Making sense out of the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) & implications for electronic discovery

There is quite a bit of coverage and confusion about what these new rules mean to companies on a variety of levels – from retention to legal exposure. Most pertinent to us is what they mean for corporate email and how companies must prepare for the unsavory business reality of litigation.

To address this topic, we did a short webcast with our partner Onsite (who provides e-discovery services) in an attempt to have a practical discussion about what these changes mean and how to make sense out of them. Here’s the link via Law.com.

Yes, I know that webcasts can be a bit dull and this is certainly a promotional piece. However, we tried something a little different starting with an interview style Q&A discussion at the beginning and saving the standard Powerpoint sales pitch slides for the end.

Feel free to bail out as we get into our respective sales pitches, but take a few minutes to listen to the discussion on the front end. Terry, who leads consulting for Onsite, is very knowledgeable and in about four short slides boils this down pretty well.

Also, see if you can figure out where I lost my audio connection and had to scramble to dial back in…

Think before you send

Article in today’s Seattle Times by Marc Ramirez about email use and the implications of not thinking about what you are sending. Reinforces several of the same things from my earlier Miranda Warning for Email post.

It also profiles a new book by David Shipley of the NY Times and Will Schwalbe of Hyperion Books – Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home. Not sure if it is worth a purchase as Marc compared it to trying to make “a bottle of wine with a few choice grapes” so not the highest of praise for sure.

Good article on the recurring theme of email being both huge source of risk and essential business tool.

Something you must do when visiting Seattle

I am not going to re-hash all the travel advice that is out there about Seattle as there is no shortage of it, but wanted to share something that I thought you would enjoy.

A friend recommended (thanks Jessica) this quick day trip when I first moved here and I was finally able to do it yesterday with my family in town – a ferry trip to Bainbridge Island.

Bainbridge Island is a 30-40 minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle and feeds the romanticized "take a ferry to work" images that originate here.  I have several friends that live there and love it.  I’ve been on this ferry a few times as we have traveled out to the Olympic peninsula on various excursions but never stopped in town.

It’s pretty easy to do:

    1. Grab the ferry schedule here

    2. Drive on or walk on

    3. Once you get to Bainbridge Island, head to the City Center up the hilll and left at the light.

We ended up at Doc’s Marina Grill for a lunch with 6 adults and 3 children under 5 – quite a crew. They were great and accommodated our large party quickly. It sits right on the marina next to Pegasus CoffeeCafé Nola.

It’s just the right amount of time and distance to get out on the water, experience a ferry ride, and get one of the best views of the city as you come and go.
and has a great view. Another great stop is