Evaluating Search and Retrieval Tools in Electronic Discovery

Listen to Karl Schieneman, Director of Legal Analytics at JurInnov moderate a discussion on the differences between search engines and search and retrieval strategy. Participants include Michael McGuire, E-Discovery Counsel at Am Law 100 law firm Littler Mendelson based in Minneapolis, MN and Adam Cohen, Sr. Managing Director – Technology in the New York office of FTI’s Technology Consulting practice. Listen to these two experts as they wade into a field where only angels will tread according to Judge Facciola.

Adam I. Cohen is a senior managing director in the New York office of FTI’s Technology Consulting practice. Mr. Cohen is a nationally recognized expert in electronic discovery and electronic information management policy issues, who advises on planning and implementation issues associated with every phase of electronic discovery in litigations and investigations as well as electronic information management policies and practices. Prior to joining FTI, Mr. Cohen was a litigation partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, where he represented major corporate clients in complex litigation involving computer and Internet-related issues. He is co-author (with Weil partner David J. Lender) of the treatise Electronic Discovery: Law and Practice (Aspen Publishers), which already has been cited as authority in several landmark electronic discovery opinions by Federal Courts. His latest book, ESI Handbook: Sources, Technology and Process provides a comprehensive guide to Electronic Discovery for non-technical practitioners.

Mr. Cohen is co-chair of the Electronic Discovery committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Federal and Commercial Litigation Section, a member of the Advisory Board of the Georgetown Law Center E-Discovery Institute, and a member of the board of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. He is admitted to practice in the courts of the State of New York, as well as the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.

Mr. McGuire is a Shareholder and member of the AmLaw 100 law firm Littler Mendelson’s eDiscovery group. Mr. McGuire advises the Firm’s lawyers and their clients on electronic discovery issues, including the preservation, collection, review, and production of electronically stored information. Littler is one of the first firms in the country to hire attorneys at the shareholder level to focus exclusively on working with clients in the challenging area of electronic discovery, reinforcing the firm’s commitment to providing its clients with leading-edge solutions in this rapidly developing area.

Prior to joining Littler, Mr. McGuire was the Managing Director, Legal Operations for the mortgage division of GMAC. While at GMAC, he lead a cross-functional team that preserves, collects, processes, and searches electronically stored information in litigation.

Before joining GMAC, he was a partner in the litigation and corporate departments at the Minneapolis firm of Rider, Bennett. While at Rider, Bennett, Mr. McGuire focused his practice on the legal issues arising from the intersection of technology and law, including electronic discovery, privacy and Internet issues.

This show will generally discuss the different types of search tools that are out there and why they all operate differently. We will discuss some fairly granular issues which the unwary might not notice when relying on a search engine to find everything. Topics we will discuss include the differences between search engines, how search engines operate, the role stop words play within search engines, to what extent hiring search experts is required, strategies for deduplicating documents, how to store data in your search engine, wading through misspelled words, variants and synonyms, the issue of saving accurate time zone metadata in ESI, different quality control steps for review, how to evaluate different search engines, and where these two experts believe the field of search will be heading in the next few years. This should be a very interesting show.

Recorded 07/01/2009