| www.fd.org |
Office of Defender Services TRAINING BRANCH |
|
|
||
The essential goal of litigation support is to organize, analyze, and present case materials through computer systems. In federal criminal defense cases, there are three primary ways that litigation support is used by Federal Defender Office (FDO) staff and Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel attorneys. One is in conducting electronic courtroom presentations. Another is management and analysis of paper documents and their electronic equivalents. The third is the identification, collection, preservation, processing, review, analysis and production of electronically stored information (ESI).
Litigation support is the marriage of project management and technology. We believe that while every district is different and every case is unique, there are certain standards to follow in order to ensure that the data involved in a case is handled in a cost effective and time efficient manner allowing for good organization, easy retrieval and effective client representation.
Both federal defender offices and CJA panel attorneys are often faced with the challenge of limited resources and staffing. Litigation support technology can help to make up that deficit by allowing data to be intelligently collected, processed, organized, reviewed, analyzed and presented.
While there may not be a single piece of technology to address all the challenges you face, the National Litigation Support Team can help you to navigate through the process of evaluating your choices and in deciding what solutions best meet the needs of your case.
To have a productive conversation with your trial team, the National Litigation Support Team, or with any consultants, experts, or vendors about ESI, we must speak the same language (see Common Litigation Support Terms). A good working knowledge of litigation support terminology helps ensure that the type, volume, output, and use of data is clearly understood and communicated among all members of the team. Once everybody is on the same page in terms of what needs to be reviewed and how, then working with the data and using it to help your case becomes much more manageable.
You walk into your office and on your desk sit a few hard drives and a stack of DVDs and CDs. On your floor and down your hallway sit what seems to be an endless number of boxes filled with paper. You are told that there is more coming, yet you have no idea what you already have. Now what? This is an increasingly common dilemma being faced by trial teams and we hope that we can help you answer that question easily and efficiently. We want to be part of your team and, like the common language we must speak when it comes to ESI, there are some common questions that need to be answered in order for you to manage your data effectively, plan your strategy, budget thoughtfully, and develop a workflow for your team to follow so that you move ahead smoothly. (See Initial Discovery and 3rd Party Data Assessment Checklist.)
Once the Initial Discovery Assessment has been completed, you are now ready to take your answers and use them to organize, review and use your data. Based on many years of experience, Douglass Mitchell and Sean Broderick have authored a resource guide that will walk you through the steps that will allow you to best handle your electronic discovery (See Recommended E-Discovery Practices for FPD/CJA Attorneys.) Recommendations touch on work flow, tools, technology and strategies that in combination will assist you in tackling any amount of data efficiently.
We are frequently asked what types of litigation support software are often used in federal CJA cases, and what steps CJA panel attorneys should follow when they need to obtain funding from the court for software, hardware and expert services for the large document and ESI case. To that end, David Beneman and Sean Broderick have written an article addressing both of the subjects (see CJA Panel Attorney Resources: A Guide to Litigation Support Software & How to Obtain Resources in the CJA System).
The National Litigation Support Team is your consultant, your resource center, and your sounding board for all litigation support aspects of your case from beginning to end. We are here to support both federal defender offices and CJA panel attorneys throughout the country. Whether you are considering what data to request, how to manage the discovery you have received, or what type of presentation you would like to use in the courtroom, we can provide assistance and guidance based on our own experiences, industry standards, and general guidelines and principles we have developed that focus not only on document management but overall case management.
The National Litigation Support Team consists of:
Sean Broderick - National Litigation Support Administrator
Sean oversees the National Litigation Support Team and should be your first point of contact. He provides guidance and recommendations to federal courts, federal defender organization staff, and court appointed attorneys on complex cases and electronic discovery, including evidence organization, document management, and trial presentation. Prior to this position, Sean worked as an investigator, mitigation specialist, and paralegal on numerous complex cases for many years. In these different capacities, he dealt with a wide range of criminal and civil cases, including multi-defendant, white collar fraud, federal trial, capital trial, and habeas corpus death penalty cases. In addition to his hands-on work, Sean has spent considerable time training legal professionals on electronic discovery and litigation support, both within the United States as well as abroad.
Sean can be reached at (510) 637-1950 or sean_broderick@fd.org.
Kelly Scribner - Assistant National Litigation Support Administrator
Kelly specializes in case management, workflow design and vendor relations. Prior to working with us, Kelly was the Director of Litigation Support Services for Loxodrome Solutions, Inc., a litigation support vendor which works with civil law firms in the United States on document management and discovery needs. Prior to this position, Kelly was a senior litigation paralegal for Affymetrix, Inc., a biotech company, and at Pillsbury Winthrop LLP in San Francisco. She has ten years of litigation support and legal experience relevant to our national needs, including project management of multi-national civil cases, overseeing onsite document collection, the assessment and selection of technology vendors, training end-users on litigation support software, and the supervision of large teams of attorneys conducting the review of legal documents.
Kelly can be reached at (510) 637-1952 or kelly_scribner@fd.org.
Alex Roberts - National Litigation Support Paralegal
Alex focuses on the technical areas of litigation support and can assist with identifying what technology to use and when to use it. Alex has more than 10 years of experience in the field of litigation support. Prior to joining us, Alex was a litigation support technical analyst and workflow coordinator for Foster Pepper, PLLC, a law firm in Seattle, Washington where he supervised and coordinated electronic discovery workflow, litigation software training, provided advanced legal database support and gave trial presentation consulting. Of particular note, Alex has worked in the past with CJA panel attorneys in the Western District of Washington, consulting and participating in a number of complex CJA matters.
Alex can be reached at (510) 637-1955 or alex_roberts@fd.org.