Software Review: Needles Case Management Software
August 30, 2005
Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks & Zarin is a tort litigation firm based in Springfield, NJ. The firm consists of six partners, associate attorneys, and support staff. We have used the Needles Case Management Software System since 1991 (at that time, it was called PINS, which was the DOS-based version of the program). The firm, at the time, was looking for a program that would organize the office and streamline casework. We were swamped with paper files and though we had a case flow, it was disorganized. Today, with 20 people in the office using the Needles program to manage cases, our firm is more organized than ever before.
VoIP: Insource Or Outsource?
August 30, 2005
Often, the most effective way to tackle the challenge of improving responsiveness as clients demand more immediate access to attorneys and legal advice, is by fortifying our communications systems in order to foster quicker and more efficient collaboration between attorneys, counselees, subject matter experts, and other legal professionals. As a multi-office legal organization, we achieved this by switching to a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system that provides redundancy and reliability, streamlines the management of call flow, protects internal resources, and provides measurable cost-savings. In our experience, VoIP is a valuable technology for any productive legal organization.
Information Integrity Balancing Availability And Security
August 30, 2005
What happens when information is available but not trusted because it is not secure? What happens when end users have unfettered access to information ' but the information they're sharing is suspect? Or, what happens when quick business decisions are made based on data that is readily available but possibly compromised? The bottom line: Information is useless unless it is both secure and available.
The Benefits Of Macromedia Flash In The Courtroom
August 30, 2005
By now, virtually everyone is familiar with the Internet. What surprises many trial lawyers is the fact that the technology that powers the interactive Web sites on the Internet is increasingly being used to present evidence and illustrative material in the courtroom. Specifically, lawyers and their trial teams are successfully relying on Macromedia Flash to organize their cases, display trial graphics, create effective 2-D animations, educate judges, and persuade jurors.
Effectively Managing Duplicate Electronic Documents In Discovery
August 30, 2005
One of the most common and vexing challenges of e-discovery is that of duplicate documents. And the problem is as old as it is widespread. Company archives have always contained duplicate records, and reviewers have long struggled to keep track of them during document review. In decades past, a reviewer may have encountered a paper document that had a duplicate somewhere else in the stack of boxes that comprised the document collection, but there was no easy way to know which box contained the duplicate. In large collections, where numerous revi-ewers would examine many boxes over the course of several weeks or months, it was virtually impossible to identify every duplicate document.
Corporate Compliance And How It Relates To Litigation Data-Management
August 30, 2005
If we counted a penny for every general counsel, chief information officer or information-technology director who laments the passing of the regulatory-agency laissez faire policies of old, we'd give Donald Trump a run for his money. The simple truth is, there is no going back -- Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the Safe Harbor Protection Act and European Data Protection Directive -- they're all here to stay.
Electronic Discovery Market Takes Leap
August 30, 2005
e-Discovery services have come a long way in just a couple of years as a technological medium and a legal service, according to a recent comprehensive and authoritative survey of the genre.
Creating a Defensible Evidence Preservation/Collection Plan
August 30, 2005
Most companies have fairly comprehensive document retention/destruction policies for both paper and electronic information. Often, these policies have been crafted to meet a disparate range of state, local, federal and regulatory laws (HIPPA, SEC, Sarbanes-Oxley, etc.) that impact document retention schedules. For large companies that face regular, complex litigation (<i>ie</i>, "serial litigants"), the greatest challenge is when the company has to suspend these policies in response to litigation. A company's obligation to preserve data does not necessarily begin at the exact moment a complaint is filed. Rather, recent case law, local statutes, and American Bar Association (ABA) guidelines prescribe that a company's obligation to preserve data begins at the time litigation becomes likely.
