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For several years now, use of the workplace collaboration and messaging tool Slack has been growing exponentially, first augmenting and then starting to supplant email usage within many organizations. With such widespread usage, Slack has started to become a common source for discovery. So, just what sorts of materials are in Slack? How can those materials be preserved and collected? What special challenges does Slack data present?

Working with video can be more challenging and time-consuming than working with other types of ESI. Who should bear that burden: the law enforcement agencies charged with preparing the video or the individuals and organizations requesting it? Recently, in the case of National Lawyers Guild v. City of Hayward, the California Supreme Court addressed how this question should be answered under the California Public Records Act (PRA).

Our monthly legal eDiscovery news round-up for May 2020 features more industry adaptation to COVID-19 plus cybersecurity concerns, California regulations, and social media risks, as well as new cases, new publications, and new XDD educational content.

FRCP 37(e) was amended in December 2015 in an attempt to increase the consistency and predictability with which sanctions for the spoliation of electronically-stored information (ESI) were applied. Since those amendments, numerous cases have explored the application of the amended rule and wrestled with questions regarding intent to deprive, inherent authority, and more. These issues were recently explored again in the WeRide case.

Our monthly legal eDiscovery news round-up for April 2020 features the legal industry’s and courts’ continuing adaptation to COVID-19, as well as new cases, new publications, and a bevy of new XDD educational content.

We have discussed before some litigants’ attempts to obtain non-public social media materials by subpoenaing those materials directly from the social media service providers, which run up against the Stored Communications Act (SCA). Recently, this issue has arisen again in the case of Facebook, Inc. v. Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco, No. A157143 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 13, 2020).

We have discussed before the question of whether or not one party can compel another party to utilize a technology-assisted review methodology for discovery. Recently, in the case of In re Mercedes-Benz Emissions Litig., Case No. 2:16-cv-881 (D.N.J. Jan. 8, 2020), a Special Master revisited this question to resolve a discovery impasse over one side’s desire to employ a “custodian-and-search-term approach.”

Our monthly legal eDiscovery news round-up for March 2020 features adapting to COVID-19 and maintaining privacy compliance, as well as recent cases and a variety of new XDD educational content.

As more corporations operate across borders, more and more foreign language documents have become potentially relevant in litigation. In many such cases, parties will obtain certified translations of their own relevant foreign-language documents, prior to production, to facilitate review and later use in litigation. But what if a party doesn’t wish to do so? Is a party obligated to obtain certified translations of documents for its opponent’s use?

In this multi-part update series, we are reviewing recent statistics, news, resources, and cases related to social media in eDiscovery and the technical and legal challenges it creates for practitioners. This part discusses recent social media cases touching on Slack sources and other topics.

Our monthly legal eDiscovery news round-up for February 2020 features collaboration tool challenges, adapting to the CCPA, and legal service offering innovations, as well as recent cases and a variety of new XDD educational content.

In this multi-part update series, we are reviewing recent statistics, news, resources, and cases related to social media in eDiscovery and the technical and legal challenges it creates for practitioners. This part discusses recent social media cases touching on discoverability, spoliation, and ephemeral messaging.