Ride the Lightning

FROM THE BIG APPLE: THERE GOES THE BEST EVIDENCE RULE

March 31, 2008

Hello from New York City, where there are just too many gerbils in the cage. Simply navigating through the crowds on the sidewalk can turn into a military maneuver. I don’t trust any city where you have to look straight up at noon to see the sun!

However, it was a terrific day at ARMA’s E-Discovery and Beyond conference. The crowds were very engaged and we were pleased to be presenting with a very distinguished faculty, including old friends Jody Westby and Tina Ayiotis, and new friends Galina Datskovsky, former judge Ron Hedges, Chris Olsen, Rick Wolf, Jamie Brigman and Kathleen Edmond.

Rick brought with him a terrific video, showing a corporation digging an ED hole for itself in one ethical nightmare after another. Using the video as a base, the audience and fellow presenters chimed in to identify one disastrous element after another. A great way to teach corporate ethics.

My favorite part of Jody’s presentation was her cautionary advice about outsourcing electronic evidence review to China, India and the Philippines (the big three offering this service). These countries do not have privacy laws or breach notification laws. I couldn’t agree more that it is a HUGE risk outsourcing ED review to these counties, when the only controls are contractual. And we all know how easy it is to corral the horse once it is out of the barn.

Ron and Chris had a terrifically engaging session on proving that electronic records are trustworthy.  My favorite line of the day went to Ron, who pointed out, “In the electronic world, there is no “original” anymore – there goes the Best Evidence rule.”

Ron also got the best tip of the day: noting the recent publication of The Sedona Conference® Commentary on ESI Evidence & Admissibility, which can be downloaded at http://www.thesedonaconference.org/dltForm?did=ESI_Commentary_0308.pdf

Thanks to ARMA for a great conference!

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