http://www.lawtechguru.com/ you deserve to get what you've always got."]]> en-us 2008-05-12 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/05/12_norton_systemworks_deranges_your_hard_drive.html Well, many of us in legal tech circles have suspected for years that Norton SystemWorks often caused more PC problems than it cured. Imagine my surprise to see it "confirmed" on a Symantec renewal web page while checking out the price to renew my Norton Internet Security suite subscription (of which I recommend the 2007 version and newer as it's been noticeably improved): I think they were going for "defragments", but yet another reason to have a second, perhaps more technically inclined person double-check your sales content. Just for fun, here's the definition for "derange" from Dictionary.com, which pretty much... Legal Technology jjbeard 2008-05-12 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/05/08_presenting_on_litigation_readiness_teams_in_dc_may_15th16th.html Next week, I am leading the panel discussion on "Litigation Readiness: The Team is Growing and Evolving" at the International Litigation Support Leaders Conference being held in Washington D.C. on May 15th & 16th. In today's complex litigation where ESI is now the norm, numerous organizations and teams all need to work effectively with each other, have clean lines of communication and expectations, and yet it's not always clear who's doing the driving. Please join me for an interactive and informative session sharing the challenges, best practices and take-aways for litigation professionals, corporate teams, and more. The conference is organized... Electronic Discovery jjbeard 2008-05-08 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/04/25_announcing_my_new_ediscovery_position.html I'm very pleased to announce that I've joined Electronic Evidence Discovery, Inc. (EED) as Senior Consultant, reporting directly to the VP of Consulting Services. In my new role, I'll be advising law departments in their overall litigation readiness, legal hold, and e-mail and document retention strategies, processes, and solutions. In addition, I'll be consulting on active litigation matters to provide enhanced strategy and guidance. On a personal note, I'm pleased to join a company who has been a trendsetter in directing eDiscovery technologies and methodologies for over 20 years, a rarity in this often volatile market. Great company, with fantastic... Electronic Discovery jjbeard 2008-04-25 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/03/21_a_psa_for_qualcomm_counsel.html I really enjoyed watching this video, an interesting awareness test. It's a public service announcement to watch out for cyclists. But its main message is equally applicable to managing and finding your own data. As the announcer says at the end, "It's easy to miss something you're not looking for." (And, sometimes, for things you are.) It often takes a fresh and expert eye to spot what others have missed. Don't be afraid to seek them out, as it's often more cost-effective than missing what's in plain view.... Electronic Discovery jjbeard 2008-03-21 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/03/05_free_shadow_explorer_displays_recovers_shadow_copies_on_any_version_of_vista.html I've posted previously about Vista's Shadow Copy feature, and its security and e-discovery implications. Having explored it a bit more over the past several months, here are some things legal and IT professionals should know about it. Consider it a crash course in Vista Shadow Copies, and I'll share how to get a new utility program for accessing and restoring these hidden files. Please keep in mind some of these items are based on information found online including unofficial sources, so it's best taken as my personal interpretation of that information (meaning that if I've unintentionally stated something incorrectly, don't... Electronic Discovery jjbeard 2008-03-05 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/02/22_breaking_through_the_esi_inaccessibility_wall_feature_guide.html My latest article, "Breaking through the Inaccessibility Wall -- A New Angle", is published in the current February/April 2008 issue of Litigation Support Today magazine. You can download the PDF reprint here. Corporate counsel struggling with records retention should be among the first to read this, as their regular business information can be used against them in unforeseen ways. Indeed, my alternate title for this practical guide is "Call the Help Desk, Your Accessibility is Showing". From discussions with various corporate and outside counsel, a common misconception under the new rules is that backup tapes are an inaccessible “safe harbor”... Electronic Discovery jjbeard 2008-02-22 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/02/15_2008_corporate_legal_technology_trends_insidecounsel.html From insourcing the e-discovery process to automated document review, the world of legal technology is rapidly changing. If you missed LegalTech New York or just want to keep up on the current trends, my latest InsideTech column at InsideCounsel will bring you up to speed. Among other hot topics, LegalTech was brimming with discussion on the Qualcomm fallout, records retention, proactive approaches, and automated review. In addition, I covered key issues such as cost reduction, the effects of globalization, data privacy, and outsourcing/insourcing. With recessionary concerns on the rise, corporate law departments are being asked to do more with less,... Legal Technology jjbeard 2008-02-15 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/02/09_word_2007_a_tale_of_two_experts_legaltech_ny.html It was the best of times: While making my way through the vendor hall jungle at LegalTech NY, I had the pleasure of catching up with Donna Payne (Payne Group) and Sherry Kappel (Microsystems). I always find time to seek out these document technology savants, and this week's discussions were as helpful as ever. My personal opinion is that Office 2007 is the clear winner from Microsoft this past year (definitively overshadowing Vista), and the massive improvements are well worth the office suite upgrade and third-party integration efforts. Sherry insightfully observed that with Word 2007's linked styles right out of... Legal Technology jjbeard 2008-02-09 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/01/31_feeddemon_is_now_free_read_why.html NewsGator is now giving away several of their RSS or news reader programs for free. These include FeedDemon, NetNewsWire, NewsGator Inbox, and NewsGator Go at the free download page. Many of you know FeedDemon has been my preferred RSS reader since I started using it at least 4-5 years ago. I've also played around with other readers, both PC client and web-based, but kept going back to FeedDemon. I also chose FeedDemon as the best RSS reader or news aggregator for a prior Law Office Computing Shootout feature article. It packs a ton of useful features into a very intuitive,... Blogging Tips jjbeard 2008-01-31 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/01/30_see_you_in_the_big_apple_for_legaltech.html Legal Technology jjbeard 2008-01-30 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/01/29_2008_thoughts_on_vista_office_2007.html Listening to the tech press, you'd think Windows Vista is on its death bed. John Dvorak is behind the "Vista Death Watch", and other trade mags are supporting efforts to "save" XP. Not that the latter is a bad thing -- Windows XP's current state is that of an excellent operating system, very stable and mature, with more moderate hardware requirements than Vista. But of course, that wasn't how XP arrived, was it? No -- lots of hardware and driver incompatibilities, and it was very unstable and regularly crashed for many until the first two service packs (SPs) showed up.... Law Practice Management jjbeard 2008-01-29 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/01/20_my_favorite_free_utilities_for_vista_part_2.html Continuing on with my favorite free utilities for Vista (see Part 1 for the first five): 6. IZArc While Windows XP and Vista can view and open .ZIP files natively, that's about it. I've used WinZip for years. While it's a great program with a nice user interface, it's not free, and it can't open a number of archive formats. The same goes for WinRAR, which prompted me to look at a number of free Zip-compatible archiving programs. I've concluded that IZArc is the closest thing to WinZip and it supports a staggering range of archive file formats. Per its... Trick or Treat jjbeard 2008-01-20 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/01/19_download_gartners_ediscovery_vendor_market_analysis.html Thanks to Guidance Software, who received Gartner's highest rating as a "Strong Positive", you can download Gartner's research note, "MarketScope for E-Discovery and Litigation Support Vendors, 2007", dated Dec. 14, 2007. Gartner included 29 e-discovery vendors in its analysis. Its weighted evaluation criteria was based on each vendor's Market Understanding, Innovation, Market Responsiveness and Track Record, Offering (Product) Strategy, Business Model, Customer Experience, and Marketing Strategy. Gartner then rated each vendor on a 5-scale range between "Strong Negative" and "Strong Positive". Keep in mind that analysts' projections and predictions should be taken as just that — sometimes they're right on... Electronic Discovery jjbeard 2008-01-19 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/01/18_my_favorite_free_utilities_for_vista_part_1.html While Vista Ultimate has a number of nice system and user enhancements, it's still Windows. Meaning there are still many gaps to be filled and annoyances to be eliminated. Along the way I've amassed a number of useful little programs that have proven themselves. Some accomplish a number of great things, while others just do one thing particularly well. All have found a permanent place in my Vista bag of tricks. While all state they're free, you may want to check their respective web sites for more precise licensing information: 1. Taskbar Shuffle It's stupefying that every version of Windows,... Trick or Treat jjbeard 2008-01-18 http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2008/01/08_qualcomm_sanctions_handed_down_lessons_learned.html Yesterday, the U.S District Court for the Southern District of California handed down the sanctions in the high-profile Qualcomm Incorporated vs. Broadcom Corporation case. In some aspects, this case is similar to the earlier Rambus memory case -- where one high-tech company participated in a standards-setting committee to gain an inappropriate business advantage over their competitors. In the Qualcomm case, Qualcomm could not win their patent infringement case against Broadcom if it was found that it had previously participated in the standards-setting body. Thus thousands of requested e-mails were not produced during discovery, and their existence was denied. The 42-page... Electronic Discovery jjbeard 2008-01-08