Suggested Reading Materials - from mock "Meet and Confer" in Charlotte with Judges Facciola, Grimm and Peck

http://ow.ly/8zsdY

A mock "Meet and Confer" CLE event was held in Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday.  The link above provides a list of suggested reading materials, and website resources that relate to eDiscovery.  This resource list was provided to the audience that attended the event, which was organized by Nova Office Strategies.  The primary organizer of the event was Doug Moore.

The participants in the event includes Honorable U.S. Magistrate Judges Facciola, Grimm and Peck, as well as Hon. Shiva Hodges, U.S. Magistrate Judge in South Carolina, and  Hon. David Keesler, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of North Carolina.  The Judges all provided introductory remarks regarding electronically stored information, and the impact it has upon litigation.

The moderator of the event, was Josh Durham, Esq. partner in the firm Poyner Spruill.   Josh provided tremendous assistance in organizing the teams for the role play, and was very much involved in the pre-planning stages for the event.

The event included a number of participants, who performed role plays of a meet and confer, based on a fictitious litigation involving a small corporate plaintiff, and large corporate defendant, and a non-party corporation.  The litigation surrounded a defamation claim against the defendant, and counter-claims by the defendant that the plaintiff had stolen trade secret information. The plaintiff corporation had recently taken 3 employees from the defendant corporation, and part of the litigation involved a request by the plaintiff seeking declaratory judgement against the defendant to void a non-compete agreement that the 3 employees had signed. The non-party corporation was said to be a customer of the defendant corporation, and was subject to a subpoena from the plaintiff seeking electronically stored information that would allegedly prove the defamation allegation.

The plaintiff's team included team leader Ralph Losey, a partner of the firm Jackson Lewis, and a prominent author about eDiscovery.  In addition, Sonya Sigler, VP of Product Strategy of SFL Data; Teri Alsop, IT Project Manager for Duke Energy; and Carranza M. Pryor, the Associate General Counsel and Director of Litigation for TIAA CREF, all played roles as part of the plaintiff's team.

The defendant's team was led by Jill Crawley Griset, a partner of the firm McGuire Woods.  Member of the defendant's team in the role play included Craig Cannon, discovery counsel for Bank of America; Kate Maynard, a partner in the firm Robinson Bradshaw and Hinson; Bruce Pfannestiel, an Associate Director of Global Records for PPD; and Matt Miller, SVP and IP Practice Group leader for DiscoverReady. Kate Maynard also spoke to the recently revised North Carolina State practice rules, and provided information to the audience regarding those changes.

For the non-party team in the role play session, the team leader was Christopher Hicks, a partner of the firm Katten Muchin Rosenman.  In addition, members of the non-party team included Tim Nohr, Associate General Counsel for Rack Room Shoes; Sarah Serpico, Manager of Business Solutions and Technology for National Gypsum Company; and one of the writers of this blog, Joseph Bartolo, Director of Corporate Sales for SRM Legal.  Joe Bartolo also helped coordinate the planning of the event between the various team leaders, and also led the effort to compile the materials that were distributed to the audience.

The event was held at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte, Downtown Campus.  The event was attended by well over 100 attorneys and paralegals.  The event was interesting, and informative and the feedback provided by the audience was very positive.  The comments made by the Judges were particularly informative, and the Judges offered critiques of the role play sessions.

The initial role play examples were meant to highlight common mistakes made by both outside counsel, and by corporate law departments.  The Judges then provided information as to how to avoid mistakes, and litigate effectively and within the spirit of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.  The 2nd role play session was designed to highlight "Best Practices", and to further illustrate the Judges advice as to how to properly cooperate to comply with discovery obligations.

The team leaders in the role plays were all very dynamic, and the comments made by all the participants covered a wide range of concerns about the present state of eDiscovery, and challenges that legal profession will continue to be faced with regarding the preservation, collection, review and production of electronically stored information.

eDiscovery continues to evolve.  Steps are being taken within corporate environments to improve the level of "litigation readiness" through information governance practices, and the use of technology, people and process.   The value of  the knowledge shared by Judges, experienced counsel, and IT professionals cannot be overstated, and events such as the one held yesterday in Charlotte will serve to improve the legal profession.