BLOG Outline/Format

Revised 20FEB2014 ● http://ellblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/eLL-Blog-Template-2-20-2014.doc

eLessons Learned BLOG Outline/Format

I designed eLessons Learned to give readers concrete examples from actual cases that (a) identify and expose eDiscovery mishaps at the employee level (either through negligence, ethical lapses in judgment, too much reliance on outside counsel or vendors, or fraud); (b) expose specific conduct that caused problem for company; (c) explain how and why conduct was improper; and (d) offer suggestions on how to learn from the mistakes and prevent similar future mishaps from occurring.

Each post is designed to convey important information in a witty, easy-to-read, informative manner. The point is not to embarrass those implicated in the mishap (that’s why we avoid names and don’t criticize them per se); we simply identify the mishap and explain why, how it could have been avoided, and offer easy to follow tips to keep in mind. Each Blog entry should follow the following substantive format:

1. Headline/Title: Create a catchy headline that captures the essence of the blog entry in a creative and interesting way (one that will compel the reader to want to read your entry). Formulate your title as a question beginning with “how,” “what,” “when,” “who” and/or “where.” This question should be designed to anticipate how someone would formulate a search through a search engine. E.g., What Should A Party Do If It Suspects Spoliation Shenanigans? Seek to Clone Hard Drives (instead of “Plaintiffs Should Seek to Clone Hard Drives If They Suspect Spoliation Shenanigans”); When Can You Access Private Facebook Information Through Discovery? Fishin’ on Facebook: The Discoverability of Private Information (instead of “Fishin’ on Facebook: The Discoverability of Private Facebook Information”) 2. Subtitle: Formulate a subtitle in the form of a question that begins with: how, what, when, who, or where. Think about what general question each blog post is answering for readers (the e-Lesson Learned) and make that question your subtitle. For example, if the e-Lesson Learned is “When an individual claims permanent injuries in a personal injury action, the content of his/her private Facebook and MySpace profiles are likely not shielded from discovery in New York because it is material and necessary information,” then the general question could be: When can the court gain access to information from a private Facebook profile?) 3. Author: Name [or pseudonym if you’ve selected that option] 4. Case citation: Full and proper citation [Be sure to search for original opinion and attach it as a .pdf (no Westlaw/Lex-Nex opinions. You can usually find the opinion by using PACER, state and federal courts’ websites, Google Scholar, etc. so find the opinion and attach it to the email with your blog post] 5. Employee/Personnel/Employer implicated: Identify the person(s) whose conduct was at issue in the case (be as specific as you can be). See “9. Implicated Personnel Categories:” below for general categories that may apply here. NOTE: This specific “Employee/Personnel implicated:” tag may differ slightly from No. 9 TAGS below in that here we look for exactly who was implicated. For example, here you may identify: “Director of Quality Control”; but under TAG no. 9 below you would be more generic: “C-level executive (specify: CEO, CFO, etc.)/Upper Management.” 6. eLesson Learned: In 1-2 sentences describe how the employee implicated in the case should have acted. If more than one lesson can be learned, consider posting another blog post on the same case. Try and keep to one sentence, if possible. 7. TWEET THIS: create a tweet that captures the essence of your post; sometimes your title or “eLesson Learned” can serve as a basis for your Tweet. Type a 125-character or less twitter feed (we need space to hyperlink the feed to your blog post on eLL) 8. Body, 1-1½ page summary: Focus on the conduct of a specific employee, what he or she did wrong, how the court analyzed the conduct and punished it, and suggest how the employee shoulda, coulda acted to better the situation. If there are more than one category or type of employees implicated, write separate blog entries for each. The end of the first paragraph will be the cut off on the home page, so make sure it lures the reader into the article. IF assigned case or topic implicates indirectly eDiscovery issues, then extract as many eDiscovery issues to address as possible; but then focus your attention on the technology issues implicated in the case/topic and how they impact the law (and tag issues accordingly. E.g., “Cyber Security,” “Privacy,” “NJ,” “Procedure,” “The Cloud,”). 9. Author Bio: Few sentence summary about the author with links to author’s web page (optional). See attached template. 1 Revised 20FEB2014

10. eDiscovery tags: Identify the eDiscovery category from which the employee conduct stems from one (or more if applicable) of the following subcategories: (1) ABA (2) Accessibility (3) Admissibility (4) Chain of Custody (5) Claw Back (6) Computer Forensics (7) Confidentiality Agreement (8) Consent (9) Costs: sharing & shifting; taxable (FRCP 54) (10) Cyber (11) Discoverability (12) eDiscovery (13) Ethics (14) Events (15) Experts (16) Good Faith (17) Hacking (a/k/a Data Breach) (18) Jurisdiction (a/k/a cross-border, international, blocking statutes) (19) Legal Hold/Preservation (20) Meet & Confer (21) Metadata (22) NJ (23) NY (24) Predictive Coding (a/k/a Technology Assisted Review (TAR), (Computer Assisted Review (CAR)) (25) Privacy (26) Privilege (27) Procedure (28) Production of Data (29) Sanctions (30) Spoliation (31) The Cloud (32) Waiver (33) Work-Product Doctrine 11. REMEMBER, IF the assigned case/topic implicates indirectly eDiscovery issues, then extract as many eDiscovery issues to address as possible; but then focus your attention on the technology issues implicated in the case/topic and how they impact the law (and Tag issues accordingly. E.g., “Cyber Security,” “Privacy,” “NJ,” “Procedure,” “The Cloud,”). 12. Implicated Personnel Categories: Choose from the following categories and list at the bottom of post (under Tags section, see below): (a) Accountant, (b) C-level executive (specify: CEO, CFO, etc.)/Upper Management, (c) Company (Employer) (as a whole if unclear who is to blame; be sure to add “Employer” if that is the situation (e.g., “Company/Employer”), (d) Counsel (specify: In-House Counsel and/or Outside Counsel), (e) Criminal Defendant, (f) Document Custodian, (g) Employee, (h) Government Official, (i) Human Resources Professional, (j) Independent Contractor/Expert/Service Provider (specify: eDiscovery vendor, litigation support vendor, etc.), (k) Information Technology Professional, (l) Marketing/Sales Professional, (m) Miscellaneous (if category is so unique that it’s difficult to place in any one of these categories; NOTE, if you use this TAG, be sure to specify who person is (e.g., “Miscellaneous (Criminal Defendant’s mother-in-law)”), (n) Owner, (o) Risk Manager 13. Misc.: (a) Consider the use of video, still pictures, etc. to enhance your post; (b) link other helpful websites, blogs, sources, FRCP, cases (use links from findlaw or other free non-subscription resources) government websites, etc. 14. General Blog writing tips: (a) Paragraphs should not be more that 2-4 sentences long, (b) Avoid the use of legalese (remember your audience is employees), (c) Use point headings to break up the text under the summary section, (d) Be conversational and witty, a bit informal, and personal. Entertain and inform, (e) Make the content “scannable.” Use bolds, italics, lists and indents for emphasis and style, (f) Make the post persuasive and believable, (g) Provide links to resources in your blog entry, (h) Proofread and copy edit until flawless, (i) Review commentary on your post and respond in a positive manner, and (j) careful to adhere to copyright laws in regards to posting pictures from sources online and elsewhere – be sure you have the license to do so.

2 Revised 20FEB2014 ● http://ellblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/eLL-Blog-Template-2-20-2014.doc

Be sure to SHEPARDIZE/KEYCITE your cases to confirm they are still good law!

ALSO submit a PDF of the ORIGINAL COURT OPINION (NOT the Westlaw/Lexis version) if you are able to locate it online!

Your blog entry should stylistically follow (including font, formatting, spacing, etc.) the model template below:

3 Revised 20FEB2014

[Title]

[Subtitle]

Author: [Type your name as you would like it to appear here]

Case Citation: [Use formal citation or if not yet formalized or unpublished, an appropriate alternate. Remember to attach the ORIGINAL OPINION (not Westlaw or Lexis version) if you are able to located on judiciary (or other) websites in PDF form.]

Employee/Personnel/Employer implicated: [Type position of mistaken employee here] eLesson Learned: (Lesson to extract) [Type 1 to 2 supporting sentences here]

Tweet This: [Type a 125-character or less twitter feed that can be used to “tweet” your article. Example: “Third Time’s (Not) a Charm when asking for protect. ord. of mistakenly produced evidence.”]

[Body: Write a smart and witty article that is at most 1.5 pages

THE FIRST PARAGRAPH SHOULD LURE THE READER IN TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, SINCE IT IS THE ONLY TEXT THAT WILL APPEAR ON THE FRONT PAGE. (“Continue Reading…”)

(a) identify a case that exposes e-discovery mishaps at the employee level (either through negligence, ethical lapses in judgment, too much reliance on outside counsel and vendors, fraud, etc.);

(b) expose the specific conduct that caused a problem for the company;

(c) explain how and why the conduct was improper, and

(d) offer suggestions on how to learn from these mistakes and prevent similar mishaps from occurring in the future.

Remember that the audience is the lay businessman. Don’t be afraid to have fun with them; however, you should stay on topic and communicate the lesson to be extracted clearly.

Also, don’t forget to cite outside sources if necessary. Links are permitted.]

1. [Lists may be formatted normally]

Lesson to extract somewhere in article in bold

[Author’s Bio can be typed here in italics (see template). Then leave the next line untouched. It should conclude every article.]

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4 Revised 20FEB2014 ● http://ellblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/eLL-Blog-Template-2-20-2014.doc eDiscovery tags: [Type tags from the selection in #8 above (NOTE: comma separated, CaSe SeNsAtIvE, spelling sensitive) here] Implicated Personnel Categories tags: [Type Implicated Personnel Categories from the selection in #9 above NOTE: (comma separated, make sure you use “NJ” tag if case originates in New Jersey) here]