On the Mark

Happy Halloween!

This will be my daughter’s third Halloween. She probably won’t remember her first (see chicken) – she was just too young. The second year she was dressed as a Cat. She was sick and it was cold. So we all looked forward to this year. And this year is now and she’ll be dressed as a Princess, I think.

Or maybe as a Ballerina. Same sequined shoes, a tiara here, a tutu there, it’ll all work out fine.

We also have costumes for a Little Devil and a Lady Bug. Not quite sure why, but those costumes seem to have fallen out of favor in the last two weeks. I’m glad they still have the tags on them.

Point is, I don’t know what she’s wearing, only guessing.

And my guess is not much better than 50/50. Or in this case 25/25/25/25 (if those numbers represented age, you can guess which one I’m closer to).

The other point is, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need vector-space analytics to figure this one out.

I’m trick-or-treating with a two-year-old!

There simply won’t be much E-Discovery blogged here today unless you’re talking about discovering life through our daughter Elizabeth’s eyes,  And that is today’s “E” Discovery topic. 

For Elizabeth - 10/31/07

By Mark V. Reichenbach - October 30, 2007

LiST, The UK’s Litigation Support Technology Group came to my attention through The Orange Rag, Charles Christian’s fine blog in the UK.

In looking at its website, it’s clear that LiST is a thought leadership think tank in the UK with significant organizations and firms as participants.

It’s also clear they have contemplated issues that were pain points for them in the UK, just as the EDRM has for those here in the States.

LiST has produced many documents, three specifically On the Mark readers should find timely:

Data Exchange Protocol part 2 of 2

Document Exchange Protocol part 1 of 2

The third is the release notes for these two pieces of work product:

LiST Groups Release Notes for Exchange Protocol parts 1 & 2

There is some really good stuff there.

It is also appropriate to mention that LiST was one of the founding participants in EDRM’s XML 1 project.

Jonathan Maas of DLA Piper and a member of LiST has thoughtfully commented on the XML EDRM announcement by noting the two organizations did keep each other apprised. His comment to The Orange Rag can be found here (click).

On the Mark caught up with George Socha yesterday and asked him about LiST, EDRM and the XML standard:

“The LiST Group was a participating member of the initial EDRM XML project. Like EDRM, the LiST Group is focused on streamlining and improving the e-discovery process and moving forward. We hope to work closely with them to leverage each other’s knowledge and work.

“The 1.0 EDRM XML XSD is ready. We are in the final stages of putting together a distribution mechanism and as soon as that mechanism is in place we will make the XSD available. We should have this mechanism in place shortly.

“The EDRM XML 2 group is also in the process of developing a validation tool. That tool should be ready to use by the end of the year. The EDRM XML 2 group also is preparing documentation to accompany the XSD and validation tool.”

Here at On the Mark, we await the international e-discovery community’s response and the dialog towards adoption of a standard.

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Comments about the EDRM XML XSD should be sent to Tom Gelbmann (tom@gelbmann.biz) or to George Socha at (george@sochaconsulting.com).

By Mark V. Reichenbach - October 29, 2007

New York - One month ago yesterday here at On the Mark  I blogged about Morgan Stanley and its recent email woes and admissions that came to light in 9/11 arbitrations. In that piece titled Mo’ (Morgan) Money (click for story) we touched upon emails requested in the arbitrations and Morgan’s response and conduct.

“The emails in question were those in existence before 9/11 which Morgan claimed were destroyed in the attacks and thereby unavailable for production. It was found Morgan in fact had restored the previously claimed destroyed emails.

What appears even more troubling is that pre 9/11 emails once restored were then allowed to be lost due to the overwriting of backup tapes that contained the emails in question”. 

Well, it’s shaping up that Morgan is in the crosshairs of many plaintiffs who are eyeing lawsuits against the financial giant.

On Thursday’s Law.com piece originally found on The Daily Business Review, Jordana Mishory details the possible future of litigation against Morgan Stanley and those who are bringing it.

Darren Blum of the firm Blum and Silver has set up the Internet website named SueMorganStanley.Com, directing those interested in jumping on the bandwagon to a source of additional information.

Other securities attorneys are also taking action and gathering their names.

This story won’t have an ending for some time. I suspect we’ll be discussing these battles for years.

Here at On the Mark I do try to add hyper-links at obvious places of content and reference. However, I wanted to let users know we’ve added a new feature that should enhance your experience on these pages even more.

It’s called “Answer Tips”. Basically all you need to do when you see a word of interest — any word — is simply double-click it. That’s it.  When you do, the blog will bring up useful wiki style information from Answers.com on that word, subject, etc., complete with a thesaurus and pronunciation guide, in most cases. It can bring back synonyms and provide dictionary and encyclopedia information, too. It’s a great feature and one that I’m sure will come in handy. Just click on any word and see what you get. Users may personalize their configuration, too.

Enjoy.

Saturday blogging?

Get a life, Mark.

I’m trying.

The baby is in the other room with her Mom watching Pingu and I’m drinking coffee on my Saturday rounds in the blogosphere.

Here’s one for you, an excellent recap of the Lorraine v Markel American Insurance case which Craig Ball points out to the readers of EDDUpdate.  Just as Craig states, this is a five-minute read of a rather lengthy opinion from Judge Grimm about authentication and admissibility.  The recap he cites from Law.com can be found here.

The article Keep ‘Smoking Gun’ E-Mails From Backfiring written by H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal really breaks down for easy consumption . This is one of the best recaps of this decision available and will help readers more readily grasp the concepts in play here. 

On The Mark rates this a must read.