e-Discovery Team Training
Sec. 1 – Mod. FStudy at you own time, your own place, your own pace.
Welcome to Module 1-F.
Lectures by Judge Ron Hedges: 1) Why Law Students Should Study e-Discovery; 2) e-Discovery and Criminal Law; 3) e-Discovery and International Law; 4) Advice to Law Students (with help from Judges Shaffer)
This class presents three videos lectures that Judge Hedges created for Professor Losey’s law students, plus a bonus video of Judge Hedges, and his friend, Judge Schaeffer, giving some good advice to e-discovery students. At the end of the module there is assigned reading and several exercises.
Ron Hedges enjoyed a distinguished career as a United States Magistrate Judge in New Jersey from 1986 to 2007. He then went into private practice as an arbitrator, mediator, special master, and e-discovery consultant. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law and is on the Advisory Board for The Sedona Conference and several other educational groups. Ron is unquestionably one of the top, most experienced experts in the field. He is well known and well liked by everyone. Judge Hedges (although he prefers to be called Ron) is also a prolific writer. In addition to writing numerous law review articles, including an article on electronic service of process, Ron has authored Discovery of Electronically Stored Information: Surveying the Legal Landscape (BNA: 2007) and co-authored Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges (Federal Judicial Center: 2007).
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Advice to Law Students From Judges Hedges and Shaffer
Judge Craig Shaffer (who is the currrent (2017) Chair of the Rules Committee) and retired Judge Ron Hedges are good friends. They took time out from a conference in 2009 to provide me with this 10-minute video interview. Craig Shaffer is a United States Magistrate Judge in Colorado. Judge Shaffer is well known to everyone in the e-discovery world as the author of the Land O’Lakes opinion. Cache La Poudre Feeds, LLC v. Land O’Lakes Farmland Feed, LLC, 2007 WL 684001 (D.Colo. 2007). This is an important opinion on collection of ESI. As you can see in the video, Judge Shaffer is a learned judge with special expertise and experience in electronic discovery. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law. Like Judge Hedges, he is a great guy and very generous with his time. As you know from an earlier Module, Ron Hedges is a former U.S. Magistrate Judge in New Jersey (1986-2007).
Judges Hedges and Shaffer here give important advice to all students of e-discovery, including what is expected of lawyers today in federal court under the new rules. There is some great content here, including advice on case management, staging, proactivity, ethics, proportionality, the proper use of vendors, the need to educate judges about your case, and the special opportunities in e-discovery for young lawyers today.
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ASSIGNED READING: Read The Sedona Conference® Framework for Analysis of Cross-Border Discovery Conflicts: A Practical Guide to Navigating the Competing Currents of International Data Privacy & e-Discovery. Write a summary of the core message of the article. Again, as previously mentioned, this kind of writing assignment is something you might want to do throughout this course. It will be good to refer back to later, especially if you are a senior student or otherwise might want to be tested and certified. Looking back on your notes is a good way to study.
EXERCISE. Find the article in which Ron was a contributing author on electronic service of process and read it. Any guess who one of the co-authors is? Read some of Ron’s other articles that come up in Google search. He is very prolific, and knows his stuff. His writings are a good resource for any serious student of electronic discovery.
Discretionary (Non-Mandatory) Bonus Exercise: Find and read an e-discovery article pertaining in some way to Criminal Law. There are not that many, but it is good to know something about this, even if you never handle a criminal matter.
Students are invited to leave a public comment below. Insights that might help other students are especially welcome. Let’s collaborate!
Copyright Ralph Losey 2015
Interested in Criminal Law case pertaining to E-discovery:
http://www.ediscovery-news.com/u-s-government-not-exempt-from-electronic-discovery-obligations/
Looks like Criminal lawyers and prosecutors may be required to take classes in E-discovery !!!
Another good article pertaining to Criminal Law:
http://www.ediscoverylawreview.com/tags/criminal
E-Discovery Law Review: ESI in the Criminal Context: A Call for Clarification (11/16/2011).
See also: U.S. v. Briggs, 207 WL 4017886 (W.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2011).
“Although the FRCP sets the stage for e-discovery in civil cases, there is no such express regime in the criminal context.”
The Commentary led me to Report 103 on the Resolution by the American Bar Association, Section of International Law Report to the House of Delegates.(1) The report address cross-border conflicts, at the heart of which are “vastly differing notions of discovery and data privacy and protection…heightened by an expanding global marketplace and the unabated proliferation of Electronically Stored Information.”(2) The last two are givens; they will be with us until replaced with new marketplaces and new technologies. It is the first two, the variables of beliefs and opinions, of “notions” with which the real conflicts rise, and to which the elements of comity must be addressed.
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1. MICHAEL E. BURKE, REPORT-FOR-ABA-RESOLUTION-103.PDF (American Bar Association) (2012), http://www.exterro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Report-for-ABA-Resolution-103.pdf (last visited Oct 19, 2013).
2. Id, at 2.
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The Court in U.S. v. Briggs, mentioned by Sondra above, cited to a Suffolk University Law Review article that stated: “In the federal criminal justice system, there is no landmark case or rule which operates as a counterpart to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on e-discovery. There are examples, such as United States v. O’Keefe, where the federal judiciary addressed the developing influence the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’s e-discovery standards have had on criminal litigation.” (citations omitted) Daniel B. Garrie, Esq. & Daniel K. Gelb, Esq., E-Discovery in Criminal Cases: A Need for Specific Rules, 43 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 393, 399 (2010). The most recent case found cited to U.S. v. Briggs, U.S. v. Swenson, 2013 WL 4931732 (D.Idaho) (ordering the Government to produce ESI within 14 days in a searchable format facilitating Defendant’s review).