Short message data is an increasingly important source of evidence in litigation and investigations because so much communication takes place through sources like SMS and MMS texts and platforms like WhatsApp, Slack, and Teams.

Mobile devices like cell phones and tablets are a potential treasure trove of evidence. But conducting data collection and digital forensics from these devices may prove challenging, and the two most popular platforms in the world, Apple and Android, offer divergent challenges.

The landscape of eDiscovery is evolving rapidly, driven by the proliferation of short message data. This type of data encompasses messaging platforms beyond traditional email, such as texts, Teams, Slack, and many others. As these forms of communication become increasingly dominant in both personal and professional contexts, they bring unique challenges and considerations for litigation and investigations.

Americans love social media - about 9% consider themselves to be an influencer! In January 2024, the Pew Research Center reported that 83% of American adults use YouTube, 68% use Facebook, and 47% use Instagram. Most users have accounts on multiple platforms and many actively create content.

That all adds up to a whole lot of potentially discoverable data. 

Nor should they. No individual can possess mastery over every function of a large, complex organization. Ideally, people with complementary skillsets and dispositions are recruited, developed, and provided sufficient leeway (in the form of decision making and funding) to contribute to the mission of the organization.

Legaltech (generally) and eDiscovery (specifically) marketing often fails because software and services vendors often try to “copy and paste” playbooks that worked in the B2B (business to business) space.

In B2B, revolution can be richly rewarded. The premise of most startup businesses is: the market has an unmet need; if we build the right product and get in front of the right people, we can make a lot of money. Disruption of the status quo is the entire point of the game.

Many small and mid-sized law firms approach to eDiscovery consists of cobbling together legacy tools instead of embracing cutting edge eDiscovery and legal technologies like RelativityOne.

This approach is understandable. Ten years ago, when many firms first tool a look at their eDiscovery practices, eDiscovery was a new and expensive concept. Attorneys could in most cases get by through creating PDFs or scanning documents, and judges and opposing counsel typically accepted it without compliant.

In January we published a tongue in cheek bingo card before Legalweek that poked fun of many of the words and phrases used by eDiscovery software and services providers, like “voluminous data” and “explosion of data.”

It was a silly thing, but it resonated because the terms are all ubiquitous.

The most viral story in the legal industry in 2021 was the attorney who assured a judge that he was not, in fact, a cat.

The year 2023 may have provided this definitely human attorney’s most potent challenger in the form of the Mata v. Avianca. Plaintiff’s counsel utilized ChatGPT to draft a court filed document, ChatGPT “hallucinated” and provided several fictitious case citations. After attempting to cover up the use of Chat GPT, the attorney was sanctioned, and the case directly led to...

As legal technology has evolved from linear review to TAR to CAL to Generative AI, we've seen many other key developments. Starting in the “old days” of eDiscovery – a.k.a. 2006 – with TAR 1.0, attorneys once had to rely solely on a subject matter expert (SME) who would code a seed set of documents that ranged anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 depending on the consistency of choices the SME made during the review.