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

 Imagine the following eloquent cross-examination:

ATTORNEY SAM: Good morning, Witness. I am Sam. Do you like green eggs and ham?
WITNESS: I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
ATTORNEY SAM: Would you eat them in a house?
WITNESS: I would not eat them in a house.
ATTORNEY SAM: Would you eat them with a mouse?
WITNESS: I would not eat them with a mouse.
ATTORNEY SAM: Would you eat them here or there?
WITNESS: I would not eat them here or there. I would not eat them anywh --

Why the sudden break in testimony? Because last month Attorney Sam managed to get Witness to "friend" him on Facebook, and he is now holding up the fruits of that endeavor as Exhibit A -- a photograph posted on Witness's page in which he is . . . eating green eggs and ham.

Part One of this article discussed how an attorney's use of social media can lead to breaches of confidentiality, conflicts of interest, unintended relationships, and improper advertising. But as comprehensive as this list seems, additional ethical issues can rise out of an attorney's immersion in social media.  These problematic issues include misrepresentations made to third parties on social media and violations of one's duty of candor to the court.  

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Cloud computing platforms (a set of pooled computing resources that are powered by software and delivered over the Web) have been generating quite a bit of press in the last year. Indeed, just recently computing giant Microsoft launched its Microsoft 365 cloud computing platform, designed to rival Google’s "mega-cloud" platform, which launched in May 2010. Since the release of the first commercial cloud computing platform by Amazon in 2006, cost-conscious companies have been racing to evaluate the pros and cons of moving their computing operations to “the cloud.” According to the Booz, Allen, Hamilton technology consulting firm, “Cloud computing may yield:

Life cycle costs that are 65 percent lower than current architectures

• Benefit-cost ratios ranging from 5.7 to nearly 25

• Payback on investments in three to four years."

Notably absent from that cost-benefit analysis, however, is the effect cloud computing may have on the costs and risks associated with conducting electronic discovery. Those engaged in such activities may well ask the question, “Will the savings companies expect from moving their data to the cloud be absorbed by the additional costs/risks created by conducting e-discovery in the cloud?”

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