E-Discovery Bytes : E-Discovery Lawyer & Attorney : Quarles & Brady Law Firm : Electronic Discovery, Data Preservation, Conversion, Computer Forensics

In recent years, the "hosted applications" concept has gained popularity among some small to medium-sized firms due to significant savings from the high costs of software and hardware maintenance.  Such applications should be considered when deposing 30(b)(6) representatives and drafting requests for production of electronic information.

Hosted applications, aka SaaS (Software as a Service), is a software application delivery model where a software vendor develops a web-based software application and hosts and operates the application for use by its customers over the Internet. Typically, customers do not pay for owning the software itself but rather for using it.

From a firm's perspective, the advantages of this type of arrangement are numerous albeit potential privacy and security issues (important/sensitive data being stored on the vendor's servers).

• Platform neutral - applications and documents can be accessed from any computer.
• No installation - reduced or eliminate software and hardware maintenance.
• No downtime - applications and documents can be accessed 24 x 7 from anywhere.

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Things are getting really ugly in what has turned into a grudge match discovery dispute between Qualcomm and the company's outside lawyers.

I wrote recently about the impressive sanctions handed down by a magistrate judge against Qualcomm and its outside counsel after they failed to turn over hundreds of thousands of documents in patent litigation.  Qualcomm's lawyers sought to defend themselves at the sanctions hearing by pointing the finger at Qualcomm's failures in the discovery process.  However, the magistrate judge ruled that they were prevented from doing so by the attorney client privilege.

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On Feb 8, 2008 Chancellor William B. Candler III of the Court of Chancery of Delaware issued an opinion directing a third party to submit information regarding the ediscovery qualification of an information consultant.

This case illustrates that although the actual gathering of electronic information should be left for outside experts, it is also important to ascertain their qualifications since they can be called in doubt. Before hiring a e-discovery expert, there are some steps that can be taken to achieve the best results which may minimize the overall costs of litigation.

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