e-Discovery Team

I am excited to tell you about the ABA’s publication of my second book: Introduction to E-Discovery: New Cases, Ideas, and Techniques. Here is a link to the ABA webstore where the book can be purchased online. It should be shipped in the next few weeks and in the meantime you can order it at a 15% discount. I have not seen the final bound version myself, but it looks like it will come in at just over 300 pages. Check out the cool cover I got this time. Believe it or not, it took me a few minutes to see the “e.”

If you have read all of my blogs since the Fall of 2007, then you have already read most of this book. But if you missed some, or just want to see what it looks like in a “dead tree” version, then order a copy. The blogs have been rearranged into proper subject matter order with a Table of Contents, Index, Table of Authorities, etc. The book includes not only my blogs, but that of two blog contributors in 2008, Jason Baron and Michael Simon. It also includes many of the comments that blog readers have posted publicly.

Although I am a fairly plugged-in person, own a Kindle and all that, I still like paper books too. Ken Withers would call me “protodigital.” A book like this does in fact makes for a handy three-dimensional reference. Also, perhaps you have some friends that are not yet “blog-reading” types, but might read or at least consult a more traditional book? How about your law firm or company library, etc? You get the picture. If you can help me get the word out about the book, or buy it yourself, I would greatly appreciate it.

The truth is, the people who need to read this material the most are not among my regular e-Discovery Team blog readers. In fact, they barely read anything online. They have probably heard of blogs, but just dismiss them “humorously” as part of the “blogosphere” where they suspect only wild-eyed crazies would spend any time. Yes, we bloggers are still the “Rodney Dangerfields” of the established Bar. But these same lawyers do respect books, especially books by the American Bar Association. That is why I put tons of hours each week into researching and writing a blog, and even more hours each Fall to turn them into a book. My hope is that this digital-to-paper effort will bring the latest news and ideas about e-discovery to a wide audience, not just the elite leadership of e-discovery, by which, of course, I am referring to you!

Apparently the ABA was hit up by many subject-matter-experts this year who wanted the ABA to publish a book they either proposed or had already written on e-discovery. Their selection of my book, for a second year in a row, was by no means a foregone conclusion. The ABA quite rightly insisted it be peer reviewed first. It passed. Also, the fact that my first book was a best seller for the ABA, received great reviews, and was cited (thank you all), did not hurt either.

Introduction to E-Discovery: New Cases, Ideas, and Techniques, much like my first book, e-Discovery: Current Trends and Cases, is designed to make e-discovery approachable and interesting. It is, I have been told, a pretty good orientation for students of all ages and backgrounds.  It is my hope that this second book, like the first, will be used by laws schools and paralegal training schools around the country as a basic text, along with others, on this exciting and important new subject.

Here is what the good folks at the ABA, who are, by the way, prone to exaggeration, have written to promote my new book:

About the Book In the follow up to his acclaimed, best selling book, E-discovery: Current Trends and Cases, author Ralph Losey once again examines the ever-changing world of electronic discovery, and goes on to explain the latest trends and cases effecting e-discovery in an easy-to-understand manner. This new book is derived from a popular Internet blog on an e-discovery by a senior attorney at a large national law firm and includes readers comments on the materials in the book, and the authors replies straight from the author’s Blog.Introduction to e-Discovery: New Cases, Ideas, and Techniques begins with a fundamental premise that teams are the most efficient and effective way to do e-discovery. An e-Discovery team is an interdisciplinary group of lawyers and IT technicians, usually joined by one or more representatives of business management. The book explains in a step-by-step fashion how this team should be assembled, and how the various tasks of electronic discovery can be more easily accomplished using the team.   In addition the book examines: ” Self-organization and development of evidence preservation protocols ” New articles of interest on e-discovery teams ” The future of e-discovery suggested by a recent litigation survey ” How negligent e-records management is creating stunning business risks ” E-discovery at the Harvard Club in New York City ” New California proposals for e-discovery laws ” The conflict between our rules of discovery and the privacy laws of the rest of the world ” The limitations of checklists and how to work best using them, and much, much more! Importantly, the book discusses two new e-discovery guides for judges and how everyone involved in e-discovery, not just judges, should become familiar with them.  No one can operate effectively in the court rooms of tomorrow without a good understanding of wheres, hows and whys of digital evidence. As a cover-to-cover read to learn more about the hot topics and latest case law in e-discovery, this book can help provide that understanding. After a read through, this book can be used as a reference, with its appendix of useful reference materials to look up cases and arguments to use in daily practice.  Introduction to e-Discovery is written in an easy-to-read style, making it perfect for anyone interested in e-discovery. This book is suitable for non-lawyers, too, including paralegals, law students, IT experts, and executives of all kinds in the growing fields of e-discovery and information management. Nothing is having a more profound effect on the field of law today than e-discovery. Make sure you stay on top of the latest trends with this important new book.

What Others Are Saying “Ralph Losey’s newest book provides deep and useful insights into the rapidly changing world of electronic discovery. A must read for bench and bar alike.”–Browning E. Marean, DLA Piper, LLP     “This expert advice is worth its weight in gold, and goes far beyond mere technical expertise. …required reading for anyone who wants to learn this emerging area, avoid malpractice, steer clear of ethical problems, and importantly, win the case at the least expense.” –George Paul, Author, and Partner, Lewis & Roca    “Once again Ralph Losey nails the current status of E-Discovery law. It’s an entertaining and legally substantive guide, which all lawyers would benefit from reading. I will use it as my first stop in finding relevant case law and highlighting problem areas and disparate opinions in this ever-growing field of law.”  –Shannon Capone Kirk, E-Discovery Counsel, Ropes & Gray, LLP   “Ralph has done it again! His second “blook” is undoubtedly one of the most thorough, understandable, candid, and enjoyable resources addressing e-discovery I have ever picked up.” –Sherry B. Harris, E-Discovery Advisor, Hunton & Williams LLP

My sincere thanks goes to the many people who helped make this second book possible, including especially my family, friends, law firm, kind reviewers, contributors, and you, my readers.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at 11:47 am and is filed under Evidence, Forensic Exam, Lawyers Duties, Metadata, New Rules, Related Legal Webs, Review, Search, Spoliation/Sanctions, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.