When you are ready to start looking for an entry-level position in litigation support, you will need to tweak your resume so that you stand out from the crowd. When I was a litigation support manager, I would skim the resumes and put them into two piles. One was the “under consideration” pile and the…
The year is 1996. I had been with a DC law firm for only 9 months in a Legal Trainer role when I was called into the Administrator’s office and handed a pink slip. I was one of forty people laid off that day. The administrator was a kind man and he was teary-eyed as…
These are a couple of tips that you might find useful when using the TextPad text editor. Be sure to practice these tips so you will be ready when the time comes. Current Line Delete Duplicate Lines If you would like to use a free text editor to delete duplicate lines, see my Fast Tip…
Name: Carolyn Robinson Location: Detroit, MI What kind of work were you doing before litigation support found you? Prior to working as a Litigation Support Manager and as a Adjunct Professor of eDiscovery and Litigation Support, I worked in the legal arena as a Legal Records Clerk, a Law Librarian, a File Clerk, a Litigation Paralegal…
I left the office at 10:00 pm this evening. A set of production documents had to get out to the vendor so that they have enough time to turn it around to meet our desired production date. It’s funny, at times. Everyone else will leave the office once their sign-off has been given to litigation…
When a new matter is presented to litigation support, we typically request a meeting with the legal team and we like to refer to this meeting as a Project Design Meeting. Since the majority of our role is project management and we are methodical in our work, this meeting should provide us with a good…
Regardless of the database software you are using, there are some standard data types. There may be a slight variation in the actual name of the data type and there might be a slight difference in the specifications for the data type depending on the database software, but for the most part we expect to…
Every year in the electronic discovery industry a “hot new something” happens that causes a stir and the next thing we know that “hot new something” is all everyone in the industry is talking about. All of the bloggers start blogging about it to share their pro or con opinions. The annual conferences start lining…
Name: Jeff Nace Location: Washington, DC What kind of work were you doing before litigation support found you? I started in the legal industry as a Database/Litigation Analyst for a large international firm in the Midwest that specialized in product liability litigation. I assisted with the implementation of internally developed software to track trial exhibits being…
In most situations where you need a forensic expert for a litigation case, you will hire a consultant. However, there are situations where it may make sense to do it yourself. Personally, there have only been a few cases where I felt comfortable doing this kind of work myself. Sometimes the decision is related to…
Although there are many expectations I have of the service providers that I prefer to work with, there are two that I would like to discuss today. 1. A good service provider “in my mind” is one that will answer their phone when I call at 6:00 pm on a Friday evening. Once you’re in…
One of the common confusions for those trying to get into a litigation support position are the varying job titles. If you ask several people already in litigation support, you will probably get different answers. That is because there is no official list of job titles in litigation support. Each firm or company will decide…
Name: Matthew Golab Location: Sydney, Australia What kind of work were you doing before litigation support found you? Law libraries – back in the day when Unix databases ruled the world, some of the library databases were also used for litigation such as BRS. How did you get the opportunity to join the litigation support community?…
There is no quick fix or magic potion to becoming a litigation support professional. It takes time, focus, initiative and practice. It is difficult to understand how many different facets there are to the role of litigation support until you’ve actually done the job for a while. Unlike some other professions that are more concise,…
Michael Arkfeld is one of the very first litigators that I began to learn from when litigation technology was in its infancy. Michael was a frequent speaker at the conferences I attended. He always impressed me with his style and his knowledge. I purchased all of his books over the years and I recently purchased…
Name: Renee Lloyd Location: Washington, DC What kind of work were you doing before litigation support found you? I was employed as a word processor with a law firm. I decided to pursue a degree with a focus on computer technology. During my training, I discovered I had a strong interest in databases. How did…
There is a recurring theme in many of the articles on this site and that is the fact that a major portion of our litigation support role relates to dealing with electronic data files. Many of the tools we use help us deal with the data in different ways. One of the tools that I…
One of the ways that litigation support professionals transfer data from one entity to another is the use of FTP (File Transfer Protocol). I know there is debate in our industry about whether or not FTP is the best choice, but in reality, it is being used on a daily basis. The forum for this…
You have made the decision to pursue a career in litigation support. You have the task of convincing a hiring manager that you have what it takes. You have the ambition and desire. Your background may include technical skills or it may include experience in the legal industry or it may not include either of…
Name: Nate Emmerson Location: Cincinnati, Ohio What kind of work were you doing before litigation support found you? My undergraduate degrees are actually in classics (Greek, Latin, and ancient history) and music performance. After a year in graduate school, I decided to leave academia and applied to law school while working here at Vorys, Sater,…
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