My March column for eCommerceTimes discusses how Social Media has become a gold mine for eDiscovery since the volume of ESI (Electronically Stored Information) in Social Media is staggering. Today every lawsuit has ESI which is obvious to everyone, but the unprecedented proliferation of Social Media has expanded the sources of ESI so that lawyers and judges are now being confronted with larger volumes of ESI.
American College of e-Neutrals (ACESIN)
I pleased to announce that in early 2011, Allison O. Skinner, my good friend (full time neutral in Birmingham, Alabama, and Adjunct Professor of eDiscovery at the University of Alabama School of Law), invited me to co-found the American College of e-Neutrals, an organization dedicated to the education, training, credentialing and use of e-Neutrals. E-Neutrals are third party referees — mediators, arbitrators, masters, judges, liaisons and magistrates — committed to resolving disputes arising from ESI. Just a reminder that Allison had the brilliant idea to use the mediation process to resolve eDiscovery disputes – which she calls eMediation.
Joining Allison and me on the founding Board of ACESIN are the following individuals:
Richard Best
ADR Services, Inc.
San Francisco, California
John DeGroote
John DeGroote Services, LLC
Dallas, Texas
Michael Geigerman
United States Arbitration & Mediation
St. Louis, Missouri
Richard Lettieri
Lettieri Law Firm, LLC
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Timothy M. Opsitnick
Senior Partner and General Counsel
Jurinnov Ltd.
Cleveland, Ohio
Jonathan Redgrave
Redgrave LLP
Washington, D.C.
Allison and I hope that ACESIN will help Judges and lawyers throughout the US better deal with ESI to help litigants.