More Layoffs Hit - Latham & Watkins Sack 190 Associates; 250 Staffers

From A Paralegal's Blog:

Latham & Watkins Lays Off 190 Associates, 250 Staffers

| ABA Journal - Law News Now

Posted: 27 Feb 2009 07:47 AM PST

Setting new records for layoffs, rumor has it that Latham & Watkins has let go of 190 associates and 250 staff members. However, they are offering an unheard-of severance package that includes six months' salary and medical coverage, capped at $100,000. The cuts are 12 percent of the firm's associates and 10 percent of paralegal and other staff. New York and Los Angeles offices were hit the hardest.

(Source: ABA Journal - Law News Now)

Handy Helper Product Review

(photo from Law Technology Review)

Law Technology Review just posted a product review written by Donna Payne (of the Payne Consulting Group here in our hometown of Seattle, WA) for the "Handy Helper" projector - made by Dell.

The projector weighs less than a pound and is tiny at 3.64 x 4.12 x 1.46 inche - Donna points out that many wallets are bigger than the size of this piece of technology. It is plug-and-play compatible with USB ports, erasing fears and concerns of having it work when you need it for a big presentation.

Check out Donna's full review here.

Washington's Own Governor Gregoire's lawyer recommended for U.S attorney

SEATTLE -- Washington's U.S. senators have recommended that Gov. Chris Gregoire's longtime counsel, Jenny Durkan, be named the top federal prosecutor in Western Washington.

Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell suggested Durkan for Seattle U.S. attorney in a Feb. 12 letter to the White House, according to a copy provided Wednesday by Murray's office. The senators also recommended Michael Ormsby, a Spokane lawyer, to be U.S. attorney in Eastern Washington.

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Professional organization of the week: Women in eDiscovery

Women in eDiscovery was founded on May 2, 2007. Since that launch, Women in eDiscovery has grown internationally to more than 1,800 members with new members from all over the world joining daily. At present time, there are more than 20 Chapters with regular meetings with new Chapters forming monthly.

The Founders of The Women in eDiscovery, (Shawnna Childress, Lana Schell and Margaret Havinga) envisioned an organization with no barriers for any woman to enter so membership is free and monthly meetings include your meal and education at no charge. If you are interested in joining, please register.

Please click here for the organization's Charity Events page.

Practical eDiscovery Blog

We found a new eDiscovery Blog to track: Practical EDiscovery (published by Hinshaw and Culbertson). This looks to be a great addition and resource for those in the industry.

Professional Association: Alliance of Legal Document Assistant Professionals

The Alliance of Legal Document Assistant Professionals (ALDAP) is comprised of experienced legal professionals who have joined forces to boost consumer protection and increase the professional integrity of the Legal Document Assistant (LDA) and paralegal professions. To achieve these goals, ALDAP offers continuing education opportunities, requires strict compliance with the laws governing the LDA and paralegal professions, and promotes awareness of the LDA’s role, both within the legal community and among the general public.

TERIS Launches DiscoverLegalJobs.com - A Free Job Board For The Legal Industry

For Immediate Release

TERIS Launches DiscoverLegalJobs.com -
A Free Job Board For The Legal Industry

New Web-based resource is ideal for cost-conscious law firms and corporations by eliminating job posting fees, which can be hundreds of dollars on most job sites

Seattle, WA - Jan. 28, 2009 – As a way to say thank you to the legal community that has helped TERIS grow to become one of the leading litigation support firms in the Western US over the past 13 years, the Seattle-based firm launched a free legal industry job board today: DiscoverLegalJobs.com (www.discoverlegaljobs.com).

TERIS, which provides sophisticated litigation support to law firms and corporate legal teams, also wanted a way to help companies and many professionals in the legal profession struggling during the national economic crisis. This week alone, companies across the US have announced plans to sack more than 10,000 employees. Employers and job seekers throughout major markets in the United States can post and look for jobs for free on DiscoverLegalJobs.com – no strings attached. The site features a wide range of full-time, temporary and freelance positions, from attorneys to legal secretaries to paralegals to clerkships. DiscoverLegalJobs.com currently has over 1000 jobs to choose from, with more being added every day.

“In these tough economic times, we wanted to make it easier for law firms and related companies to connect with job seekers,” said Stefan Wikstrom, TERIS founder and CEO. “Many job board sites charge more than $300 to post a single job – we want to help our friends in the industry by launching a site and making it free for everyone.”

“We were also looking for a way to say thank you to the hundreds of companies that have helped make us the leading legal services and eDiscovery firm in the Western U.S., and offering a free service like this seemed natural,” he added.

TERIS, (previously known as ALC Legal Technologies, Duplex Legal Discovery Solutions, and Digital Discovery Solutions), has six offices in four states, and employs more than 275. Wikstrom started the firm with a single copier in 1996, and was among the first to recognize that sophisticated technology would dramatically alter the legal support industry.

Media Contact: David Kaufer, Director of Marketing, 425-275-8814; 206-521-8717 or dkaufer@discoverteris.com

###

ABOUT TERIS


Founded in 1996, TERIS (previously known as ALC Legal Technologies, Duplex Legal Discovery Solutions, and Digital Discovery Solutions), provides legal support and sophisticated eDiscovery solutions to law firms and corporate legal teams across the U.S. and internationally. TERIS’ staff of 275 was named one of the top 20 eDiscovery service providers by industry researcher Socha-Gelbmann in 2008. The company operates a free job board for the legal profession at www.discoverlegaljobs.com and has offices in Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Phoenix and Austin. To learn more about TERIS, visit http://www.discoverteris.com

Leading eDiscovery Firm Changes its Name to TERIS After 13 Years, 6 New Offices and 3 Different Names

(In case you missed it)

For Immediate Release

Leading eDiscovery Firm Changes its Name to TERIS
After 13 Years, 6 New Offices and 3 Different Names

Company Grows From One Employee and Copy Machine to
Top Tech-Driven E-Discovery Firm in the Western US

Seattle, WA – February 2, 2009 – It began 13 years ago in Seattle in a small office with a single copy machine and one employee. The company steadily grew in its home market and expanded into other areas including the San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Phoenix, and Austin. The company that began as American Legal Copy has grown to become the leading litigation support and eDiscovery services company in the Western United States, with more than 275 employees across six offices.

The company recently decided that the time was right for an important change that better signifies its core technology strengths and unites the offices under a new name - TERIS.

TERIS, which provides sophisticated e-discovery services to law firms and corporate legal teams, has grown organically and through industry-leading partnerships, with offices in four states. Its clients include many of the largest and most prestigious law firms and Fortune 500 companies in the country.

“We have seen an explosion in the demand for our eDiscovery services as legal professionals adapt to new federal requirements in this area,” said Stefan Wikstrom, Founder and CEO of TERIS. “Corporations and law firms alike require technological expertise to maneuver through the mountains of electronic and paper-based documents that come with the growing number of lawsuits stemming from the recent financial industry turmoil. We expect this growth to continue as we build one of the strongest eDiscovery teams in the industry. ”

Wikstrom was among the first to recognize that sophisticated technologies would dramatically alter the legal support industry. He has since invested more than $1 million in litigation support technologies, including eDiscovery, document hosting, and digital forensics. TERIS has the power to process more than 63 million pages a week or the equivalent of one terabyte every two days. According to a study conducted by UC-Berkeley, roughly 50,000 trees would be required to create enough paper to hold a terabyte of information.

TERIS partners with leading technology providers, including IPRO Tech, Inc. and Clearwell Systems, Inc., to provide a broad range of eDiscovery services; such as culling through information to discover critical case facts in only hours or days, instead of days and weeks, as well as quickly eliminating irrelevant data. TERIS’ services range from sophisticated consulting, computer forensics and eDiscovery, document imaging, case repositories/hosting, and traditional services.

By outsourcing electronic and paper-based document management to TERIS, law firms and corporate legal teams realize significant savings and are confident they will receive the best solutions to match their specific needs. By using TERIS, law firms and corporate legal departments avoid buying expensive computer servers to host mountains of data that tie up their IT department’s resources, significantly reduce the time required to sift through electronic files, and save on wasted billable hours managing document reviews.

TERIS is uniquely positioned to address new challenges and opportunities within the emerging eDiscovery and related markets.

Media Contact: David Kaufer, Director of Marketing, (206) 521-8717 or mailto:dkaufer@discoverteris.com

###

ABOUT TERIS


Founded in 1996, TERIS (previously known as ALC Legal Technologies, DupLEX Legal Discovery Solutions, and Digital Discovery Solutions), provides legal support and sophisticated eDiscovery solutions to law firms and corporate legal teams across the U.S. and internationally. TERIS’ staff of more than 275 was named one of the top 20 eDiscovery service providers by industry researcher Socha-Gelbmann in 2008.
TERIS currently has offices in Seattle, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Phoenix, and Austin. The company operates a free job board for the legal community at www.discoverlegaljobs.com

To learn more about TERIS, visit www.discoverteris.com

Guidance Software eDiscovery Lawsuit Demonstrates Challenges for its Clients

Fascinating story on AP: Guidance Software Inc. bills itself as the leading provider of technology that helps companies dig up old e-mails and other electronic documents that might be evidence in a lawsuit. Yet when Guidance itself had to face a judge, it was accused of bumbling its internal digital search.

Whether Guidance intentionally hid documents or just couldn't find them is a matter of dispute. The company said it did all that was required. But its inability to cough up certain e-mails, even over several months, led an arbitrator to accuse it of gross negligence and proceeding in bad faith.

At the very least, the case shows how thorny electronic evidence searches can be, even for a specialist.

The full AP story can be found here.

FAA suffers massive data breach; more than 45,000 affected

The Federal Aviation Administration has notified employees that one of its computers was hacked, and the personally identifiable information of more than 45,000 employees and retirees was stolen electronically. All affected employees will receive individual letters to notify them about the breach, the FAA said Feb. 9.

Federal Computer Week

Legal Problems With Social Networks?

Attention all legal professionals - blogger and attorney Frederick Abramsom points out some legal perils to joining and participating in social networks. He makes some interesting points and should give all some cause to consider. Here at TERIS we just launched our own Facebook pages and also participate actively in LinkedIn and Twitter. So far, no problems of note (indeed we have enjoyed expanding our professional network and using the tools to help expand our communication programs) but we will take these warnings to heart.

Avoiding Sanctions in Ediscovery

White Paper: In today’s society, the storage of documents is increasingly in electronic form. To search these documents requires some knowledge of technology and the best application of this technology to find the important facts in the tsunami of electronic information.

The complete paper can be found on the TERIS website or JDSupra.com

New Find: A Paralegal's Blog

We just came across this incredibly well organized blog for the Paralegal Community (appropriately named "A Paralegal's Blog"). It includes personal stories and bios of others in the profession, professional tips and news from the industry. Definitely worth checking out and following if you are a Paralegal.

ONSITE3 Files for Reorganization and Plans to Be Acquired by Integreon

ONSITE^3(TM), a leading global provider of electronic evidence solutions for law firms and corporations, today announced that it has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, and that it plans to be acquired by Integreon (www.integreon.com), the global leader of knowledge and legal process outsourcing (KPO and LPO). The Company also announced today that Integreon has completed the acquisition of ONSITE³'s outstanding pre-bankruptcy secured debt and has agreed to provide debtor-in-possession financing to assure ONSITE³’s continued operation throughout the reorganization process.

The full announcement can be found here.