Your single source for new lessons on legal technology, e-discovery, and the people innovating behind the scenes.

The Joy of e-Discovery at the University of Florida Conference

David Horrigan

Analyzing terabytes of data for legal proceedings can be hard and stressful work, and the concept of “joy” may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of e-discovery.

Maybe it should be.

Next week law students, paralegals, technologists, lawyers, and judges from around the nation will be gathering in Gainesville, Florida—and virtually on Zoom—for the 9th annual UF Law E-Discovery Conference at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Relativity is proud to be a Friend of the Conference for what has become one of the leading—if not the leading—academic e-discovery conferences in the nation. This year, the conference has adopted the theme, the Joy of E-Discovery.

So where does the joy come in?

One of the ways is finding answers to complex e-discovery challenges that may have you and your legal team stumped, enabling you to use e-discovery to solve bigger issues, not only for business and the law, but for society at large.

Issues and Answers

William “Bill” Hamilton, legal skills professor at UF Law, organizes the conference along with a planning committee of legal professionals, including this author. As an academic conference, the primary goal is e-discovery education. With that in mind, some of the sessions available next Wednesday and Thursday, March 23 and 24, are:

  • The Judicial Panel: We’ll be focusing on the role of the judge in the virtual world, examining how judges can address issues ranging from the unreasonable litigant to the use of special masters in legal proceedings. The Honorable Patricia Barksdale will join me to preview some of the issues in an ACEDS webinar, Tuesday at 12:00 p.m., and you can register here.
  • Building a Better Review Team and a Toolkit for Power Searching: Tessa Jacob will moderate two panels, the first on building a better review team and another providing a toolkit for power searching in e-discovery.
  • In Practical Takeaways from Case Law, Kelly Twigger will moderate a discussion on practical takeaways from court rulings that you can use to better refine your practice and work in e-discovery.
  • In ESI Protocols: To Have or Not to Have?, Scott Milner with moderate a discussion with the Honorable James Francis and Ariana Tadler on whether ESI protocols are effective in accomplishing the goals of e-discovery efficiency, managing expectations among parties, and reducing the need for judicial intervention.
  • e-Discovery Nuts and Bolts will feature fast-paced presentations from Bill Hamilton, Craig Ball, Jared Coseglia, and Canaan Himmelbaum on topics ranging from the measurement of search validity to the e-discovery job market.  
  • In How to Master Proportionality, the Honorable Ralph Artigliere will moderate a session looking at the provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) and its state law equivalents, and he’ll be joined by Suzanne Clark, Rose Jones, Michael Quartararo, and the Honorable Judy Sneed in discussing how to make proportionality work for you and your client.
  • Data Privacy, Data Protection, and Surviving a Breach: We’ll talk with Victoria Edelman about how Capital One responded to its data breach, with Scott Milner, Kenya Parrish-Dixon, and Ryan O’Leary providing background information on some of the legal and business issues.
  • Keynote Fireside Chat on Transformation and Joy in e-Discovery with Amy Sellars: Rounding out the discussions and the theme of joy in e-discovery, George Socha will interview Amy Sellars on what professionals can bring to the larger legal community and the value that finding joy in e-discovery can bring to you and your colleagues.

Registration is free, and you can join online here. Whether it’s finding the joy in e-discovery, getting CLE credit, or simply learning a few things, we’ll look forward to seeing you next Wednesday and Thursday.

2021 Data Discovery Legal Year in Review

David Horrigan is Relativity’s discovery counsel and legal education director. An attorney, award-winning journalist, law school guest lecturer, and former e-discovery industry analyst, David has served as counsel at the Entertainment Software Association, reporter and assistant editor at The National Law Journal, and analyst and counsel at 451 Research. The author and co-author of law review articles as well as the annual Data Discovery Legal Year in Review, David is a frequent contributor to Legaltech News, and he was First Runner-Up for Best Legal Analysis in the LexBlog Excellence Awards. His articles have appeared also in The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The New York Law Journal, Texas Lawyer, The Washington Examiner, and others, and he has been cited by media, including American Public Media’s Marketplace, TechRepublic, and The Wall Street Journal. David serves on the Global Advisory Board of ACEDS, the Planning Committee of the University of Florida E-Discovery Conference, and the Resource Board of the National Association of Women Judges. David is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, and he is an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional/US.

The latest insights, trends, and spotlights — directly to your inbox.

The Relativity Blog covers the latest in legal tech and compliance, professional development topics, and spotlights on the many bright minds in our space. Subscribe today to learn something new, stay ahead of emerging tech, and up-level your career.

Interested in being one of our authors? Learn more about how to contribute to The Relativity Blog.