Category Archives: Personal

Dig We Must: Get It in Writing

24 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by in E-Discovery, Personal

≈ 5 Comments

This isn’t a post about e-discovery per se, but it bears on process and integrity issues we face in cooperating to craft e-discovery expectations.  Still, it’s more parable than parallel.

My home in New Orleans sits at the intersection of two narrow streets built for horse and mule traffic.  It’s held its corner ground since 1881, serving as abattoir, ancestral home of a friend and now, my foot on the ground in the Big Easy.  New Orleanians are the friendliest folks.  You can strike up a spirited tête-à-tête with anyone since everyone has something to say about food, festivals, Saints football, Mardi Gras, the Sewage and Water Board and the gross ineptitude of local government in its abject failure to deliver streets and sidewalks that don’t swallow you whole or otherwise conspire to kill or maim the populace.

That’s not to say the City does nothing in the way of maintaining infrastructure.  Right now, New Orleans is replacing its low-pressure gas lines with high pressure lines.  Gas is a big deal where everyone eats red beans on Mondays, but it’s also useful for heating and, even now—still—for lighting.  So, every street must have new subterranean lines installed and new risers brought to gas meters.  I knew nothing of this until I awoke to find a crew with an excavator on my property destroying the curbs and antique brick sidewalks I’d lately installed at considerable expense. Continue reading →

Apple Card: Heavy Metal

03 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by in General Technology Posts, Personal, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

IMG_4773I just got my Apple Card and, while I hardly need another credit card, I thought readers might be curious what the fuss is about. After all, it’s just a credit card, right?

Right, but it has some fancy features that set it apart from the other plastic in your wallet or purse.  First, it’s scarily easy to obtain.  On my iPhone, it took under a minute to be issued the electronic card with a $9,000 spending limit available in Wallet.  That was Tuesday.  Thursday morning, a courier dropped off the physical card packaged in the sleek style of all Apple’s premium products.  The fun began even before it was out of the box!

IMG_4777Although my Apple Pay credit account went live in a minute, as with all physical credit cards, the Apple Card must be activated before use.  For most cards, this requires time online or a phone call where you dial or speak a lot of digits.  With the Apple Card, you just hold the colorful sleeve it comes in against your iPhone and the NFC contactless communication capability embedded in the card does the rest.  

The next surprise is that the card is crafted from laser-etched titanium, giving it a striking heft and rigidity.  Hone the edge of this baby and you’re MacGyver (or Oddjob, hat in hand).  Investing so much in the aesthetics of a credit card may seem silly; but, I confess that the, well, the beauty of the card impressed me.  Is it so wrong that something we touch several times daily be pleasing?

The next surprise is what’s not on the Apple Card versus every other card: There are no numbers.  No card number.  No CID security identifier.  No expiration date.  No signature block.  Just your name, three corporate logos, a chip and a swipe strip.  Here are photos of both sides of my Apple Card, something I’d never post for a conventional card:

IMG_4774If you want to know the card number and CID for the Apple Card, you must retrieve them in Wallet.  That’s a genuine layer of security.  By the same token, heaven help anyone who comes across a neanderthal with a carbon charge slip (anyone remember those?) who tries to rub transfer the card number.

There are some nifty usage management features, but the major marketing hook for the Apple Card is daily cash back on purchases.  How much cash back?  I’m not entirely sure because it varies.  It seems you get three percent back for purchases made from Apple and a handful of other merchants like Walgreens and Uber.  But for the most part, the cash back percentage looks to be two percent if you pay with Apple Pay.  If a merchant isn’t set up for Apple Pay, then it appears you must use the Apple Card as a conventional MasterCard, and get just one percent cash back.  That’s about the same benefit I now get with my AmEx Membership Rewards program with (in my mind) less exposure to a whopping interest charge if I’m ever late with a payment.  Too, the AmEx offers many perks to protect my purchases and travel.  Now and then, those behind-the-scenes benefits have proven really worthwhile.   I wonder whether Apple will stand behinds its card users as reliably as AmEx?

Cash back is a splendid benefit, and beats the pants off cards that don’t offer rewards and perks.  So many cards do offer mileage benefits, club access and other rewards that it’s not easy to know which one is best.  The Apple Card carries no annual fee, making it worth a try, and if you buy a lot of Apple merchandise, that instant three percent back is a no-brainer.  Maybe the Apple Card will become my principal card; maybe not.  But, I’ll tell you one thing:  that titanium card is going to be hell to cut in half should I decide to close the account.

One last thing if it’s not already clear: Only iPhone users need apply.  An Android user might be able to finagle getting the Apple Card, but the real benefits only flow from using Apple Pay.

Who Am I If I’m Not That Guy Anymore?

09 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in Personal

≈ 24 Comments

This is a personal post.  I’m baring my soul in hopes that colleagues grappling with doubt and transition will know they are not alone.  I’m at a point in my career—in my life, really—where I’m obliged to ask, “Who am I if I’m not that guy anymore?”

At the ILTA conference last month, a colleague lately risen to rarified heights in e-discovery mentioned she’d heard I’d retired.  It was a dagger to the heart.  I sputtered that, yes, I’d cut back on my insane speaking schedule and was writing less frequently.  I was playing more but I hadn’t taken my shingle down.

That’s true, but what I didn’t say was that ofttimes retirement isn’t a choice.  It’s thrust upon you when you don’t fight it.  And you can’t always fight it.  I’m not retired; I’ve just conducted myself as if I were, and chickens have come home to roost.  Call it a crisis of confidence.  I struggle to feel I’ve got anything to say.  After more than 2,000 confident turns at the podium, I feel like a fraud.  Do you ever feel that, dear reader?  You know, Imposter Syndrome, that feeling that, at any moment, someone might point and say, “you’re not the real deal!”

Let’s put aside the quirks and tics of personality built on shame, insecurity and emotional scarring.  We’ve all got that.  I think there are three main causes behind my gnawing self-doubt.

The self-serving first is that, having focused on electronic evidence and forensic technology for thirty-odd years, new information must compete for brain space and context against a hoard of old knowledge and experience.  I started my professional career when MS-DOS was the dominant operating system and networking meant sharing a daisy wheel printer.  That was before e-mail, before the Web and long before mobile.  It was possible to be a generalist expert in legal technology, and I was.  Back then, you could ask me a question about almost any topic at TechShow and I probably knew the answer.  We all did.  WordPerfect tips?  Sure!  The best TSR tools for lawyers?  I’ve got that.  If you’ve never used WordPerfect or have no clue what “TSR” means, I rest my case.

Expertise demands I acquire new, relevant information and afford it space and ready access among all the once-useful-and-still-occasionally-valuable junk jamming the cerebral storeroom.  Did I mention I’m something of a hoarder?  It’s a godawful mess in there.

“I know too much” sounds like a Trumpian tweet, and it’s a rotten rationale from anyone.  That said, you try keeping track of the forensic artifacts left by Windows XP versus Windows 10, how to crack the latest iOS release and what counts as proof of intentional deprivation under Rule 37(e).  I can’t help feeling that life is simpler and confidence in one’s expertise easier to come by when your only context is “now.”

The second contributor to my crisis of confidence is that I’ve lost my laboratory.  I no longer work enough matters to feel at the top of my game.  It’s not the first time that’s happened.  Back when I was trying lawsuits, I spoke frequently about how to create and use demonstrative evidence.  I had many examples of visuals I’d built and used in my own cases.  They blew folks away.  As my practice shifted from first-chair trial lawyer to tech evangelist preaching the gospel of electronic evidence, I no longer built visuals for cases, and my inventory of salient examples grew stale.  I lost my laboratory.  I stopped making fresh discoveries; so, I stopped teaching demonstrative evidence.

As my engagement in cases has diminished over a few Big Easy years, so, too, has my need to navigate real-world challenges in computer forensics and electronic evidence.  I’ve lost my laboratory again and, without fresh challenges, I’m fresh out of insights.  I feel rusty, like I’m just an academic.

The third factor is harder to articulate, but it’s a sense that the world has moved on.  E-discovery has been “handled.”  Forensics is done more by tools than people.  Discovery service providers have commoditized and packaged the tasks I once thought lawyers would manage.  Civil trials have disappeared, and with them the need to authenticate, offer and challenge electronic evidence.  Lawyers no longer do much of what I was helping them to do–or perhaps I wasn’t helping them enough and they’ve found others easier or cheaper to work with.

I don’t discount the unrelenting passage of time either and my aging out (62 last week).  Many of my repeat clients have changed careers, retired or died.  I did nothing to replace them.  Most of the judges who knew me as a go-to guy for computer forensics and e-discovery are off the bench, either by retirement or blown by political winds having nothing to do with their abilities.

Finally, there is competition.  I had the field to myself for quite a while.  There are more people to go to now.  Are they as steeped in e-discovery and computer forensics as I am? Who knows?  More to the point, who cares?  Lawyers were never especially discriminating when hiring digital forensics and e-discovery experts; less so now.  I greatly benefitted from the fact that there weren’t many experts to choose from and amongst lawyers and judges, I enjoyed a high profile.  I always strove to be the real deal and supply correct answers; but, if I hadn’t, I’m not convinced anyone would have been the wiser.

I have not retired.  I’m still here, and I feel like I have another reinvention in me—a last, best act yet to come.  At the same time, I am not so clouded as to miss the signs auguring otherwise.  Starting over sounds at once exhilarating and exhausting.  I keep wondering: Who am I if I’m not that guy anymore?

I’m fortunate that, even lacking new direction, I enjoy the freedom to move on.   No one depends upon me and I have ample savings.  As my mother used to say, I just need to handle my money “so I have ten cents left to tip the undertaker.”

I won’t cut it that close and I’ve had a great run (not done, not done); but, I’m worried for those who followed me or found their own way into the field and still need to build their nest eggs.  Has it been a hard road?  Are they finding it difficult to make a happy living doing what once was so lucrative and exciting?  I worry that some followed me down a disappointing path.  If you have doubts as I do, please do not despair.  Take comfort in schadenfreude.  You are not alone, and when we all get to the same place, we can have a wonderful party and talk about it.

Electronic Storage in a Nutshell

06 Monday May 2019

Posted by in Computer Forensics, E-Discovery, General Technology Posts, Personal

≈ 4 Comments

I’ve just completed the E-Discovery Workbook for the 2019 Georgetown E-Discovery Training Academy. The Workbook readings and exercises plot the path that evidence follows from the documents lawyers use in court back to the featureless stream of binary electrical impulses common to all information stored electronically. At nearly 500 pages, the technology of e-discovery is its centerpiece, and I’ve lately added a 21-point synopsis of the storage concepts, technical takeaways and vocabulary covered. Here is that in-a-nutshell synopsis:

  1. Common law imposes a duty to preserve potentially-relevant information in anticipation of litigation
  2. Most information is electronically-stored information (ESI)
  3. Understanding ESI entails knowledge of information storage media, encodings and formats
  4. There are many types of e-storage media of differing capacities, form factors and formats:

    a) analog (phonograph record) or digital (hard drive, thumb drive, optical media)

    b) mechanical (electromagnetic hard drive, tape, etc.) or solid-state (thumb drive, SIM card, etc.)

  5. Computers don’t store “text,” “documents,” “pictures,” “sounds.” They only store bits (ones or zeroes)
  6. Digital information is encoded as numbers by applying various encoding schemes:

    a) ASCII or Unicode for alphanumeric characters;

    b) JPG for photos, DOCX for Word files, MP3 for sound files, etc.

  7. We express these numbers in a base or radix (base 2 binary, 10 decimal, 16 hexadecimal, 60 sexagesimal). E-mail messages encode attachments in base 64.
  8. The bigger the base, the smaller the space required to notate and convey the information
  9. Digitally encoded information is stored (written):

    a) physically as bytes (8-bit blocks) in sectors and partitions

    b) logically as clusters, files, folders and volumes

  10. Files use binary header signatures to identify file formats (type and structure) of data
  11. Operating systems use file systems to group information as files and manage filenames and metadata
  12. File systems employ filename extensions (e.g., .txt, .jpg, .exe) to flag formats
  13. All ESI includes a component of metadata (data about data) even if no more than needed to locate it
  14. A file’s metadata may be greater in volume or utility than the contents of the file it describes
  15. File tables hold system metadata about the file (e.g., name, locations on disk, MAC dates): it’s CONTEXT
  16. Files hold application metadata (e.g., EXIF geolocation data in photos, comments in docs): it’s CONTENT
  17. File systems allocate clusters for file storage; deleting files releases cluster allocations for reuse
  18. If unallocated clusters aren’t reused, deleted files may be recovered (“carved”) via computer forensics
  19. Forensic (“bitstream”) imaging is a method to preserve both allocated and unallocated clusters
  20. Because data are numbers, data can be digitally “fingerprinted” using one-way hash algorithms (MD5, SHA1)
  21. Hashing facilitates identification, deduplication and de-NISTing of ESI in e-discovery

All of these topics and more are covered in depth at the Academy, punctuated by substantive and substantial hands-on exercises. We ask more of the students than most seasoned e-discovery professionals can deliver. It’s hours of effort before you arrive and a full week of day and night endeavor once you’re here. Over a thousand pages of written material covered in toto.  Really, no picnic.  A true boot camp.  It exhausts and overwhelms those anticipating conventional professional education; but those who do the work emerge transformed.  They leave competent, confident and equipped with new eyes for ESI. Think you can hack it? We can help. Hope to see you there June 2-7.

P.S. No member of the Academy faculty is compensated.  We are all volunteers, there because we believe the more you know about e-discovery, the more you can contribute to the just, speedy and inexpensive administration of justice.

The Computer Book: A Pleasant Stroll through the History of Computing

01 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by in Computer Forensics, E-Discovery, General Technology Posts, Personal

≈ 6 Comments

I returned from frigid New York City last night, modestly triumphant that I hadn’t botched my interview with Watergate journalist and Fear author Bob Woodward.  Woodward turned out to be just the nicest guy and we got on swimmingly.  I shouldn’t be surprised as many of the highly successful people I’ve known have proved courteous and generous of spirit.  I guess nice guys finish first because we are happy to help them succeed.

In New York, heading to the Whitney to take in the excellent Andy Warhol retrospective, I happened on an architectural antiques store in the Meatpacking District called Olde Good Things.  I love such places and was delighted to find they were selling vintage Jacquard loom cards.  I collect (NERD ALERT!) examples of milestone computing technologies, especially antecedent digital storage devices like piano rolls, magnetic core memories and, now, Jacquard loom cards!  I use these for “show-and-tell” in my digital evidence classes.  In a touching twist, the cards I bought were salvaged from an abandoned lace factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the old coal town a/k/a Electric City where my father grew up and is laid to rest.  Here’s my acquisition:

This digression has a purpose.  Waiting for me on my return to New Orleans was a book I’d ordered called, “The Computer Book” by Simson Garfinkel and Rachel Grunspan.  It’s subtitled, “From the Abacus to Artificial Intelligence, 250 Milestones in the History of Computer Science;” but, don’t be put off by that mouthful; it’s a delightful read and a visual feast.  Each of the 250 well-curated, chronological milestones are flanked by gorgeous full-page photography.  Among them, Milestone 13, The Jacquard Loom:

The punched cards used in the Jacquard loom circa 1801 were later adapted by inventor Herman Hollerith to tabulate the U.S. Census in 1890 and were forerunner to the punched IBM cards that were a common medium to enter and store digital data from the 1930s through 1970s.  Another descendent: the punched paper tape I used to store BASIC computer programs in high school circa 1972.  Our modern computing feats are often smaller, speedier reimaginings of age-old technologies.  The Computer Book ably underscores that evolution.

I bought the book because I’ve followed Simson Garfinkel’s extraordinary career since he was a graduate student buying second hand hard drives and scaring the snot out of people by revealing how much sensitive “deleted” data could be resurrected via forensic file carving.  That’s common knowledge now, but largely because pioneers like Simson made it so.  Simson is Professor Garfinkel today as well as the Senior Computer Scientist for Confidentiality and Disclosure Avoidance at the US Census Bureau.  Shades of Herman Hollerith! Simson holds seven patents and has published dozens of articles on computer security and digital forensics.

I’m considering making the book required reading for my law classes–something I’ve not done before as I prefer my students not go out-of-pocket.  The Computer Book succeeds in being accessible to the lay reader in a way few books about computing match. To really understand technologies, laws or people, it pays to delve into their origins.  If I ran the world, The Computer Book would be required reading for anyone in the e-discovery space.

Meet Bob Woodward, Living Legend

14 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by in E-Discovery, Personal, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Bob WoodwardIt’s almost that time, two weeks from LegalTech New York (okay, LegalWeek for those who hang on for more wintry weather) and the fine folks at Zapproved have again asked me to interview a gifted interviewer–on Broadway, no less–for the annual Corporate E-Discovery Heroes Awards.  I’ve had past fireside chats with Nina Totenberg, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Eugene Robinson.  My subject this year is Bob Woodward.

OMG BOB WOODWARD!

I’ll use the same two words Woodward himself uttered on June 17, 1972 as a cub reporter for the Washington Post covering an arraignment of five well-dressed Watergate burglars.  On hearing perpetrator James McCord whisper “CIA” when asked his employer, Woodward exclaimed:

HOLY SHIT!

I mean, BOB WOODWARD!  Author of nineteen  books, thirteen #1 national bestsellers.  The dean of investigative journalism.  The 2019 PEN America Literary Service Award winner (per this morning’s New York Times).  The man who helped earn two Pulitzer Prizes for the Post.  The man who brought down a President.  Robert Redford played him in All the President’s Men.  Not pruney 2019 Redford, either.  We’re talking 1976 sex symbol Robert Redford!

So, yeah, HOLY SHIT!  BOB WOODWARD!

I better get this right. Will you help me?  In the comments below, I invite you to suggest questions I might pose to the living legend onstage.  Don’t worry.  Woodward wrote “Fear.”  We will talk Trump.

It’s a very special night in another way.  My dear, dear friend, the Honorable John Michael (yada, yada, yada) Facciola, will receive the 2019 Hon. Shira Scheindlin Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of a career that has advanced the practice of electronic discovery.  The “yada, yada, yada” denotes that Fatch has more middle names than a British nobleman.  Fitting, as John Facciola is truly a noble man and richly deserving of this award.  I’m excited about who the presenters will be; but, I’m not spoiling that surprise.  You’ll just have to attend.

Honored as well will be four “Corporate E-Discovery Heroes,” nominated by their peers and selected by an esteemed panel of judges.  What? FINE! Esteemed and me.  Who won?  Like I said, you’ll just have to attend.  Please do.

Though seating is limited, tickets are still available, and dinner and drinks are included.  It’s going to be a hell of a party!  Don’t miss it.

Where: Edison Ballroom, 240 W 47th St, New York, NY 10036
When: January 28, 2019 at 6:00pm
Register by: January 25, 2019 11:59 PM Eastern Time

Bring your copy of Fear, All the President’s Men, The Final Days, The Brethren, Wired or one of the others.  No promises, but I bet you can get it signed by the man who inspired a generation of journalists.

On the Road Again: PREX and FEST

24 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in Computer Forensics, E-Discovery, General Technology Posts, Personal, Uncategorized

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PREXFEST_SMThe Texan in me can’t hear the phrase “on the road again” without also hearing Willie Nelson’s nasal voice singing it.  But, the life I love IS making music with my friends, if by “music” we mean bringing “aha” moments to lawyers and others interested in e-discovery and forensic technology.

Today, I head to Portland, for the 2018 Preservation Excellence or PREX Conference put on annually by the good folks at Zapproved.  It’s a splendid faculty congregated in an always-lovely venue and punctuated by good conversation, fine food and the splendor that is Oregon in September.  PREX is always worth the trip; so, if you have the chance to go, by all means, attend.

This year I have a lot to do at PREX.  I have the privilege to host a keynote discussion with CNN and The New Yorker magazine legal commentator, Jeffrey Toobin.  You can be sure that the U.S. Supreme Court, the Mueller investigation and Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing will all come up.  Toobin is a bestselling author of seven books, including several on the Supreme Court and on the O.J. Simpson murder case and kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst.  Talking with Toobin rounds out my opportunity to do Charlie Rose-style conversations with Doris Kearns Goodwin and Nina Totenberg at earlier Zapproved events.

I’ll also moderate a “People’s Court” debate between Brett Tarr and Dan Nichols.  Brett is Chief Counsel for E-Discovery and Information Governance at gaming conglomerate Caesars Entertainment, and Dan is a partner with Redgrave LLP, the far-flung corporate e-discovery consultancy.  These two really despise each other, so there’s sure to be a lot of eye-gouging and attacks on legitimate parentage.  (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it).

Finally on Wednesday, I’ll be doing a little speaking of my own in a lonely breakout session where we will talk about preserving and discovering evidence on mobile phones.  They’ve titled it, OMG, SMS & ESI: Preserving & Collecting from Mobile Devices.  The session description reads:

How does one craft a discovery request for text messages? What are the different techniques for preservation, collection and review of mobile data? When does it make sense to complete a full forensic collection on a mobile device? This session will deliver foundational information and practical examples of process and policy management for mobile devices in ediscovery.

if you haven’t yet come to grips with mainstreaming mobile devices into day-to-day e-discovery, know you’re not alone–everyone is struggling, or more likely closing their eyes, hoping mobile will go away.  Perhaps we can make some progress together.

PREX  September 25 – 27, 2018  |  Portland, OR

Then, no-rest-for-the-dreary, I wing to the Windy City of Chicago (so-called NOT due to weather, but for the propensity of its politicians to pontificate at length).  I’m heading to the annual Relativity Fest, a stupendous amalgamation of e-discovery education and evangelical tent meeting cum rock concert.  If there were the slightest doubt that Relativity dominates the e-discovery review space (and is hungry to gobble up the rest of the EDRM), such foolish doubt will be crushed by the power of Fest.

I enjoy Fest for many reasons, not the least of which is the chance to work with the always-engaging David Horrigan, Relativity’s discovery counsel and legal content director.  David is a fine writer, insightful commentator and skilled teacher.  Eclipsing that is his distinction as a great guy, someone always fun to be around and adept at eliciting the best from those he hosts.

At Fest, David will moderate a panel I’m on called The Internet of Things from a Legal, Regulatory, and Technical Perspective.  I’m fortunate to join Gail Gottehrer, Partner and Co-Chair of the Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Emerging Technology Practice at Akerman, who will give the regulatory perspective, and Ed McAndrew, Partner at Ballard Spahr and former DOJ cybercrime coordinator, who’s charged with the legal point of view.  I guess that leaves the technical stuff to me, which is where I’m happiest anyway.

Relativity Fest  Sep. 30 – Oct. 3, 2018 | Hilton Chicago

I hope to see you at one or both of these exciting confabs, enjoying two fine faculties in wonderful venues.  The joy and value of these events isn’t just what’s planned, but the interactions around and outside of the sessions, too.

My Dinner with Doris

03 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by in E-Discovery, Personal, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

dkg2018-2I have been lucky all my life, a fact taken for granted until standout strokes of good fortune prompt grateful reflection.  Today, it’s how blessed I have been, personally and professionally, by association with gifted and indomitable women.  In the last sixteen months, I’ve presented with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, NPR legal Correspondent Nina Totenberg and last Monday night, most fun of all, Presidential biographer and pop-culture icon, Doris Kearns Goodwin.  How’s that for luck!

I’d resolved to forego the annual New York LegalTech/LegalWeek show this year until my friends at Zapproved made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: interview Doris Kearns Goodwin at Tavern on the Green to anchor their annual e-Discovery Heroes awards ceremony.  They sweetened the pot by noting that they would also honor the lifetime achievements of Judge Craig Shaffer and recognize the e-discovery leadership of three dear friends, Judges Jay Francis, Frank Maas and Andy Peck, all of whom have left or are soon leaving the Federal bench.

Would I do it?  Are you kidding?  They had me at “hello.” Continue reading →

Houston: We’ve Got a Problem

30 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Computer Forensics, E-Discovery, General Technology Posts, Personal, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

19-hurricane-harveyHouston is my hometown.  I wasn’t born there (though both my children were); but, I got there as quickly as I could, at age 17 to study at Rice University.  I practiced law in Houston and kept a home in the Houston area for 38 years, longer by far than anywhere else.  I have deep Texas roots, proud Houston roots.  So, it pains me to see what’s happening in Harris County, and as a past President of the Houston Trial Lawyers Asociation, I’m thinking of all my colleagues whose offices are submerged or inaccessible and whose practices will be devastated and disrupted by Hurricane Harvey.

Right now, the needs are basic: shelter, food, clothing, medical care and such.  Soon, however, we must restore the legal and business infrastructure.  Though Houston is home to several megafirms, the majority of Houston lawyers–the best lawyers in the world–are small firm- and solo practitioners.  It’s these lawyers who will help people pick up the pieces of their lives by prosecuting claims for storm damage when insurers decline to pay what’s owed.  In Texas, the need is dire as the toadying Texas Legislature serves at the pleasure of big national insurance carriers, a fact borne out by legislation that, even before Harvey’s waters recede, will operate to deprive Texas insureds of substantial rights to recover for storm losses, effective September 1.  Ironic.  Tragic. Despicable.

So, we must pull together to help Gulf Coast lawyers recover from the storm. My friend, Tom O’Connor, unselfishly organized a relief effort for Louisiana lawyers when Katrina crippled New Orleans and environs.  I’m proud to have contributed in a small way to that effort, financially and by speaking in New Orleans about tech tools to help lawyers cope. I look forward to the chance to work with Tom and with The Computer and Technology Section of the State Bar of Texas to do the same for Gulf Coast lawyers.

There is so much to do, and we must each do what we can according to our particular ways and means. Helping Texas lawyers harness technology to weather the storm is something I can do, and I know it’s within the capability of many of my readers. Houston needs help, and Houston deserves it.  After Hurricane Katrina, Houston took in a quarter of a million evacuees, some forty thousand of them stayed.  When I was at Rice, Houston welcomed 200,000 Vietnamese refugees.  No city is more diverse.  None more self-reliant and can-do.  No city has a bigger heart.

There are a lot of sodden computers and hard drives in Houston and all along the Gulf Coast.  Where once we grabbed the family photo album in an evacuation, today, cherished photos (and crucial client data) is all digital.  To that end, I offer this link to a post I wrote after Katrina addressing data recovery.  We have come a long way since since August 2005.  The Cloud and mobile devices play a big role in data storage, and many hard drives are now solid state; still, the majority of computers rely on mechanical hard drives for long term storage, and water plays havoc with mechanical hard drives. What you do with a damaged device in the aftermath makes a huge difference in whether the data they contain can be resurrected.

Please help Houston, and Houston lawyers, get back on their feet.  Believe me, Houstonians would be there for you.  They’ve proved it many times before.

 

Milestone

02 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by in Computer Forensics, E-Discovery, Personal, Uncategorized

≈ 14 Comments

sotomayorI’ve just returned from a quick trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  I travelled there to deliver a three-hour presentation on e-discovery as part of a day of education commemorating the 50th anniversary of Article III federal courts on the island.  It’s a trip that’s been in the works for some time, and an event about which I was more than usually anxious and discreet. Part of my anxiety stemmed from three hours being a LOOOONG time for an audience to listen to one voice, especially when the topic is somewhat esoteric and technical.  My time slot was the three hour block smack in the middle of the day.  Too, there were more than 500 people in attendance, and I wanted it to be the performance of a lifetime.

But the principle reasons for my anxiety weren’t the numbers in attendance or the fact that the luminaries attending were a constellation of island leaders, including, the entire federal bench, several justices of the Puerto Rican Supreme Court, the Attorney General and a huge chunk of the federal bar–really the cream of the profession in any jurisdiction.

I was keyed up because of the other out-of-town speakers flanking my talk.  It was the most “rock star” program of my life–and I’ve done almost 1,800 presentations at programs of this nature.  The speaker immediately preceding me was James Comey, the Director of the FBI and the speakers following me were U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and First Circuit Chief Judge Jeffrey Howard.  My solo time at the podium was as much as all of their times put together.  Yikes! Continue reading →