I was stranded for nearly one and half hour in a no power train yesterday and couldn’t help hearing several angry and frustrated mobile exchanges between couple of businessmen with the South East HQ customer services. The angry exchanges were mainly triggered because there were no communications (appeared to be no guard on the train either!) to the passengers on what was happening. The lack of visible actions on the train and the lack of reassurance from the HQ certainly did not help to calm the nerves of the passengers in a hot, broken down train in busy Waterloo tracks.

Is it difficult to relay basic information to passengers (who are entitled to be informed) the behind the scenes activities between the train driver, the engineers and HQ? I guess ‘the need to know’ (or walkabout alerting services?) by/to the passengers is not high on the HQ customer services list. No wonder train fares increases every year to pay for ‘unnecessary or avoidable’ situations – just a thought – but a rather annoying thought when one missed several business appointments!

In this age of ‘speedy and accessible’ communication (mobile connectivity etc.), customer’s expectation and fulfilment still pose challenges.

Is it also the same in the ediscovery/edisclosure world? I hazard a guess – a doubtless assertion (with the assumption that access to power/data is obtainable) – that the behind the scenes activities between the technical folks and legal and management team are exchanged too late to avoid aggros and costs. (Hence early confer/meet if this is available to parties).

In ediscovery/edisclosure, one of the behind the scene and less talk about (or blogged or written about) is evidence. This is highlighted by the use of generic term such as ‘information exchange’ in international disputes. The ‘e-words’ including ‘evidence’ are potentially culturally sensitive to use. Imagine having to describe the ‘e-evidence’ to all parties without getting cross-wired or inflicting cross-eyed to reviewers?!

For me, the term and usage of evidence in the context of international disputes requires behind the scenes re-assessment to make sense to me when dealing with ediscovery/edisclosure.

I guess evidence is also being re-assessed by folks in Asia. The ADR in Asia Conference 2009 in Hong Kong on 15th September has a topic: Interim Measures and Evidence – Emerging practices and movements.

Will e-disclosure surface under this topic?
I certainly would love to hear from folks who will be attending the Conference in Hong Kong this September. I will be in Peking University and may not be able to do the trip.

Enjoy!

Yes! E-Discovery and E-Disclosure or Information Exchange or handling electronic data or digital evidence are getting their footprints at the beautiful Peace Palace in the Hague. Thumbs up to the organisers ! I will be going. I have been to the Peace Palace (invited by a lawyer friend who gave a lecture there couple of years ago) and look forward to seeing the place again.

For my own reference, here are some of the topics spread over two days.

• E-Discovery: A Look Behind the Curtain—Tools and Techniques
• The Present and Future of Electronic Disclosure in International Arbitration
• Evolving Principles of Information Exchange:Consensus and Divergence
• Cross-Cultural Problems Involving Exchange of Information
• Privilege and Ethical Obligations Involving Production and Protection of Evidence
• Expert Evidence in International Arbitration:Are Standards Needed?
• Privilege and Ethical Obligations Involving Expert Evidence in International Arbitration: Are Standards Needed?

Maybe there will also be a publication from the Spring Conference (March event):
THE SECOND ANNUAL PROGRAM ON GETTING AHEAD
OF THE eDISCOVERY CURVE: STRATEGIES TO REDUCE
COSTS & MEET JUDICIAL EXPECTATIONS

The PowerPoint presentation on From ESI to Evidence and a pdf article on RAM preservation.

Thanks Mr. Hamilton.