Law Firms Aren’t Just for Lawyers: One Woman’s Journey in Legal Operations and Legal Project Management

Law firms aren’t just for lawyers. When I think about the career trajectory I have followed over the past 17+ years, this simple statement epitomizes what I have learned and demonstrated repeatedly as a professional in a variety of roles. It’s also what energizes me as a manager of complex projects and an industry trailblazer in the project management operations (PMO) domain.

To read the full article, click here to access Peer to Peer’s online magazine.

Tysons, VA — April 1, 2020 — Casepoint, a leader in enterprise eDiscovery technology, today announced the eDiscovery industry has crossed a major milestone: The very last TIFF-based production in response to a discovery document request was produced at 5:23 a.m. EDT. The production consisted of 600 pages of TIFF images (with no redactions) for ACME Corporation v. Wiley, Inc. Apparently, neither party in the matter actually specified a form of production, so the plaintiff got what they asked for.

The Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) was invented in 1986 as a standard image format for scanner hardware manufacturers. Since that time, the litigation support and eDiscovery industry has tolerated TIFF-based productions for reasons that many will explain at great length, as is the preference for veterans in the industry. While many have wondered why eDiscovery practitioners cannot simply use PDFs like everyone else in the world, many others have taken comfort in the explanation “just because.”

Experts in the field are both lamenting and celebrating the demise of TIFF-based productions. “I don’t know…there was something oddly wonderful about using technology invented 30+ years ago as a mainstay in our industry,” said David Carns, Chief Revenue Officer at Casepoint. “With so many cutting-edge technologies in eDiscovery, it felt good knowing we were keeping that candle burning.”

Others were not so kind. Vishal Rajpara, Chief Technology Officer at Casepoint said, “I am glad this day finally came to pass. Don’t get me wrong, Casepoint’s technology platform will continue to support TIFFs for legacy cases forever—since apparently TIFFs will never actually go away—but I’ve been trying to explain the benefits of native productions for the past 10 years.”

This major milestone will no doubt be “clawed back” in less than 24 hours, and we will all go back to producing and receiving TIFF-based productions on a regular basis, but at least it will be in keeping with so many other good intentions in the industry.

Disclaimer: We are all reading about the truly serious situation in the world, but we hope this moment of levity was enjoyed as a momentary distraction – maybe with a smile or at least an eye-roll. Happy April Fool’s Day. 

Now in its twelfth year, Casepoint offers fast, enterprise-class tools for full-spectrum eDiscovery, including cloud collections, data processing, early case assessment, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, full-strength review, and customizable productions. Casepoint supports workflows across millions of documents, multiple terabytes of data, thousands of legal matters, and an unlimited number of users.

For more information, visit casepoint.com.

About Casepoint

Casepoint empowers legal departments, law firms and public agencies by providing smarter legal technology combined with award-winning client service. Casepoint eDiscovery is the fast, enterprise-class, and next-generation eDiscovery suite from Casepoint, based on more than 12 years of innovation in the industry. It is built upon Casepoint Platform, a highly scalable, secure, and configurable application environment that meets the demands of sophisticated clients within eDiscovery and beyond. Whether SaaS, on-prem, or hybrid, Casepoint eDiscovery features cloud collections, data processing, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, review, and production – all in an easy-to-use web interface. Casepoint customers benefit from the ability to support sophisticated workflows across millions of documents and hundreds of users, with custom reporting and data management tools built-in. Simple, elegant, and intuitive, Casepoint represents the next generation of litigation technology that will empower your global legal team.

With stay-at-home and social-distancing orders becoming more prevalent by the day, it’s clear that not only our personal lives, but our professional lives have been markedly affected. Many law firms have the technology and processes in place to allow their staff to work from home, but when it comes to the people working at home themselves, there can be challenges.

Click here for best practices the experts advise and to see how technology can be the key to keeping those relationships where you want.

Like law firms and corporate legal departments, public agencies are highly focused on the return from tech investments, and many agencies now view a transition to the cloud as a reasonable way to reduce their physical footprint and bring down the total cost of ownership of IT infrastructure, writes Amy Hilbert, vice president of public sector at Casepoint.

The legal industry has been more reluctant than other industries to embrace cloud computing, but most law firms now understand the cloud can bring substantial long-term benefits and are making the transition. The public sector is following a similar path.

Read the full article by Amy Hilbert on BloombergLaw.com.

There is a virus spreading through the legal community, causing law firms and law-related companies to shut down. While careful hygiene could help prevent its spread, the virus I’m talking about is not the one that is dominating the headlines. Rather, what I’m talking about is ransomware.

Read the full article, including David Carns’ perspective and insights on AboveTheLaw.com.

On Monday, this blog broke the news that Epiq Global, the international e-discovery and managed services company, had taken its systems offline globally after becoming the target of a ransomware attack.

Now, new details are emerging about exactly what happened to force Epiq to shut down its systems.

Read the full article, including David Carns’ perspective and insight on LawSitesBlog.com.

Writing as of March 2020, one cannot avoid the news about the coronavirus (and resulting COVID-19 disease) and its global reach. The pandemic has reinvigorated the public conversation around personal hygiene and how to minimize exposure to illness. Personal hygiene recommendations include better handwashing, minimize face touching, and cleaning surfaces that are used by numerous individuals.

Coronovius has also shed light on outbreaks of a different kind, including cyber outbreaks. Just as human health requires good personal hygiene, cyber attacks can be mitigated through good cyber hygiene. And while no system (biological or otherwise) is immune from attack, best practices can improve one’s chances of good health.

At Casepoint our cyber hygiene philosophy comes in a multi-layered approach. And while it would be ill advised to share specifics, we believe it is important to share how we approach cyber hygiene across the company. Feel free to use this list to shape your discussions with other technology providers.

Casepoint’s Approach to Cyber Hygiene:

• Casepoint has regular, company-wide security training for all employees with formal testing, scoring, and remediation
• Casepoint has regular security drills across the company (fake phishing attacks, vulnerability assessment & penetration testing, etc)
• Casepoint requires multi-factor authentication for all users internal and external
• Casepoint only allows access to servers via secured terminals and authorized credentials
• Casepoint data storage is compartmentalized and internet endpoints are minimized
• Casepoint processing servers do not have access to the internet
• Casepoint data centers has achieved a SOC 2 Type II attestation and ISO 27001:2013 certification
• Casepoint as a company is SOC 2 Type II attestation and ISO 27001:2013 certification (most companies do not go to this length for security and try to rely on the security qualifications of their data center)
• Casepoint has a strong business continuity, incident response, and disaster recovery policies & procedures

For an infographic explaining the levels of security needed for a fully secure solution check out the next blog post, Secure eDiscovery from A to W. For more information on Casepoint’s certifications click below to read the Casepoint Security Brief. Alternatively, schedule a commitment-free demo or question/answer session on your security concerns with us.

Security is paramount in eDiscovery given the high level of data sensitivity and to ensure the need for data integrity and defensibility. Your solution should be committed to the highest levels of security at the company, data center, web application, and database levels. Casepoint is committed to the highest security standards. In the event that you seek another solution, make sure you have a checklist of everything that must be secured. This is our gold standard for secure eDiscovery and smarter legal working.

Everything we do revolves around protecting your data. Our people, process, and technology are secured respectively, as well. Here’s a quick snapshot.

• People – We foster a culture that values and regularly promotes security awareness, training, and best practices.
• Process – Our policies & procedures are designed for effective security, privacy, and compliance controls.
• Technology – We provide 24/7 network monitoring using the latest security appliances and software controls, two-factor authentication, NSA-grade data encryption, and regularly conduct internal and third-party security testing.

For a more detailed explanation, you can read our Security Brief. Alternatively, schedule a commitment-free demo or question/answer session on your security concerns with us.

Casepoint has partnered with the SEC to achieve FedRAMP readiness in multi-year cloud program for the Commission

TYSON, VA, March 2, 2020 – Casepoint is pleased to announce that its end-to-end eDiscovery solution, Casepoint Government, has achieved the “In Process” designation with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). Casepoint Government will be used exclusively as part of our partnership with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a new eDiscovery cloud pilot project.

FedRAMP is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. The program applies a “do once, use many times” framework that reduces the cost, time, and staff required to conduct redundant agency security assessments. The FedRAMP program enables agencies to securely move to cloud-based solutions as part of the Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council’s Cloud Smart strategy.

“Our ‘In Process’ status underscores Casepoint’s commitment to obtaining FedRAMP authorization in 2020, and is a critical aspect of a successful eDiscovery cloud pilot with the SEC,” said Amy Hilbert, Vice President Public Sector. “We have seen time and again that government agencies are looking for innovative alternative approaches to meeting their eDiscovery requirements. Casepoint is pleased to be that alternative with our robust and secure cloud-based eDiscovery solution for government agencies.”

Security in eDiscovery is a particular concern for federal agencies, given the sensitivity of government data and strict requirements for data integrity and defensibility. Many federal,  state, and local government offices already use eDiscovery technology from Casepoint, which is committed to maintaining the highest levels of security at the company, data center, and web application levels. Casepoint already maintains SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II certifications for both the company and its data center, and achieving full FedRAMP compliance is the natural next step in the company’s exponentially growing public sector strategy.

Casepoint Government, based on 12 years of innovation in the industry and broad experience in the public sector, provides agencies with a scalable, secure, and customizable computing environment. The eDiscovery suite features cloud collections, data processing, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, review, and productions – all in a single easy-to-use web interface. Casepoint Government is designed to meet the government’s strictest security requirements while providing 100% US-based hosting, support, and services. 

Media Contact:
Shana Graham
Plat4orm PR
206-661-6336
shana@plat4orm.com

This year’s Legalweek conference was the tenth that I’ve attended, and has it ever changed over the years. Gone are the days of barely clothed angels hired by an exhibitor to lure in attendees from the cold. But truth be told I don’t miss the nearly naked angels one bit. Thankfully that marketing ploy — using scantily clad women to gain attention for legaltech products — has gone the way of the dinosaur.

That being said, the angels would have been a lot more comfortable this year since there was no snow to be seen. It was downright balmy outside, ringing in at 57 degrees at one point. Quite honestly it felt a bit surreal. But then again, in many ways so did the entire conference.

For starters, the conference providers steadfastly insist on sticking with the altogether confusing name and structure change. There continue to be multiple “conferences” within a conference (for example, Legaltech, Legal CIO, Legal Business Strategy, and more) that are, for all intents and purposes “tracks,” since they all occur in the exact same venue at the exact same time. They share the same expo hall, the same keynotes, and more. Nevertheless, they’re billed as separate conferences.

Visit AboveTheLaw.com to read the full article.

Companies around the country started the year off by bracing themselves for the implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA). California consumers are now granted rights to their personal information (PI) that is being shared across organizations. Business operators must ask the question – do we fall into CCPA’s purview? Those that do, must take action to cover their bases and make sure they fully abide by the regulations the law enforces. But, who is most impacted and how should they prepare for what’s to come? Also, how should the legal industry prepare for the inevitable changes in workflows caused by the CCPA coming into effect?

Who is most impacted by CCPA?

All organizations and companies handling PI that belong to California residents are impacted by CCPA. Additionally, CCPA impacts third parties that purchase PI from a business, and service providers that process PI on behalf of a business. It’s important to note that nonprofit organizations fall outside of CCPA’s scope. 

This means a wide variety of business types are affected, however, those that deal with personal data directly are impacted the most, such as digital advertising agencies, like LiveRamp or Drawbridge, that are involved with disclosing personal data. If they do not meet the protocols perfectly, they can accrue unnecessary costs through fines. 

These entities need to communicate to California consumers (1) that they are in fact collecting their data, (2) how they are collecting their data, and (3) how users can opt-out of sharing their data with said entity. The purpose of jumping through these hoops is to protect the consumer’s privacy. However, it is at the expense of the businesses that meet CCPA’s determined thresholds. 

Companies have spent weeks or even months reviewing their privacy policies, updating their websites, and changing internal processes. All of which equates to time and money spent on implementing new procedures and technologies. Though, getting ahead of it now prior to undergoing expensive lawsuits and fines is definitely the cheaper option.

How does CCPA impact the legal industry?

There are a number of ways legal workflows are affected by CCPA. On the one hand, similar to the implementation of EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), lawyers may see an increase in volume of privacy-related work. The need for their services to advise on how to avoid disputes and allegations of privacy infringement is critical. This means more work overall for legal teams, and more involvement in counseling businesses on how to navigate new regulations. 

Additionally, the implementation of CCPA causes an uptick in the complicated nature of a certain area of legal practice. It is undeniable that with CCPA, there is a rise in Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs), which is already considered an expensive burden for businesses. CCPA requires a timely response to these requests, and if not met, can result in steep fines. When “John Doe” requests personal data, executing this request can result in complex workflows and can take a great deal of time. Teams must establish a flexible and transparent process to sustain DSAR requests. Utilizing technology can assist in saving time and adding visibility into workflows. It is in a legal teams’ best interest to seek a well-rounded eDiscovery solution that can alleviate and mitigate these new complexities by increasing efficiency and accuracy when searching and reviewing documents.

Conclusion

CCPA, like GDPR, is causing upheaval in the corporate world and in the legal industry. How do these organizations and firms really feel about it? Stay tuned for our next blog that will discuss the perspectives of law firms, corporations, and eDiscovery professionals.

Part Two of a Two-Part Article

Cybersecurity Law & Strategy partnered with our ALM sibling Legaltech News to ask cybersecurity and eDiscovery experts what they thought the key trends of 2019 and what they expect to see in 2020. Part One, last month, covered cybersecurity; Part Two looks at eDiscovery. 

As we come to the end of 2019, what was the biggest development in e-discovery for you?

To see what experts said, visit LawJournalNewsletters.com.

Every frosty early February, legal technology vendors, visionaries, and even villains have huddled in the bowels of the Midtown Hilton to show their wares and evangelize about the future of the legal profession. Hotel space in New York is relatively cheap during this window between New Year’s and anything approaching a pleasant climate — it’s a logical time to book up a giant hotel and schedule some meetings with high-profile clients.

As usual, Legalweek offered three days of non-stop information. Unlike the algorithms that vaguely drive every product on the floor, it was more than I could process in such a tight window. 

Read the rest on AbovetheLaw.com.

Casepoint was selected by The National Law Journal as an Emerging Legal Technology of 2020. To read more on why Casepoint was awarded this distinction, click here to access the full publication.

Customer adoption of Casepoint eDiscovery platform exceeds all forecasts; the number of matters running on the platform is up 453% from previous year.

TYSONS, Va., Feb. 4, 2020 — Casepoint, a leader in enterprise eDiscovery technology, today announced a series of dramatic growth indicators from 2019 that position the company for further success in 2020. Last year marked the release of a transformative upgrade to Casepoint eDiscovery running on Casepoint Platform. The ensuing growth includes the addition of a number of major clients, a more than quadruple increase in the number of matters running on the company’s eDiscovery platform, and a massive expansion of its employee base.

Among the client wins are Vandeventer Black LLP, Larkin Hoffman Attorneys, Spilman Thomas & Battle, and Ryley Carlock & Applewhite. “Casepoint has been a valuable and cost-efficient eDiscovery resource tool for both our attorneys and our clients. The all-inclusive TAR/analytics/AI features, self-service options, user-friendly interface, and experienced project management support are key. In addition, the transparent and competitive pricing model helps us with cost predictability and cost containment for our clients,” said Phi Tran, Esq., Director of eDiscovery at Ryley Carlock & Applewhite. Also in 2019, Casepoint was selected in October by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct a cloud-based eDiscovery pilot after undergoing a rigorous multi-step evaluation process. Several of the new clients have elected to standardize on Casepoint eDiscovery across the entire enterprise, which has allowed them to replace multiple tools from other vendors and/or internal tools with Casepoint’s integrated solution.

“As soon as we released a transformative upgrade of Casepoint eDiscovery last year, we experienced accelerated growth and quickly began hiring, with a particular focus on the product team,” said David Carns, Chief Revenue Officer at Casepoint. “Since then we have added multiple new features and enhancements to the platform, and plan to make additional improvements in the next few months. We are now well-positioned to respond to the rapidly increasing demand for our products and services in the year to come.”

At the end of 2019, the number of legal matters running on Casepoint had increased by 453% over 2018. To accommodate this dramatic increase in its business and prepare for additional growth in 2020, Casepoint has been busy expanding its workforce. The company now has a total of 550 employees, up from 370 in July 2019 and 45 in 2015. The product team count currently stands at 320, up from 175 in July and 15 in 2015. The focus on expanding the product team reflects Casepoint’s ongoing commitment to continual improvement and rapid responsiveness to client feedback and requests.

“The new numbers and client wins suggest that Casepoint eDiscovery running on Casepoint Platform is quickly becoming the industry standard,” said Haresh Bhungalia, Chief Executive Officer at Casepoint. “Many of our customers have switched to Casepoint from Relativity, Recommind, Case Logistix, Ipro Eclipse, Nuix, or other platforms. They made the switch to Casepoint after experiencing our platform’s industry-leading speed, its unprecedented flexibility, and extensibility, the power of fully integrated AI and the ease of managing the entire eDiscovery process within a single, user-friendly interface.”

Now in its twelfth year, Casepoint offers blazing-fast, enterprise-class tools for full-spectrum eDiscovery, including cloud collections, data processing, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, full-strength review, and customizable productions. Casepoint supports workflows across millions of documents, multiple terabytes of data, thousands of legal matters, and unlimited numbers of users.

About Casepoint
Casepoint empowers legal departments, law firms, and public agencies by providing smarter legal technology combined with award-winning client service. Casepoint eDiscovery is the fast, enterprise-class, and next-generation eDiscovery suite from Casepoint, based on more than 11 years of innovation in the industry. It is built upon Casepoint Platform, a highly scalable, secure, and configurable application environment that meets the demands of sophisticated clients within eDiscovery and beyond. Whether SaaS, on-prem, or hybrid, Casepoint eDiscovery features cloud collections, data processing, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, review, and production – all in an easy-to-use web interface. Casepoint customers benefit from the ability to support sophisticated workflows across millions of documents and hundreds of users, with custom reporting and data management tools built-in. Simple, elegant, and intuitive, Casepoint represents the next generation of litigation technology that will empower your global legal team.

Media Contact:
Shana Graham
Plat4orm PR
206-661-6336
shana@plat4orm.com

Jake Sanders and Paul Julius of the LAWsome Podcast talk legal tech and business trends in 2020. They also talk about legal project management and how to get agile and lean with Jessica Robinson, the Vice President of Client Services at Casepoint. Listen to the full podcast on thelawsomepodcast.com.

It’s the second week of a new decade and there are already new regulatory changes that have major implications for corporate legal departments. On January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) took effect requiring businesses to alter privacy policies to abide by new consumer regulations for 2020 and beyond. Piggybacking on Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), CCPA sets new rights and requirements for the distribution of California consumers’ personal information. Corporations across the country, and perhaps internationally as well, will be impacted by this new law.

Companies that adapted to GDPR, otherwise considered the new global standard for data privacy protection and undoubtedly the inspiration for CCPA, will inherently attempt to use similar protocols for CCPA compliance. Tech giants like Facebook and Google might come out unscathed using this method, because they have the means and resources to resolve issues as they arise. But other organizations, who do not have the same budget, may encounter a few hiccups at the onset. Because, while similar, there are distinctive differences between the two laws.

What is CCPA and why is it significant?

The purpose of CCPA is to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for the residents of California. It gives California residents the right to access their personal information, request that a business delete their personal information, and opt out of having their personal information disclosed or sold.

This greatly impacts an organization’s privacy policy that does business in California and satisfies the required thresholds; the implementation of CCPA will affect the way these businesses collect and manage data. It creates a morass of new processes and technologies being put into place to abide by these new procedures.

Furthermore, it opens the door for other states to pass similar legislation in the years to come, perhaps even at the federal level. So the cost of not enforcing such procedures can cost a company more later down the line due to fines. Therefore, commiting to meet these requirements now, will save money in the long run. Businesses need to be prepared to respond and adhere to such regulations now and potentially in the future.

How does CCPA differ from GDPR?

There are a number of differences between CCPA and GDPR. While they both require detailed privacy notices, the content required to meet the criteria for each differs. A privacy policy that meets GDPR requirements will not likely satisfy CCPA requirements. Additionally, the requirements and general specifics of the law differ.

Similar to GDPR, CCPA grants individuals the right to opt-out of the disclosure and sale of their personal information. This means businesses are obligated to add the opt-out option when accessing their website or mobile apps. However, CCPA does not provide all of the same consumer rights as GDPR. One of the most significant differences being that legal basis is not required for processing personal data.

Who will be most impacted by CCPA and how does this apply to the legal industry?

The implementation of CCPA will create a new and complicated world for data privacy. The biggest question is who will be the most impacted by CCPA? And the question everyone is dying to know – how does it apply to the legal industry? We will cover this and more in our next blog in this 3 part series. Stay tuned for the next blog!

Cybersecurity Law & Strategy partnered with our ALM sibling Legaltech News to ask cybersecurity and e-discovery experts what they thought the key trends were in 2019 and what they expect to see in 2020.

Cybersecurity Law & Strategy partnered with our ALM sibling Legaltech News to ask cybersecurity and e-discovery experts what they thought the key trends were in 2019 and what they expect to see in 2020. We’ll present the results in two parts: Part One covers cybersecurity; Part Two, next month, will be e-discovery.

Read the rest on Law Journal Newsletters.