e-discovery 2.0

In continuing my Five e-Discovery Questions series, I had the pleasure of sitting down with and interviewing (ok, e-mailing five questions to) Ralph Losey, electronic discovery expert extraordinaire.

Ralph is the writer, lawyer, and educator behind the e-Discovery Team blog. He has been practicing law since 1980 and playing with computers and cyber-communications since 1978. He holds the highest AV peer rating by Martindale Hubbell and is identified as a SuperLawyer in the field of IT.

The questions I posed to Ralph were:

1. We have always loved the name of your Blog -”e-Discovery Team.” It succinctly sums up your overall approach and philosophy of e-discovery. What’s the current state of the “e-discovery team” in most organizations? How has it progressed over the last few years? Where does it need to go to next?

2. Should there be an adverse inference distinction between cases where e-discovery may have been conducted in a sloppy, incomplete fashion, but without malice, versus one in which the party actively sought to hide or suppress documents in the case?

3. Are judges equipped with enough information to be able to make this distinction (between intentional and accidental destruction)?

4. What is the biggest gap today between e-discovery vendor offerings and what legal end-users need?

5. How much time does it really take you to crank out one of your blog posts? Does the hot Florida sun keep you indoors typing away at your computer? Or do you have some sort of waterproof laptop that allows you to write while floating in your screened in pool?

To read Ralph Losey’s answers and more, read the full version (complete with all cinematic references in video) at his e-Discovery Team blog article, “Five Easy Pieces – An Interview Without Toast.”