There was a time when the managed review portion of e-discovery projects—or “document review,” as it’s colloquially known to those who practice it—was conducted exclusively in the dowdy back rooms of legal staffing agencies. Teams of attorneys hired on contract would sit at laminate classroom-style tables, usually shoulder to shoulder and often amid clutter, scrolling through hundreds of electronic files a day. It was understood, but still repeated on every review, that all work took place inside that room to safeguard clients’ confidential information.

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Continue Reading Civil litigation increasingly embraces remote e-discovery

On July 24th Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed the first in a series of laws aimed at drastically limiting the powers of the country’s Supreme Court. Members of the opposition walked out in protest at the final reading of the law, which passed 64-0 in the 120-strong chamber.

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Continue Reading A blow against Israel’s Supreme Court plunges the country into crisis

We all know the original architecture of jury trials had its flaws. But thanks to jury trial caretakers, trial customs and practices inherited from the British have evolved, especially recently, to meet modern circumstances. This progression of reforms stems from litigation doctrines, empirical studies from the legal academy and social sciences, courageous members of bench and bar who undertake innovative pilot projects, and policymakers who introduce and enact enlightened proposals.

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Continue Reading Jury Trial Innovations 1990 to Present: A Call to Action

A lack of judges, and, in many states, a shortage of other staff needed to keep courts going, are clogging the system. Tim McGoughran, head of New Jersey’s bar association, says that pre-pandemic, most divorce cases going to trial did so within a year. Now some are entering their third or fourth year. For the past three years, the court system has operated with an average of more than 60 judicial vacancies.

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Continue Reading Judge and staff shortages are leaving Americans in limbo: Many are not getting their day in court

I’ve yet to find a judge or anyone else who disagrees with my opinion that our country is more divided now than at any time since the Civil War. Disagreement is to be expected in a democracy. The problem is how we disagree. Simple disputes turn into screaming matches. Protests turn into violence. We no longer see someone with a different perspective—we see some thing that must be shouted down and defeated. It was an 18th-century English aristocrat, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who said, “Civility costs nothing and buys everything.” But that accounting seems lost on modern society.

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Continue Reading When It Comes to Civility in Court, It’s Do or Die