Document Reviewer Qualification Fraud Perpetuated by Taking Open ALTA Language Tests

Introduction

Some law firms and staffing agencies now require foreign language reviewers to take language tests on the Internet and use the scores in making their hiring decisions. They use the scores to rank all potential candidates for selection or use the test scores as a mandatory passing mark. Some staffing agencies embrace this magic solution enthusiastically. One of the most widely used test vendors is ALTA Language Services. ALTA web site (www.altalang.com) allows any employer to set up a user account for each of its candidates and automatically sends log in name and password to the email address of each candidate. The candidate then can log in the web site and take the test....

The Scandal of Charging Fees Per Unit in Document Review Industry

In a January speech, the general counsel of Cisco Systems stated, ??the most fundamental misalignment of interests is between clients, who are driven to manage expenses, and law firms, which are compensated by the hour.?? This is a reason for justify a new scandal in e-Discovery industry: charge fees per document. 

While I understand the problem of high costs from charging based upon hours, I see a much bigger problem. Document is an abstract concept that does not define properties. It can range from one line to 10,000 pages, and can concern anything from a joke to 100 billions acquisition agreement. A document is like a thing, which could be from a paper clip to a carrier.

If....

The Causes of Privilege Leaks and Strategies for Protecting Privileged Documents

I discuss an inherent difficulty in keeping privileged documents and especially work product in e-discovery. This problem can cause the most serious damages to litigants, and consequences including anything from direct loss of cases to protracted procedural complications are reflected in a large number of cases. 

Each time when a privileged document is leaked, there is no real remedy. Clawing-back documents gives the producing party only a right to stop the receiving party from using the leaked documents directly. However, nothing can stop the receiving party from collecting information from other sources to strength its case by using the leaked documents as road maps. One should expect....

Flaws in Keywords Search Methods In E-Discovery

The document review industry has used search methods for various purposes. The use of search methods has been validated by using flawed validation methods. I could show the validation methods that have been used are flawed due to interference of networked-based distributed review model on performance, reviewer qualification mismatches, using tag counts in validation methods, and the misuse of statistical methods. Statistical methods, which always involve using small probability theory to address low-frequency high-risk problems, are sufficient to make most search results invalid. The flaw in using statistical methods in litigation is similar to using the small probability theory to address....

Ten Foundational Flaws in E-Discovery Models

E-discovery Flaws and Potential Soluations