Almost everyone is familiar with the term “Blog”, which is a combination of the words “weB” and “LOG”. Not so familiar is the term “Blawg” which is a humorous play on words and refers to blogs about legal matters, normally written by lawyers, law students or law professors.
So which type am I writing? Good question. Well, obviously I was a law student (but I have no desire to relive that experience or the stress that accompanies taking the California bar exam). Now, I’m a lawyer (mom is very proud – oh, and mom, I wouldn’t make any bets on my ever becoming a professor…). But prior to that, my area of expertise had been exclusively technology – with an emphasis on the legal aspects of compliance, policies and procedures.
That’s the thing about e-discovery. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde; part law, part technology.
On the one hand, it’s a pure extension of civil procedure law; for those who haven’t had the pleasure, civil procedure is like a combination of law and algebra – and I was hardly a fan of algebra. At least it isn’t property law. Don’t even get me started on property law – if anyone mentions the “rule against perpetuities” I tend to break out in hives…
On the other hand, one absolutely cannot address an e-discovery issue without some very competent people in the IT department getting involved. Now, these are two groups that don’t tend to mix together well since they speak different languages.
But right now, all over the nation, an executive is calling the head of the Legal Department and asking, “Bob, what are you doing to prepare us for all of these new e-discovery rules?” and then Bob is placing a call to the CIO or the CTO and asking, “Steve, what are you doing to prepare us for all of these new e-discovery rules?”. Hopefully, Steve has someone he can call…most likely Steve will be calling me – or someone like me.
This site will be a great resource for both the legal and technology professional who is tasked with unraveling this very complex discipline. Luckily, I speak both languages.
