Technology

Subscribe to Technology via RSS

Ransomware. Just the word itself is enough to chill the hearts of everyone from personal users to IT professionals to senior executives. May 12th’s massive attack took down hundreds, perhaps thousands, of companies and unknown numbers of individuals and institutions, including the United Kingdom’s healthcare systems (with possible impacts including critical patient care and historical medical records).
Continue Reading How to Protect Your Company from Ransomware Attacks

“Text mining” refers to software that can find patterns in text and extract meaning from them. It offers plenty of useful applications. For instance, law departments can benefit from text mining any time they collect a fair number of comments from surveys. I have used it myself for client projects.

Here’s how it might be useful for you. Let’s assume that a large number of your internal clients completed a satisfaction survey. One question was open-ended: “Overall, what would you like to say to the law department?” As a complement to coding those remarks by hand, text-mining software can spot commonly used words, classify the comment as favorable or unfavorable and even tease out thematic topics.Continue Reading Text Mining Can Help You Drill Down

By David White / AlixPartners LLP

Responding to data breaches can be a tricky business. If not managed correctly, corporate liability can easily be exponentially compounded. The key to successfully managing any complex crisis lies in the planning. It’s important to develop a carefully laid-out process long before the fire alarms start ringing. Once they do, there’s usually not much space for thinking of creative solutions. That’s why we map out our escape routes and post them on the wall for all to see.Continue Reading The Data Breach Response: Who Will You Tell?

By T. Sean Kelly / FTI Technology

T. Sean Kelly, a senior director at FTI Technology, spends a lot of his time helping clients implement, and conduct information governance and e-discovery using, Microsoft Office 365. Kelly previously worked for Johnson & Johnson, where he was responsible for e-discovery issues across business sectors, advising internal stakeholders and outside counsel on best practices in collection, forensic technology, document review and cost control. The interview has been edited for style and length.Continue Reading Ready for an Upgrade? What you need to know about Microsoft Office 365

By Sheryl Koval Garko / Fish & Richardson

Sheryl Koval Garko is an intellectual property litigator in Fish & Richardson’s Boston office who enjoyed recent success in an influential trademark case decided by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Early in her career she benefitted from her firm’s support of women in its ranks. She still profits from that support, but she has also joined the leaders who have helped expand the ways women are supported. The interview has been edited for length and style.

 MCC: Tell us about your intellectual property litigation practice and the kind of work you do for your clients. What attracted you to IP litigation specifically?
Continue Reading Empowered by IP: A litigator is inspired by the challenges of technology and the support of her firm

By Daniel Garrie / Law & Forensics LLC

Seeking information from social media accounts is becoming commonplace in litigation. Obtaining social media discovery, however, can pose significant challenges, as this information can take many forms, involve different file types, be generated by different users and be extremely voluminous. To avoid pitfalls, requesting parties should avoid blanket requests and be specific about the social media material they want and need. Likewise, responding parties should fully produce social media data responsive to a request, and fully document redacted or withheld material.

Scott v. United States Postal Service

The case of Scott v. United States Postal Service illustrates the importance of tailoring social media requests. Scott was a personal injury case. To help prove the lack of injury, the defendants moved to compel the production of “all postings related to any type of physical or athletic activities from June 6, 2014, to present on all social media websites, including, but not limited to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.” The plaintiff objected that this request was “immaterial and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” The court found that the information sought was relevant but agreed that the request was…
Continue Reading Social Media E-Discovery: How to Request and Respond – Courts have provided guidance for litigators

By Rees Morrison / Altman Weil, Inc.

Many law departments use a request for proposal (RFP) to choose outside counsel to represent them in a major matter, for a portfolio of matters likely to start over a period of time or on a panel. Typical RFPs describe the bidding protocol, expectations of the department and background facts for the firms. These facts generally include work that will likely need to be done, the annual number of similar matters in the past, the distribution of law firms used, fees paid, outcomes achieved, etc. RFPs are a comfortable, familiar tool, often involving the procurement function, but they are quite often heavy on text.Continue Reading Improve RFPs With Data Analytics: Law departments and outside counsel both stand to benefit

COMPLIMENTARY WEBINAR
Title: IoT and Disparate Data: A Powerful Combination for Labor and Employment Cases
Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

REGISTER HERE!

The IoT is here and the real question is no longer will its data affect litigation, but how can I use it in my current cases to provide a positive and meaningful impact to my clients.  Join Dan Regard and Charlie Platt of iDiscovery Solutions while they talk about how they have helped their clients use IoT and Disparate Data to communicate factual data and tell compelling stories. In this webinar, they will guide you through the basics as well as several case studies which leveraged this data to significant effect.

Continue Reading Complimentary Webinar: IoT and Disparate Data: A Powerful Combination for Labor and Employment Cases

By Thomas S. Markey / McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC

Privacy lawsuits, including consumer class actions and data breach cases, often live or die early in litigation when defendants seek dismissal based on plaintiffs’ lack of standing. In federal courts, where many privacy actions are filed, plaintiffs have standing only if they can establish a “personal stake” in the litigation.

In May 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, a decision that attempted to clarify its interpretation of the federal standing doctrine. In the year since Spokeo, however, a split has emerged among federal appellate courts regarding standing in consumer class-action lawsuits. Recent federal court decisions interpreting Spokeo, along with the well-publicized disclosures of data breaches at Yahoo! Inc., offer insight into how companies can strengthen their cybersecurity programs and minimize their exposure to data breach liability.
Continue Reading Avoiding Consumer Class Actions after Spokeo: Courts are still struggling with the issue of standing