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| Computer Assisted Litigation 2006 Mid-Term Exam #1 |
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| Sunday, 03 December 2006 | |
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PACIFIC McGEORGE SCHOOL OF LAW COMPUTER-ASSISTED LITIGATION PROFESSORS GALVES, PIGANELLI SPRING, 2006 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 MID-TERM#1 4:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M. MID-TERM EXAM INSTRUCTIONS 1. This is a 2 hour examination (120 minutes). Write your ANONYMOUS exam number: on this Mid-Term Exam AND, because you are typing your exam answers on your laptop, make sure your exam number is contained on the top sheet of your exam answer document (and on your CD or floppy if you want it back). Also, write your number on your Scantron sheets for the multiple choice portion of the Mid-Term. (And your bluebook if you handwrite your answers). 2. This is a three-part exam. Part One consists of THIRTY-THREE (33) SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS, Part Two consists of TWENTY-THREE (23) MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS, and Part Three consists of ONE (1) ESSAY QUESTION with 3 three subparts. You should spend about SIXTY (60) minutes on the short essay question section, about TWENTY-FIVE (25) minutes on the multiple choice questions, and about THIRTY-FIVE (35) minutes on the essay question. Be sure to KEEP AND BUDGET YOUR TIME. 3. You have an average of almost (2) TWO minutes per question for the short answer portion (and about 1 minute for each of the multiple choice questions but they will take less time to answer). You may be able to answer some questions in as little as 20 seconds, but others may take a few minutes to answer (so use your judgment). None of the short answer questions requires much more than a paragraph of explanation. 4. For the multiple choice portion, select the best answer for each question from among the stated alternatives. The best answer among the stated alternatives is not necessarily the best possible answer or the best expression of the correct answer. Sometimes the best answer will be arrived at by a process of elimination (something clearly wrong with the other choices.) Choose only one answer for each question. Mark it on the Scantron answer sheets (and on your Mid-Term so you can later check your answers against the key) with the No. 2 lead pencils provided. If you change an answer, make sure your answer is clear. 5. This is an open-book, open note exam, so you may consult the Arkfeld book, the Flinder’s Aluminum case file, the Supplemental Reading Materials, and your notes/computer. 6. When typing your exam answers, make sure to turn in TO THE PROCTOR a floppy disc or CD containing your exam answers (please use Word or WordPerfect word processing programs to type and save your exam answers). Your CD or floppy will not be returned if it does not have your exam number on it 7. You may not take the examination itself away (TURN IT IN ALONG WITH YOUR ANSWERS). Answers are invalid if the examination itself is not turned in with your answer. Please turn in: (1) The Mid-Term questions (this packet), and (2) a floppy disc or CD containing a Word or WordPerfect document of your answer so the Registrar can print it out. 8. This Mid-Term Exam is worth 20% of your final grade. B DO NOT BEGIN UNTIL YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO SO B PART ONE OF THREE PARTS (Short answer questions) 1. How is OCR different from scanning a document and which is a court more likely to admit? 2. What is the number one cause of malpractice lawsuits and how can technology help solve the problem? 3. In a trial team meeting, one of the partners suggests that the team should “OCR everything.” In the case documents, there are blueprints, as well as many handwritten documents. The partner says a guy named Tim Piganelli came to the firm and said, “Once you OCR your case documents you can search for any word in any document.” The partner says, “So I guess if we OCR everything we will be able to find whatever we need.” What do you tell him? 4. A scanning vendor comes to your firm and tells you that “all you need to do is scan in all of your documents and then place them all on a CD, then copy those to your hard drive for a complete Full-Text Document Management Search and Retrieval system.” What do you tell him before kicking him out the door? 5. Your partner wants you to find all the documents in the case that were authored by Mr. Jackson and then give them to the partner in chronological order. Briefly explain how you would do that using Summation. Could CaseMap do the same thing? Would you search for any other terms besides “Mr. Jackson”? 6. Your partner tells you that scanning the documents into images and putting them on CD or loading them on the firm=s Network for search purposes is impossible. He claims his son is a Acomputer guru@ and told him that you can=t search for words or phrases within any image file. Is there a way around the problem? 7. Your firm has decided to use Summation in managing a very large, document intensive case. The lead attorney indicates that since the amount of documents is very large, she has decided to Aoutsource@ (pay someone to perform a task) some of the coding/data entry to a database-coding firm. What suggestions do you make regarding the objective and subjective coding? 8. What is the difference between hourly billing, contingency fee billing and value-billing? 9. How can technology save money for a law firm if all the technology does is save time in performing tasks resulting in less time that can be billed to the client? 10. Is there or should there be an ethical duty to use technology in the practice of law? B CONTINUE PART ONE OF THE EXAM B 11. In CaseMap, how would you find all of the documents related to or linked to one issue? 12. Explain specifically how the Internet can be very helpful at various stages of pre-trial litigation. 13. How would you produce a chronological time map of all the events that have happened in your case so far. 14. How would one add more columns in a spreadsheet in CaseMap? 15. Your client wants to get rid of all of its “old” electronic data so it asks you if they can erase any document that is more than 5 years old. The client asks for your legal advice and input in this matter. How would you advise? 16. A lawyer in your firm tells you that because your opponents have produced e-discovery on CD’s all you have to do now is download them and search them and it is not necessary to convert or process them anymore because they are already digitized – is that correct? 17. What disadvantages does “ODR” have when compared to regular ADR? 18. In the Flinder’s Aluminum case, you want to find the name of a person but you are unsure what the correct spelling of the last name is. What would you do to search for the name? 19. Why might a party decide NOT to depose a witness in a case? 20. What is “informal discovery”? Provide some specific examples of informal discovery both using technology and not using technology. Open up Summation and go to the Franc v Morris case. Find the following documents. List the Bates number and explain how you found the document/words on the page and what you did to view the image of the document. 21. A March, 1999 drawing -- What are the two “PVC” sizes specified in this drawing? 22. A document that says “During our first visit to the site” -- What are the first four words in the first line, in the last paragraph, on the page you found the above search string. 23. One of documents was summarized by one of the partners with the language…“Marked- up original drainage and fill plan” What type of document is this and briefly describe it. 24. Find all documents in the following date range: Between 3/15/98 and 4/1/99. (Use the Full Boolean option and not Click and Find). How many are there? 25. We are going to depose “David Jones” next week. How many documents did he author? B CONTINUE PART ONE OF THE EXAM B 26. Using CaseMap, in which "Sheet" would you put information that you found in the complaint that told you who all the parties involved in the suit were? 27. In CaseMap how would you generate a report that would give us all the Facts that are “Heavily For Us?” 28. In CaseMap, how do you view, only the Document in your case? 29. In Summation, how would you find all the documents that William Jackson authored? 30. How many documents did William Jackson author? 31. What tool in Summation would you use to find specific language within a document that you were looking for? 32. Name 4 features in Summation besides the Document Database and the Transcript Manager. B CONTINUE PART TWO OF THE EXAM B PART TWO OF THREE PARTS (Multiple Choice Questions) 1. “Document assembly systems” are: (A) ethical violations of the law because they promote the unauthorized practice of law by non-lawyers (B) a means to allow lawyers to practice law by “filling in the blanks” (C) non-litigation based systems only (to help solely in areas of assembling legal documents such as contracts, property, bankruptcy, etc.) (D) All of the above. 2. The Internet is: (A) a way to obtain personal medical information on opposing parties (B) a way to conduct formal discovery in a court case (C) a reliable way to conduct factual research (D) None of the above 3. What strategic litigation goal can an attorney achieve with ARealtime@ reporting that cannot be achieved without it? (A) More accurate reporting because the court reporters tend to be more experienced (B) A witness can be cross-examined about a previous statement because the record can be immediately read back to the witness (C) A lawyer does not need to wait for and then read the transcript before using it to impeach (D) None of the above 4. A party: (A) does not have to receive a subpoena to be forced to attend a deposition (B) has to receive a subpoena to be forced to attend a deposition (C) has to receive a subpoena to be forced to attend a deposition, but only if it is before the lawsuit is filed (D) None of the above 5. A videotaped deposition is better than a non-video-taped deposition because: (A) it will be admitted in its entirety if the deponent dies before trial (B) it is not necessary to have a court reporter because it is already recorded (C) it records demeanor evidence (D) All of the above 6. The largest hurdles to overcome in using computer software by lawyers are: (A) initial investment & (2) time learning the software (B) judicial resistance & (2) opposing counsel (C) strategic misapplication & (2) over reliance on technology (D) loss of support staff jobs & (2) expensive hardware B CONTINUE PART TWO OF THE EXAM B 7. A Adocument database,@ as defined in Computerized Document Management and in this class, is: (A) The testimonial evidence in the case (B) OCR=d documents (C) The summarization of case related documents (D) Both case documents and the depositions 8. Issue field, Attorney Notes field and Description field are what type of fields (as discussed in class and used in Summation)? (A) Subjective (B) Objective (C) Preliminary (D) Real 9. What type of field would you expect to use for the issue field (A) A Real field (B) A multi-entry field (C) An integer field (D) A single-entry field 10. In database parlance, a “record,” as opposed to a “field” or “form,” is: (A) a data entry screen that contains different categories in order to input particular information (B) a filled-in form (C) a type of data entry port, such as author, doc type, date, etc. (D) a table of information that is the underlying foundation for the database 11. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is the process of: (A) Scanning in the documents to an image (B) Translating the image file to a text file (C) Searching the text in deposition notes (D) Translating the text file into an image file 12. In searching for key documents and specific testimony in your case which headings would you check in the ACase Explorer@? (A) The Transcripts, Core Document Database and OCR base (B) The Core Document Database and the OCR Base Notes (C) The Core Document Database and the Transcript Notes (D) The Core Document Database, Image Database and OCR Database B CONTINUE PART TWO OF THE EXAM B 13. Why is the initial coding of documents and exhibits so important? (A) Because it is the means by which you later search for the documents and exhibits (B) Because the data has to interface correctly with the software to be recognized by the computer (C) Because the lawyer must recognize the search options in order to use the software correctly (D) Because the documents coded are always protected by the work product doctrine if done by a lawyer 14. Loading documents into a computer as “full text” OCR documents makes it unnecessary to code and index scanned documents into the database (A) Because all relevant documents can be located with a full text OCR word search (assuming all search phrases are typed in correctly) (B) Is a not really true because it is still helpful and often necessary to code and index (C) Because the coding is just a way for attorneys to leave notes regarding the documents (D) None of the above 15. In the Flinder’s Aluminum case, if plaintiff asks defendant to produce all of the company’s e-mail messages, the defendant’s attorney should object (A) because all such e-mail messages are privileged, except the irrelevant information (B) because all such e-mails are work-product (C) as “overbroad” but still produce all relevant documents (D) because they will be inadmissible at trial, even though they are all discoverable 16. How many fields should you use in your database? (A) as many as you need to accurately describe the documents in summary form (B) no more than five because most clients will not pay for more fields (C) no more than five, but only if you also OCR the documents (D) both “B” and “C” 17. “Meta data” is helpful in discovery because (A) it provides the organizational structure of all of the documents for easy retrieval (B) it provides additional information as to the creation and receipt of e-mail (C) it provides the image link to the document coding (D) it provides a way to see the path of creation for every digitized document B CONTINUE PART TWO OF THE EXAM B 18. On-Line Dispute Resolution (“ODR”) goes beyond traditional Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) because (A) it allows litigants and attorneys to solve the dispute outside the normal litigation court systems (B) it solves the personal jurisdiction and conflicts of law problems (C) it solves the personal jurisdiction and conflicts of law problems, but ADR allows for disputants to agree to a forum and agree on applicable law so this is not much of an innovation (D) it allows for more instantaneous communication given the technology 19. Which of the following field choices are typically as discussed in class objective field? (A) Date, Issue and CC (B) DocType, Date, Attorney Notes (C) EndBates, Date, Author (D) Summary, Description, Attorney Notes 20. Which field, as discussed in class, would you go to find the analysis one of the trial team members inputted into the database? (A) Summary (B) Attorney Notes (C) Issue (D) Description 21. How many Document Summaries in Summation would a document have that has 750 pages? (A) 750 (B) None (C) 1 (D) 375 22. You are advising your trial team on finding certain language you read in the case documents 8 months ago. You can’t recall what exact document you read this very important language in. How do you suggest to your trial team to find the document you are looking for? (A) Search the Core database (B) Search the Deposition Transcripts (C) Select and search the OCR Base (D) Select and search the Core Database, Transcripts, e-Docs and Deposition Notes. 23. In response to a Rule 33 interrogatory an answering party can produce electronic data/documents instead of an answer (A) as long as they are all accessible on the Internet (B) as long as they are all in PDF format (C) as long as they are kept in the same format as found in the company files (D) as long as they are rearranged and organized in an easily retrievable format. B CONTINUE PART THREE OF THE EXAM B PART THREE OF THREE PARTS (Essay Question) Assume you are the attorney for defendant Mismo Insurance in the Flinder’s Aluminum case. Your law firm is considering using technology in the pre-trial aspects of the litigation but is concerned about the cost, practicality and time loss regarding getting up to speed with the technology. (1) Convince the firm that it should use technology extensively in the pre-trial phase of the case. Provide arguments that are supported by specific examples of how the use of technology in the case would assist you in better representing the client and why it would be worth it. * * * Assume Mismo responds to Flinder’s Rule 34 Request for Production of Documents by producing a CD full of e-mails and other electronic files. Flinder’s argues that Mismo has failed to produce because Flinder’s asked for paper documents not electronic files. In response, Mismo sends printed paper documents of the files. A new lawyer for Flinder’s takes a look at the paper documents produced and compares them with the original CD submitted and finds that the printed documents do not contain any “metadata” that were produced with the electronic documents, nor do the printed documents include some privileged documents that were accidentally included on the CD in electronic form. (2) Can Flinder’s now use the privileged information and the metadata on the CD or is Flinder’s limited to the printed paper documents because that is what they demanded? * * * (3) Assume Flinder’s Aluminum is located in California and Mismo Insurance is based in New York and their insurance agreement was negotiated and drafted on line over the Internet. Flinder’s is suing Mismo in California state court but Mismo has hardly any contacts to California. What procedural problems will likely arise and how might ODR solve those kinds of problems? B END OF THE EXAM B |
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