Every year, ACEDS hosts more than 100 webinars on dozens of topics related to e-discovery and broader issues related to legal technology. In this blog series, we welcome ACEDS’ marketing specialist Kelly Bauer, who summarizes the previous month’s webcasts. There’s no shortage of educational content – tune in live or on-demand.
ACEDS hosted educational webinars on a variety of e-discovery topics in May, from a survey on how regulators conduct investigations to a Q&A on the first international CEDS certification. Each webinar explores the legal technology industry, as guests shared their perspective and experience in the growing world of e-discovery.
All webinars are free to attend and recorded for ACEDS members to watch on-demand. Read highlights from May’s events below and access them on-demand for further education. Join us live on the ACEDS webinar channel for all our upcoming webinars.
May 6: The Regulators Are Coming: How Legal Teams Can Get Ready
Webinar guests:
Ari Kaplan, Principal, Ari Kaplan Advisors
Stu Clarke, Regional Director of Northern Europe, Nuix
To gain insight into how regulatory investigations are conducted, Nuix surveyed and interviewed 31 regulators across 18 countries. Using this gathered information, a report was created with suggestions for best practices of interacting with regulators, preferred technological protocols, and primary enforcement strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted these findings and current trends in regulation.
Stu Clarke stated that Nuix finds truth in data and considers the challenges associated. With data volume increases accelerated by the pandemic, organizations have found new challenges in collecting data. Regulators recognized how this impacts their work, with one saying “COVID-19 has put more financial pressure on firms because it is very easy to do the right thing when things are going well, but it is much more difficult to do the right things when things are going badly.”
Data on social media and the cloud is always moving and spreading. It requires a different approach to access the information and many sites take an anti-regulatory stance. Ari Kaplan and Clarke referred to mobile devices as a “minefield” and discussed how they are a gateway to other data on the web.
Perceptions of regulators have changed as they incorporate new technology and make processes more efficient. In the legal community, there is a wide recognition that it is helpful to learn tools and technology used by regulators and other organizations.
Download the complete Nuix report and watch this webinar, now available on-demand.
May 18: Cloud-Based Legal Holds and Ediscovery in a COVID World and Beyond
Webinar guests:
Barbara Estrada, Senior Litigation Paralegal, Kaiser Permanente
Jennifer Bantelman, CEDS, Senior Director, Solutions Engineering, Zapproved
Michael Nguyen, Associate Director, Morae Global
The pandemic changed how law firms function and increased the complexity of managing litigation. Organizations had to modernize processes to keep up with these operations, with many making the switch to a cloud-based approach. The webinar guests examine the benefits of a cloud-based system and the process of making this significant change.
Michael Nguyen noted the unity between IT and legal departments that occurs when shifting to the cloud; security, infrastructure, and support are three things that IT departments prefer. This change strengthens all three while also allowing the IT and legal departments to see both sides of the e-discovery process. Jennifer Bantelman noted that it was easier to adopt processes where everyone has access to the same pool of information.
All three guests worked together on the project for Kaiser Permanente to move to a cloud-based system. The foundation for this was a four-step approach: increase centralization, streamline process, engage and manage stakeholders, and legacy and active data migration. Kaiser had an advantage of working with Morae Global for this process, as their experience gave them the background information needed. Morae had the questions Kaiser needed to ask and found the answers along the way.
As with all their projects, Morae ended this shift by doing a test run of the new platform. Transferring legal hold processes to the cloud is a large task for legal firms; doing a scenario-based test is necessary to ensure the program works and is accessible to the team.
Learn more about cloud-based legal holds from this webinar, now available on-demand.
May 19: Automating Privacy and eDiscovery Workflows: Operational Excellence as a Service
Webinar guests:
Jonathan Flood, Director of EU Discovery Ops, HaystackID
Susanna Blancke, Director of EU Litigation and Client Services, HaystackID
Jennifer Hamilton, Deputy GC for Global Discovery and Privacy, HaystackID
David Wallack, DPO, HaystackID
E-discovery projects have a sense of urgency, often with rapid responses needed and a short timeline. Taking the time to automate these processes is worth an organization’s time and offers quality results. Knowing what programs are worthwhile to invest in takes research and time. Proper training is also needed for these systems to fit in an organization and correctly function.
The first step in automating e-discovery workflows is recognizing automation considerations and legal challenges. Breach review is a function that can be automated and reduces time spent on these high-volume projects. When there is a large set of data and documents, there are many access points for breaching. There has been a rise in recent attacks and reports, making this a place of opportunity for organizations to automate to save costs and resources.
When it comes to collection and processing tools, finding the one that works and letting the technology do what it does best is the key. If an organization takes time and consideration to implement the right tools, they will operate in the way intended. The webinar guests point out that working with a third party or an outside counsel can be the best way to keep track of risks and define the process.
Operational excellence is working proactively to make legal decisions. Learn more about finding opportunities in workflows by watching this webinar.
May 25: CEDS Canada Q&A
Webinar guests:
Ann Halkett, CEDS, Manager of eDiscovery Services, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP
Carolyn Anger, CEDS, Senior Director, Consilio Canada
Gretel Best, CEDS, Manager of Litigation Support & eDiscovery, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP
Mike Quartararo, CEDS,President, ACEDS
May was an exciting month for ACEDS as it marked the launch of the first international Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS) Certification and training. The CEDS Canada beta exam is now being offered through August 1 for a 50% reduced cost for the gold standard in e-discovery education. This webinar featured a panel of legal professionals from Canada who have all been CEDS certified. Their answers and experiences demonstrate the impact of the CEDS Certification on their careers.
An attendee asked, “what kind of job profiles or career prospects can someone with a CEDS Certification look for in the legal industry?” Carolyn Anger answered that CEDS is a great way to upgrade your current skillset, giving you the ammunition for a new direction in the legal industry or a promotion. Certification should not be seen as the finish line, but as a new starting point. The test is designed with a wide audience in mind, including lawyers, paralegals, litigation support, and more.
Another question was about how CEDS Canada differs from the USA version, and if the program includes differing legal procedures based on provinces. CEDS Canada covers the full spectrum of Canadian law and practice, noting differences and ethical rules across the country.
Visit the ACEDS website for more information about CEDS Canada and watch the Q&A to hear all answers from our guest panel.
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