for lawyers. The public comment period closes on Aug. 1. The first change would amend the Rule. 1.1 “Maintaining Competence” comment by adding the underlined language:
Maintaining Competence. To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should engage in continuing study and education, including the knowledge and skills regarding developing technology that are reasonably necessary to provide competent representation for the client in a particular matter. If a system of peer review has been established, the lawyer should consider making use of it in appropriate circumstances.
The second change would add a new “Confidentiality of Information” comment to Rule 1.6:
Confidentiality of Information. When transmitting a communication that contains confidential and/or privileged information relating to the representation of a client, the lawyer should take reasonable measures and act competently so that the confidential and/or privileged client information will not be revealed to unintended third parties. Such reasonable measures should reflect the lawyer’s adequate knowledge and understanding of the technology used to transmit the confidential and/or privileged client information.
Legal tech education guide – Artificial Lawyer has published a Legal Tech Education Guide, which lists educational options for those seeking to learn more about legal technology or gain recognized qualifications in that area.
Its summer issue time –
- ITLA has published Part 1 of its 2019 Summer issue of Peer to Peer. Part 2 should be out in late July.
- Legal IT Today has published its June issue.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
| Date | Focus | Organization | Title |
| 7/2/2019 | ED | XDD | XDD Acquires QDiscovery to Further Expand Services in Midwest and East Coast |
| 7/8/2019 | ED | Driven | Capital Southwest Leads a Recapitalization of Driven, Inc. |
| 7/9/2019 | ED | Hanzo | Hanzo Names Keith Lasko CEO |
| 7/9/2019 | LT/DT | Litera Microsystems | Litera Microsystems Acquires Workshare, Creating a Leading Supplier of Document Drafting Technology |
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES
| Date | Focus | Publisher | Title | Authors |
| 7/3/2019 | ED | Relativity | What it Takes to Win the Tour de France (and e-Discovery) | Daniel Pelc |
| 7/3/2019 | C/DP | Jackson Lewis | Maine and Nevada Sign into Law Consumer Privacy Laws | Joseph Lazzarotti, Jason Gavejian, Maya Atrakchi |
| 7/5/2019 | ED | Baker Donelson | Invitation to a New eDiscovery Manifesto | Clinton Sanko |
| 7/9/2019 | C/DP | Relativity | Everything You Wanted to Know About Cyber Insurance But Were Too Afraid to Ask | April Runft |
| 7/9/2019 | C/DP | Sidley | UK ICO Issues Largest Ever GDPR Privacy Fine of £183m ($228m) | William RM Long, Wim Nauwelaerts, Francesca Blythe |
| 7/9/2019 | C/DP | Holland & Knight | Will New York Be the Next State to Adopt Robust Data Privacy and Security Laws? | Mark Francis |
UPCOMING EVENTS
Conferences, webinars, and the like can provide insight into where e-discovery, information governance cybersecurity, and digital transformation are heading
7/11/2018-8/9/2019 EVENTS
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Named an “E-Discovery Trailblazer” by The American Lawyer, George has assisted corporate, law firm, and government clients with all facets of electronic discovery, including information governance, domestically and globally. He served clients in a variety of industries including pharmaceutical, energy, retail, banking and technology, among others. As a renowned industry thought leader, he has authored more than 50 articles and spoken at more than 200 engagements across the world on a variety of e-discovery topics. His extensive knowledge has also been utilized more than 20 times to provide expert testimony.
Co-founder of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), a framework that outlines the standards for the recovery and discovery of digital data, and the Information Governance Reference Model (IGRM), a similar framework specific to information management, George is skilled at developing and implementing electronic discovery strategies and managing electronic discovery processes.