Better Discovery

If you are interested in becoming an ESI Special Master, you might want to attend the E-Discovery Dispute Resolution Program For Special Masters & Mediators in January 28-29, 2010.

The training program is designed for experienced special masters,
mediators, arbitrators, and other legal and commercial dispute
resolution professionals (and those desiring to be such) who are
involved in – or anticipate involvement in – disputes in which the
preservation, collection, review, management, or evaluation of
electronically stored information will likely be an important issue or
issues.

Not sure about this, but it could be really beneficial. Two organizations have announced certification programs this week.

The Posse List Certification

The Posse List keeps growing and growing!

All programs will be free to participants.

We launch this program with the Catalyst CR Certified Reviewers program (CRCR), the certification program for Catalayst CR (for information on the software click here) which is gaining significant market share and being requested by many corporations and law firms due to its many options and easy programmability, and its multi-language capabilities.

The live certification program will be held in Washington, DC on October 7th and it will be hosted by ClutchLegal. Participants in the CRCR will be trained on review using the CR Assigned Review Module and take an examination, testing them on their knowledge of review using Catalyst CR. Those who pass the exam receive the status of Catalyst CR Certified Reviewer.

Organization of Legal Professionals

There’s a bigger story here, not sure what it is from the website (weird URL), but here’s the basics:

The Organization of Legal Professionals is a non-profit association dedicated to setting standards and certifications through collaboration, education and certifications.

Membership is open to anyone who is interested in furthering the profession. The OLP is comprised of some of the top legal authorities, spokespersons and educators in the legal field. The first mission of the organization is to establish generally accepted standards and certification in e-discovery. Additionally, OLP seeks to provide a collaborative forum to disseminate information, educational opportunities and opportunities in the legal field.

Here’s the deep bench they’re working from:

The OLP is honored and pleased to announce the 2009 Board of Governors:
(For more information about our Board, please see Biographies.)

Arnold Blair
Sr. Staff Attorney, WilmerHale, New York, NY

The Hon. Mark J. Cavanagh
Michigan Second District Court of Appeals

Kunoor Chopra, Esq.
President & CEO, LawScribe, Los Angeles, CA

Peter Del Valle
Complex Case Manager, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Los Angeles, CA

Jeff Fowler
Partner, O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Los Angeles, CA

Ron Friedmann
Sr. Vice President, Integreon, Arlington, VA

Professor Jay Grenig
University of Marquette School of Law, Milwaukee, WI

Nick Hariton, Esq.
Managing Director & Counsel, Imaging Presentation Partners, Los Angeles, CA

Anne Kershaw
A.Kershaw P.C. Attorneys & Consultants, Tarrytown, NY

Linda A. Klein
Managing Shareholder, Georgia Offices, Baker Donelson, Berman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C., Atlanta, GA
Past President, State Bar of Georgia

Shannon Capone Kirk E-Discovery Counsel, Ropes & Gray. Boston, MA

Browning Marean
Partner, DLA Piper, San Diego, CA

Toni Marsh, Esq.
Director of Paralegal Studies, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Douglass Mitchell
Counsel, Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, Las Vegas, NV

Nigel Murray
Managing Director, TRILANTIC, London, England

Tom O’Connor Legal Electronic Document Institute, New Orleans, LA

Patrick Oot
General Counsel, Verizon Communications, Richmond, VA

Herb Roitblat, Ph.D.
CEO, OrcaTec, Los Angeles, CA

Joseph C. Scott, J.D.
General Manager, CompuLaw/Deadlines-on-Demand, Los Angeles, CA

Eddie Sheehy CEO, Nuix, Sydney, Australia

Charles Skamser
CEO, EDiscovery Solutions Group, Boise, Idaho

Madison S. Spach, Jr.
Spach, Capaldi & Waggaman LLP, Newport Beach, CA

Christy K. Stouffer
Director of Practice Support Services, Patton Boggs LLP, Washington, DC

Joe Thorpe Managing Director, International Litigation Services, Los Angeles, CA

Karen Willenken
Counsel, Skadden Arps, New York, NY

The Advisory Council

Henry Alonso, Complex Case Director, Dept. of the Treasury, Washington, DC
Donald Billings, West Coast Manager Litigation Support Practice, Sidley & Austin, San Francisco, CA
Mary Buker, Principal, Litigation Technology & Consulting, Inc., Austin, TX Ted Brooks, President, Litigation-Tech LLC, San Francisco, CA
Kevin Chern, Esq., CEO, Total Attorneys Practice Management Association, Chicago, IL
John Finlay, Business Development Executive, XactData, New York, NY
Oliver Gierke, Litigation Case Manager, White & Case, NewYork, NY
Debra Hindin-King, Litigation Paralegal, Holland & Hart, Denver, CO
Conrad Jacoby, Esq., Attorney & Consultant, Efficient EDD, Washington, DC
Nancy Jensen, Sr. Litigation Analyst, Reed Smith LLP, San Francisco, CA
Anne Kemp, Principal, Litigation Support Management, Sacramento, CA
Julie LaBoe, Editor-in-Chief, LegalTechbase.com, Peterborough, NH
Danielle Marbury, Litigation Support Trainer, WilmerHale, New York, NY
Dr. Robert Mongue, Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi Legal Studies, Oxford, MI Julie Parker, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Washington, DC/Parker Litigation Services, Flagler, FL
Jim Parrish, Principal, Studeo Legal, Ft. Worth, TX
Bonita Paul, Human Resources Director, MilbankTweed, Los Angeles, CA
Janet Powell, Case Manager, Olgetree Deakins, Miami, FL
Jason Primuth, Principal, Unfair Advantage, Menlo Park, CA
Kate J. Rorrer. Senior Manager, Practice Services, Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, San Francisco, CA Dana Schultz, Attorney at Law, Bay Area, CA
Dave Tiller, Principal, Studeo Legal, Phoenix, AZ

The Board of Directors and Co-Founding Members

Harriet Cohen, M.Ed., Executive Director
Judy Estrin, M.A., Chief Operating Officer
Tom Lenzo, M.Ed., Chief Learning Officer

Dialexica Programs Coming Too!

Stay tuned for the Dialexica Tech Awards and Agile Lawyer Training Programs!

IBM has introduced new features in IBM InfoSphere eDiscovery Manager and IBM InfoSphere eDiscovery Analyzer. They include enhanced early case assessment functionality, extended support for additional types of electronically stored information (ESI) content, and open application programming interfaces (APIs) for partner solution integration.

The system is described on Knowledge Management World.

Here’s the IBM press release.