Ride the Lightning

WHAT LAWYERS NEED: BRAIN DEAD SIMPLE EDD REVIEW

October 21, 2008

I have commiserated with many of my colleagues over the absence of a user-friendly EDD review tool for small to mid sizes cases. I never knew exactly how to describe it – until I had pleasure of having breakfast at an ABA conference with Browning Marean, a partner at DLA Piper. He is an extraordinarily good lecturer on all things involving electronic evidence, and as gentlemanly a lawyer as I have ever met. One of the things I like best about Browning is his ability to phrase things in street parlance so they are clearly understood. We were discussing the e-rooms that his firm uses to conduct business with clients and he commented that they worked so well because they were “brain-dead simple – even lawyers can figure them out.”

So, for anyone who might be thinking about developing EDD review software, or indeed any software intended for lawyers, remember to keep it “brain-dead simple.” Put the term right in the Scope of Work so you don’t forget!

Quite apart from computer forensics and EDD, I also added a new entry to my lexicon, courtesy of one of our Canadian colleagues, Richard Ferguson. Richard is well known for his ability to ingest remarkable quantities of single malt scotch without any apparent ill effect – but he confessed to me that he has no tolerance for red wine, three glasses of which will render him “wobbly pop.” A charming term. As I compose this, the hallowed hour of 5 p.m. approaches. I look forward to a libation or two but shall endeavor not to get “wobby pop.”

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