FOI - Understanding Your Search Obligations

Recent reforms to freedom of information (FOI) law in Australia have received significant media attention for their intent to improve public access to information. However, FOI is also readily used by parties involved in civil litigation as an alternative to making an application for a government agency to give discovery, either as a party or non-party, to the proceeding.

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Media Report - Mapping the new era of discovery

"In its excellent report entitled Managing Discovery of Documents in Federal Courts, the Australian Law Reform Commission rightly focuses on the need for the robust judicial management of the discovery process."

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E-Discovery and Non-English Electronically Stored Information (ESI)

Many e-discovery vendors promote Unicode as the solution to being able to process, analyse and review non-English text. However, as at January 2010, Google estimated that Unicode-encoded text accounted for fewer than 50 per cent of all web-based text that it had indexed.

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National Archives of Australia Training – E-Discovery and the Law – What is the Record?

For In Pursuit of Relevance readers in Canberra, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be presenting at the National Archives of Australia (NAA) on Tuesday, 31 May 2011.

Please click here for further information and to register. I look forward to meeting you!

HP TUF 24 - Understanding E-Discovery and FOI for Australian Information Professionals

On 8-9 March 2011, I was pleased to present a workshop on the topic of Understanding E-Discovery and FOI for Australian Information Professionals at HP TRIM User Forum 24 (TUF 24). Held at the Hotel Realm, Canberra, TUF 24 was well attended by HP representatives, exhibiting vendors and Australia's eminent information professionals.

My workshop was delivered in three parts:

• Electronic Evidence
• E-Discovery, featuring the top five Australian e-discovery decisions of 2010
• Freedom of Information (FOI), featuring recent reforms and "adequacy of search" decisions

The presentation in Portable Document Format (PDF).

Thanks to Kris Brown for the photo.

Betfair v Racing New South Wales [2010] FCA 603 (16 June 2010)

"The financial records in question come from two sources. One is an electronic data warehouse containing the electronic records of over 2.52 million customers and occupying some 21 terabytes of memory growing at 70 gigabytes per day. The second is Betfair's accounting system which consists of files generated from the warehouse each day."

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Hepburn v Teplitzky (No 2) [2010] FCA 802 (29 July 2010)

The recent decision of Justice Siopis in the Federal Court of Australia related to ongoing litigation between two former employees of Hydrocool, who made an application of contempt of court against the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hydrocool. The decision confirms well-established precedent that a party to a proceeding for contempt of court will not be ordered to give discovery in that proceeding, even of a computer hard drive.

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Automotive Dealer Administration Services v Kulik & Ors [2010] VSC 293 (25 June 2010)

The recent decision of Associate Justice Mukhtar in the Supreme Court of Victoria (Commercial and Equity Division) related to ongoing litigation between a motor vehicle warranty claim company, Automotive Dealer Administration Services, and Kulik, a former director of the company. The decision highlights the complexity of dealing with databases as part of discovery.

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Police Federation of Australia v Nixon [2010] FCA 315 (1 April 2010)

The recent decision of Justice Ryan in the Federal Court of Australia related to ongoing litigation between the Police Association Victoria and Victoria Police. The decision is notable for highlighting two significant issues associated with managing discovery, specifically for government bodies.

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In Pursuit of Relevance featured in the Law Institute Journal (Victoria), August 2010

"Byrne's explanations discuss actual cases, giving a clearer understanding of these terms."

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IIM WA Breakfast Seminar - A Practical Approach to E-Discovery

For In Pursuit of Relevance readers in Western Australia, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be presenting at the Institute for Information Management on Friday, 6 August 2010 in Perth.

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Boorer v ASIC [2010] AATA 390 (26 May 2010)

The recent decision of Brian Tamberlin QC, Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, involves, amongst other things, consideration of the record keeping practices adopted by a former company director who was associated with multiple failed companies.

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Petroulias v R [2010] NSWCCA 95 (12 May 2010)

"His Honour observed that the computerised information removed by the Inland Revenue Commissioner from the premises of one of the parties contains electronic data which, if printed, would create a tower 36 kilometres high."

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Bevan v The State of Western Australia [2010] WASCA 101 (27 May 2010)

"Push button" computer forensics is designed to reduce the case workload for computer forensic practitioners, by delegating select basic forensic tasks to those with limited or no forensic expertise. However, the recent decision of Blaxell J, with Owen and Buss JJA concurring, in the Western Australia Court of Appeal is a strong reminder that each person involved in the computer forensics lifecycle must possess basic recognised training and the ability to clearly explain their actions.

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ALRC - Review of Discovery Laws to Improve Access to Justice

"The government is considering law reform to the discovery process in civil litigation, and has called on legal experts to tell it what to do."

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