Ed. note: This is the latest installment of the ETL Tech Interrogatories. This feature will give notable tech leaders an opportunity to share insights and experiences about the legal technology industry.
David A. Greetham is Vice President of eDiscovery Sales and Operations at Ricoh USA, Inc., responsible for driving Ricoh’s computer forensic and eDiscovery services growth. Throughout his career, Greetham has been retained by law firms and corporations as a Testifying and Consulting Expert in the area of Computer Forensics and is a Certified Forensic Litigation Consultant by the Forensic Expert Witness Association (FEWA). Greetham has testified as a forensic expert on many occasions both nationally and internationally. In addition, he is the inventor and developer of Remlox™, a patented forensically sound “remote-collection” tool that has been deployed in 39 countries throughout the world.
What is the greatest challenge to the legal technology industry over the next 5 years?
Definitely the continued increase of the volume of data that we create as a society. This will require improved technologies to trawl through petabytes of data in order to segregate potentially relevant documents for legal hold or litigation. While AI will likely play a part in this, augmented technology will need to combine machine learning and human intelligence.
What has been the biggest positive change in legal technology since the start of your career?
There are several things that stand out – around 2010 the acceptance of remote forensic collections was significant and changed forever how we collect data in eDiscovery and investigative matters. Additionally, the availability and adoption of secure Cloud technologies provided the backplane for migrating from Capex to Opex for corporate legal departments.
What has been the biggest negative change in legal technology since the start of your career?
For a while, around 2006, I saw a lot of trivial lawsuits start to pop up. And when I say trivial, these lawsuits were not based on the pursuit of justice, more the pursuit of wealth. Often this was facilitated by over burdensome and expensive discovery requests as a strategy to induce favorable settlements. FRCP changes since this time has focused more on proportionality which is designed to ensure burdensome discovery requests do not have the same strategic muscle that they once had.
What do you think would help firms become earlier adopters of new technologies?
In a way, each Law Firm has a unique culture. I have noticed that some progressive firms have placed technologists (non-lawyers) in key leadership roles, which emphasizes the perceived importance of using technology solutions as a commercial advantage. This recognition of the importance of technology makes a lot of sense and I believe these progressive firms will have the edge on firms that have stayed more traditional.
What is the biggest cybersecurity blunder you’ve seen in working with lawyers and law firms?
I am surprised at how many lawyers have been victims of phishing attacks, happily clicking on links from unknown recipients, offering untold riches. I think the worst instance I’ve seen was a Senior Partner at an AmLaw 100 Firm with Ivy League pedigree give his passwords and credentials to a new person from the Law Firm’s IT department over the phone. The “new person” in IT of course was part of an external call scam. Later that day, the Law Firm’s bank called to confirm a $400,00 electronic transfer. Fortunately, the bank was on top of it and no company monies were lost.
What do you think the future holds for legal technology?
More data means more technological and automated ways of managing the data, from internal tasks such as contract management to external requirements such as identification and analysis/export of data subject to legal review (compliance and eDiscovery). Some tools already offer some elements of internal legal data management, but significant maturing of these tools is required, particularly in the areas of AI and automation.
PC or Mac?
Both – PC for work
