An Animated View of Lawyers at a Rule 26(f) Conference

I made this animated cartoon while watching the Oscars this weekend. The idea has been brewing in my head for a while. I wanted to make a video, hopefully a funny one with some creativity, that shows the positive power of e-discovery skills and knowledge. I am trying to show what can happen when a properly trained attorney meets a typical e-discovery illiterate.

The young e-discovery Zen master here puts his superior knowledge and skills in the art of strategic cooperation to good use. In just a few minutes he gained a strong advantage for his client. He put the defense in a good position to use e-discovery to win the case.

I’m sorry, but the truth is, most attorneys today are like the clueless plaintiff’s counsel in this vignette. They do not talk about electronic discovery at all, even though the federal rules say they should. They avoid it. They fear it, primarily because they are untrained, and do not  know what to do. If opposing counsel brings it up, you are likely to get the kind of reaction you see in this video.

By the way, my e-discovery team training program does not include the advance Jedi mind control techniques shown here. The training does, however, include Rule 26(f) and the preservation and form of production issues discussed in the video. Of course, a real 26(f) counsel meeting would include many more topics, but I have to keep these videos relatively short. If you like it, please pass it on to your friends and colleagues. It is easy to find and share it on YouTube.  While you are there, you might check out my whole collection of videos and cartoons at http://www.youtube.com/user/ralphlosey.