edisclosure myth or reality? » ediscovery

My first publication

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:38:51 +0000

In the past, I’ve written lots of system/software documentation/specification and project plans etc. but today I really feel a different sense of achievement.

My article “Electronic Discovery/Disclosure: From Litigation to International Commercial Arbitration” appeared in The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management, V 74, N 4, Nov 2008 (The Arbitration Journal by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators).

Just want to pass on my acknowledgement here (which appeared in the footnote in my article):

The author (me) would like to thank Martin Goodman and Roger Clough for their individual reviews. This essay is based on the author’s dissertation for a post-graduate diploma in International Commercial Arbitration. The author also wishes to thank Angie Raymond and Stavros Brekoulakis, Queen Mary College, London for their support. Also, many thanks to those who kindly provided access to their articles on their websites/blogs, e.g. Ken Withers.

However, the source of the inspiration for doing my dissertation on ediscovery/edisclosure started when I was involved in a document management programme with a major subprime mortgage company, a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers (yeah!). Companies and all the system documentation (many versions/iterations – which I considered unnecessary but then…that’s another story) disintegrated and perished.

Well, nothing beats experience and I’ve certainly been fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved in exciting software/technological projects. Experience itself though is rather like a piece of paper stored in a cupboard (or rather in the mind). By writing my dissertation and having my article published (reviewed and critic) serves to remind myself the power of sharing/collaborating one’s experience with others. A piece of paper written (like the many documentation I’ve produced) and never opened and shared with others is akin to creating and building junk instead of building one’s knowledge with self and others.

I hope I will continue to learn more by sharing with others. I also hope that others will open up and share their experience. Many thanks to others who have shared their experience with me in many unconscious and conscious ways.

Investigations Conference in Las Vegas Resort

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:23:55 +0000

If anyone knows of a similar event (marked in the Calendar here) in the UK as the CEIC in US ,please leave a comment here. The CEIC Conference looks interesting as it covers ‘all manner of investigations including’ :

* Computer forensics and cybercrime
* Electronic discovery (eDiscovery)
* Internal investigations
* Records retention, data auditing and compliance
* Information assurance
* Computer incident response

Also, if there are any blogs on the conference please leave your comments here. Thanks!

a critically important and evolving field in international arbitration

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:23:50 +0000

Electronic Evidence and Disclosure in International Arbitration
New York City 31 January 2008.
The jurisconferences seminar ‘recognizes the harsh reality of the problems presented by the creation and maintenance of electronic data in international business transactions and provides a forum for discussion by the leading experts in the electronic data field of how best to deal with the phenomena of electronic data in the context of disputes that are to be resolved in international arbitration’.

WHERE NEITHER THE IBA RULES NOR U.S. LITIGATION PRINCIPLES ARE ENOUGH

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:07:35 +0000

…electronic discovery is already happening also– to a limited extent–in international arbitration and neither the IBA Rules nor US litigation principles are enough.

According to a featured international article‘, ‘ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION: WHERE NEITHER THE IBA RULES NOR U.S. LITIGATION PRINCIPLES ARE ENOUGH ‘by Jonathan L. Frank, Julie Bédard, Dispute Resolution Journal, November, 2007-January, 2008 :
‘E-discovery will no doubt become an increasingly important aspect of international arbitration. Different legal cultures–all of which usefully nurture international arbitration–may approach discovery of ESI very differently. Although the IBA Rules provide useful guidance to arbitrators and litigants, it may be difficult to rely heavily on them since they were written before e-discovery became an issue. While U.S. case law deals with ediscovery, it does so primarily in the context of allocating costs and against a backdrop of broad discovery rights that are alien to international arbitration. Thus, the cases may not be all that helpful to arbitrators who must decide the scope of allowable e-discovery. Further analysis of e-discovery issues must be undertaken in order to uncover useful principles that arbitrators could apply. In this connection, we invite practitioners and arbitrators to discuss the issues identified in this article. In any event, practitioners should anticipate the necessity for compromise with respect to discovery procedures and look to their shared experience in assessing the risks and costs involved’.

Full article provided by Mr Ken Withers for my research is available in pdf.