In the fall of 2013, we started planning what would become an annual tradition at Relativity Fest: the Judicial Panel.
With major e-discovery rule changes on the horizon, the Relativity team—known then as the kCura team—assembled a team of federal judges and asked me to moderate this new panel with a goal of bringing complex legal and technical concepts to a combined audience in an informative, engaging, and even entertaining program.
Seed sets, spoliation, sanctions, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in an “informative, engaging, and even entertaining program”?
As they engage in imaginative play as firefighters, farmers, police officers, and poets, most kids don’t think, “Gee, Mom, my goal in life is to become an e-discovery legal technology professional.”
We had our work cut out for us.
Spanning topics and tales of tribulation from Taylor Swift to Tom Brady, our mission with the Judicial Panel has been to bring e-discovery to life, showing how intriguing the intersection of the law and technology can be.
This year at Relativity Fest, we’ll gather for the 10th annual Judicial Panel. We’ll also have prominent judges on our case law program and a new topic to cover in one session of particular importance: “The Law, the Taliban, and the Women Judges of Afghanistan.”
Through the magic of video, during this year’s Judicial Panel, we’ll look back at the early programs. Some of us who’ve been there for all 10 Judicial Panels will be on stage—but we’ll also be looking to the future with new issues and new judges who have joined us over the years.
The First Judicial Panel
After months of planning, the first Relativity Fest Judicial Panel convened on October 13, 2014, with U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer (W.D. Pa.), U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck (S.D.N.Y.), U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez (W.D. Tex.), and U.S. Magistrate Judge David Waxse (D. Kan.), with David Horrigan (then of 451 Research) serving as moderator.
Much has changed over the past decade in law, technology, and the Judicial Panel. Judge Peck has retired from the bench but has continued his legal career as senior counsel at DLA Piper; Judge Fischer remains on the bench, but she’s earned senior status; and before the second Judicial Panel in 2015, I went to work for Relativity.
Sadly, the most important change is that Judge Waxse passed away earlier this year. We remembered him in Legaltech News and on The Relativity Blog, and we’ll get to experience his wisdom and wit on this year’s Judicial Panel with videos of some of his memorable moments.
Although we’ve seen change, we do have continuity. Judge Fischer, Judge Peck, and Judge Rodriguez will be with us on the Judicial Panel, as will Judge William Matthewman and Judge Victoria McCloud from the United Kingdom. We’ll also have a new judge this year: Judge Toni E. Clarke (Ret.), the president of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ), will be joining us. We’ll be convening our 10th annual Judicial Panel on Wednesday, September 27, at 10:00 a.m. Central time.
Timeless and Timely Topics
New this year, we’ll have U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Goddard (S.D. Cal.) kicking off Relativity Fest on Tuesday, September 26, at 1:00 p.m. CT in the case law program, produced with the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS). Judge Lida Kharooti Sayed, formerly a judge in Afghanistan will be featured in the program, “The Law, the Taliban, and the Women Judges of Afghanistan,” a program we’ve developed with the NAWJ, on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. Judge Clarke will appear on both the Judicial Panel and the “Women Judges of Afghanistan” session.
As we look to this year’s program, here are some of the issues we’ll be discussing:
- Cooperation in the Law. We’ll begin the Judicial Panel with one of the topics most important to Judge Waxse: cooperation in e-discovery specifically and in the law in general. We’ll hear from Judge Waxse via video with a novel approach to encouraging cooperation among counsel. We’ll also hear from the judges in 2023 about whether things are getting better—or following the sad trajectory of society in general, with civility often falling by the wayside.
- The Rules of e-Discovery. In the early years, the 2015 e-discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the 2008 amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence were big issues. Have they had the predicted impact? We’ll discuss—and we may even bring back a quick visit to the Peck Poll on Fed. R. Evid. 502(d).
- Inclusion and Diversity in the Law. With a new decade, inclusion and diversity became an important topic in the roaring 2020s—but on the Judicial Panel, we were addressing the topic before then. Are things getting better? We’ll find out.
- Technology from TAR to AI. When we started the Judicial Panel, technology-assisted review (TAR) was the big e-discovery technology topic of the day. In 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) has supplanted TAR as the tech topic du jour, and we’ll examine the legal, technical, policy, and cultural implications.
- Technical Competence. We’ve addressed the issue over the years, and we’ll hear from the judges about what they’re seeing—for better or for worse.
How You Can Join Us
As you plan your visit to Relativity Fest, please plan on joining us for our programming with the judges.
You can start your Fest on Tuesday with Judge Goddard on case law and then join us for the Judicial Panel and “The Law, the Taliban, and the Women Judges of Afghanistan” on Wednesday.
At the “Women Judges of Afghanistan” program—taking place right after the Judicial Panel on Wednesday—you’ll be able to learn about the harrowing ordeal of our friends in Afghanistan; some background on the law of Afghanistan and how it’s different, and in some ways similar, to the law in the West; and—perhaps most importantly—you can learn how you can help.
It’s still not too late to join us at Relativity Fest. You can register here to attend either with us for the experience in Chicago or online from the convenience of your home or office.
Wherever you join us for the judges, you have the opportunity to earn continuing legal education (CLE) credit, and, even if you don’t need CLE credit, you can learn about the important issues of the day—and having an enjoyable time doing it.
David Horrigan is Relativity’s discovery counsel and legal education director. An attorney, award-winning journalist, law school guest lecturer, and former e-discovery industry analyst, David has served as counsel at the Entertainment Software Association, reporter and assistant editor at The National Law Journal, and analyst and counsel at 451 Research. The author and co-author of law review articles as well as the annual Data Discovery Legal Year in Review, David is a frequent contributor to Legaltech News, and he was First Runner-Up for Best Legal Analysis in the LexBlog Excellence Awards. His articles have appeared also in The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The New York Law Journal, Texas Lawyer, The Washington Examiner, and others, and he has been cited by media, includingAmerican Public Media’s Marketplace, TechRepublic, and The Wall Street Journal. David serves on the Global Advisory Board of ACEDS, the Planning Committee of the University of Florida E-Discovery Conference, and the Resource Board of the National Association of Women Judges. David is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, and he is an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional/US.
