When 30 + 2 Doesn’t Equal 32

When 30 + 2 Doesn’t Equal 32

By Audrey Priolo, Litigation Review Attorney

Before working at American LegalNet, I did not have time to delve into the seemingly infinite exceptions and intricacies of date calculations.  While the thought of taking hours to analyze time calculations spoke to my OCD tendencies and love of research, the last thing I had time to do when preparing for trial, was to sit down and deeply analyze the impact of holidays, service offsets, and reverse calculations.  Once I became a rules attorney with American LegalNet, I realized the importance of these seemingly innocuous details.  It did not cross my mind as a busy litigator that under these very “simple” deadlines lurked exceptions that could lead to missed deadlines and thus a malpractice action.

Take the example of a “simple” discovery calculation in California. First, deadlines may be impacted by weekends and holidays. (CCP 12a). Next, deadlines calculated forward will continue to roll forward when adding days for mailing, but deadlines calculated backwards will continue to roll back. (CCP 12c).  For example, the deadline to respond to interrogatories served electronically is calculated by adding 30 days to the date the discovery was propounded (CCP 2030.260(a)), then adding two court days to account for the electronic service offset (CCP 1010.6).  If the due date lands on a weekend or holiday, the deadline rolls forward and is due on the next weekday.  Simple enough, right?  Not quite.  

Consider now, the deadline for the last day to serve interrogatories electronically prior to the discovery cutoff.  Instead of calculating 30 days forward, you must count back 30 days from the discovery cutoff.  Two court days for electronic service must be added.  However, what happens when holidays and/or weekends get thrown into the mix? 

Assume you have a Discovery Cutoff of May 28, 2019.  If you calculate the last day to serve discovery by adding two court days out after the 30-day calculation, the following deadline is generated:

                                      5/28/19 – 30 days = Sunday 4/28/19 – 2 court days = 4/25/19

This calculation indicates the last day to serve interrogatories electronically is April 25, 2019. However, if interrogatories are served electronically on 4/25/19, the due date will be after the May 28, 2019 discovery cutoff. 

                                          4/25/19 + 30 days = 5/25/19 + 2 court days = 5/29/19

If relying on this calculation, you would serve the electronic interrogatories a day late.  The opposing party would likely only serve objections on May 29, 2019 because the responses were served late and due after the discovery cutoff.  Accordingly, the service offset calculation must be taken out before the 30-day calculation.  This assures the interrogatories will have a due date on (or before) the cutoff date:

                                         5/28/19 – 2 court days = 4/23/19 – 30 days = 4/23/19

If interrogatories are served on April 23, 2019, the responses will be due on the day of the discovery cutoff:

                                      4/23/19 + 30 days = 5/23/19 + 2 court days = 5/28/19

This is just one example where a seemingly “simple” calculation can lead to a wrong deadline.  Legal deadlines are full of exceptions and intricacies that many docketing clerks and attorneys always take the time to properly analyze.  Fortunately, there are attorneys researching and analyzing the inner workings of deadlines.  However, it is still extremely important for all docketing clerks and attorneys to fully understand and examine deadlines to ensure deadlines are calendared and double-checked properly.  Without this full knowledge and the right calendaring system in place, eventually an important deadline will be missed.  For further discussions regarding deadlines, check American LegalNet’s online blog as we will continue to publish articles to raise awareness and prevent calendaring errors.   

Audrey L. Priolo is a licensed California attorney with over 13 years of litigation and trial experience, who now works at American LegalNet as a Litigation Review Attorney.  Questions may be directed to apriolo@alncorp.com

Click HERE to view the video.

Important Federal Courts Proposed Rule Changes

Important Federal Courts Proposed Rule Changes

On June 25, 2019, the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved publication of proposed amendments to the following: 

  • Appellate Rules 3, 6, 42, and Forms 1 and 2;
  • Rule 3:  adds in language to clearly define that the notice of appeal encompasses all orders that lead to the judgment or appealable order, so as not to have to spell each one out. Also, spells out that appellant may designate only part of the judgment or order it is appealing.
  • Rule 6: Edits the Official Forms 1 and 2 for Notice of Appeal.
  • Rule 42: Dismissal of Appeals; mandates that the clerk dismiss an appeal if the parties so stipulate.
  • Bankruptcy Rules 2005, 3007, 7007.1, and 9036; 
  • Rule 2005: Apprehension and Removal of Debtor to Compel Attendance for Examination
  • Rule 3007: Objections to Claims: addresses definitions of certain institutions and related service issues.
  • Rule 7007.1 Corporate Ownership Statement: to make applicable to  nongovernmental
    corporations seeking to intervene and would no longer require the submission of two copies of the statement.
  • Rule 9036: Notice and Service by Electronic Transmission: In order to encourage and increase the use of electronic notice and service in the bankruptcy courts.
  • Civil Rule 7.1. Proposes two changes: The first is to conform Rule  7.1 to pending amendments to Appellate Rule 26.1 and Bankruptcy Rule 8012(a). The second is to facilitate the determination whether diversity jurisdiction is defeated by attribution of a nonparty’s citizenship to a party.

The comment period is open from August 19, 2019 to February 19, 2020

 Click HERE for the Preliminary Draft of the Proposed Amendments.

American LegalNet SCORES BIG at ILTACON 2019

ILTACON 2019 Logo

American LegalNet SCORES BIG
at ILTACON 2019

By Erez Bustan, President and CEO

Team American LegalNet has finally recovered from a very busy and very successful ILTACON, the annual conference of the International Legal Technology Association. I want to say CONGRATULATIONS, THANK YOU and GREAT JOB to the amazing people on the ILTA Team and the ALN Team for a fabulous learning and networking event. I agree with Ron Friedman’s assessment that the big themes this year were platforms, innovation, and artificial intelligence. We scored big on all three.

By every standard we measure a conference at our company – quality demos and meetings, booth visits, Media PR interviews, responses to our annual Risk Management Survey and synergistic strategy sessions at Phins Bar – we had an incredible conference. ILTACON is all about networking and it seemed like we met and talked to all 1800 plus attendees over the five long, fun, action packed days.

Erez at ILTACON 2019We saw tremendous interest in our product demo room and in our booth and the enthusiasm seemed to build as the week went on and the good news about ALN spread throughout the show. Some great interviews with the onsite press helped spread that news about the exciting things going on with ALN. A special thank you to Niki Black for her reference.  AboveTheLaw ALN article

ILTACON 2019 Panel

I also want to make a special shout-out for a great job to April Heimerl of Fish & Richardson who was on the Software Dating Game panel (best practices for choosing a vendor) – particularly her advice about starting with strategic planning and understanding what your goals and requirements are – and try to avoid introducing any bias throughout the process. We couldn’t be prouder to have such a distinguished and happy client.

Our annual ILTA Risk Management Survey had twice the participation of last year and should provide some incredible insights that will help everyone see where we are going in the future. Those survey results will be released soon through ILTA.

ILTACON 2019 Table TennisWe also had a great time at the ALN Cup Table Tennis Tournament that was held on Monday night. There was some great sportsmanship, a lot of fun, and some very close matches leading up to the finals. Here I am congratulating the finalists – the big winner Rodney Holaday (Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease), Doug Mathews (Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease, LLP) and Joshua Silverman (Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.). 

Our big technology announcement was our strategic partnership with ZERO to bring AI-powered automation to the docketing process. The new collaboration combines ALN’s calendaring and docketing platform with ZERØ’s artificial intelligence technology to provide seamless processing of litigation-based emails and documents into a firms’ document management system (DMS). There was great interest in what we are doing as the first Docketing Software vendor to introduce AI into docketing. Once again, we are leading the way in empowering docketing professionals with technology. 

Thanks to all our clients and the numerous prospects that came by to connect with us at the conference and all the wonderful and kind emails we have received following ILTACON. I assure you that we enjoyed and appreciated meeting each of you.

Cloud-Based Docketing Workflow Helps Law Firms Reduce Risk, Increase Efficiency and solve Technology Overload

Cloud-Based Docketing Workflow Helps Law Firms Reduce Risk, Increase Efficiency and solve Technology Overload

By Erez Bustan, Founder and CEO, American LegalNet 

For many law firms, litigation workflow and risk management can sometimes create black boxes of inefficiency. Those working in the thick of the process are familiar with the frustrations of an outdated system or a single point of failure, while others who would benefit from a streamlined process keep themselves at arms’ length in hopes of preserving their sanity and their jobs. In a resource crunch, these necessary internal processes can buckle under the simultaneous pressure of attempting to acquire new business and keeping the assembly line from jamming up.  A highly reliable, cloud-based docketing platform can allow you to be successful at both.

The modern legal practice is not only seeking internal efficiency from its employees, but from increasingly complex layers of technology. Many firms have turned to cloud-based solutions to satisfy these requirements. With a SaaS-based solution, you get the benefits of the cloud combined with the benefits of a centralized workflow, along with document and record management – allowing law firms to provide more to a client in less time.

Clients have come to expect that value. But when an internal team is struggling to play catch-up with an increasing list of requirements, those expectations can become a sunk cost rather than an opportunity to save time and resources. Even when an in-house team creates an adequate workflow system, the internal process can be difficult to scale as new business places heavier demands on the system . Wide-sweeping data processes can create information overload that an internal system wasn’t built to handle. Moving those challenges to the cloud allows faster adoption, reduces IT overhead and stress and can ensure data integrity and data security.

Challenges aside, the research indicates that embracing the proper technology platform is in the best interest of a law firm’s business. Blue Hill Research has found that litigation firms who use a full suite of integrated legal technology,( which is easier, faster and more secure in the cloud) have seen, on average, an increase in client satisfaction, a 6 percent reduction in IT costs, and a 14 percent increase in billings.  For a major law firm that could mean millions.

So, the answer for a potentially overwhelmed litigation end-to-end workflow is not to avoid new technology, but to take a step back and make high-level decisions on which integrated platforms to pursue. With the proper vendor partnering with the correct experts, offering a proven cloud-based solution, law firms can successfully:

  • Automate legal calendaring to mitigate risks and increase productivity
  • Allow for phased deployment without disrupting users
  • Continuously access updated court rules and data
  • Protect oneself against legal exposure from data breaches and hacks
  • Check comprehensively for conflicts
  • Integrate multiple elements into a unified dashboard – emails, documents, calendars, research, and contacts
  • Streamline billing and integrate with financial performance information
  • Support a growing remote workforce
  • Reduce IT infrastructure and support costs
  • Properly scale capabilities without escalating costs

Finding a cloud-based technology platform that can provide these features is step one. But subsequently guarding the security of your existing data and the newly created data of ones’ clients and employees has become equally important. As recently shown in the Capital One data breach, simply relying on the shared public cloud can create a giant security blind spot.

When discussing a potential partnership with a vendor, set aside time to discuss data security and seek a vendor who actually has used the applications and understands your business. The hosting side of the solution needs to understand technology and cyber risk. They need to be properly certified and have a history of successfully hosting sensitive data.

ILTACON 2019 visitors can learn more about the convergence of automated docketing and secure hosting. Bruce S. Markowitz, VP of eDiscovery at Evolver Legal Services, will be joining American LegalNet at Booth 209. Bruce has certifications in Information Governance, Record and Enterprise Content.  Formerly an American LegalNet user for many years, Bruce now oversees the hosting and management of ALN’s suite of tools on Evolver’s private cloud for ALN clients. Visitors can learn more ahead of time by visiting ALNcorp.com .

American LegalNet and ZERØ Partner to bring AI-Powered Automation to the Law Firm Docketing Process

American LegalNet and ZERØ Partner to Bring AI-Powered Automation to the Law Firm Docketing Process

American LegalNet (ALN), the leading provider of innovative litigation workflow management technologies and trusted partner to over half of the AmLaw 100, and ZERØ, provider of the legal industry’s most innovative artificial intelligence email management technology, today launched a new integrated solution that automates the filing of litigation-related emails and documents and intelligently directs them into a law firm’s DMS.

The partnership enables ALN and ZERØ to integrate their products, combining ZERØ’s artificial intelligence capabilities with ALN’s premier calendaring and docketing platform eDockets and its AutoDocket ProTM feature. This integration will reduce the risks associated with the traditionally time-consuming task of manually sorting and filing large volumes of information. The integration will be showcased in ALN’s Booth #209 at ILTACON.

“Docket management is one of the more important, but often overlooked, aspects of both the practice and business of law frequently left to overworked docket managers or paralegals in the back office,” said ALN President and CEO Erez Bustan. “Mismanaging docketing causes harm to cases and clients on a regular basis, opening firms to immense financial and reputational risk. Our vision is to provide an intelligent end-to-end single litigation workflow platform designed to reduce risk, promote efficiency and provide more security. That’s why we’re automating processes with advanced technologies like ZERØ’s. We believe our clients will experience all of these benefits through this new integration.”

Built on the latest technology, ALN’s eDockets platform centralizes the docketing process, providing the latest updated court rules and filing requirements to simplify filing and management processes. ZERØ applies intelligent automation, on either mobile or desktop devices, to predict filing destinations for emails to ensure that they land into the correct client/matter folder in the DMS. ALN and ZERØ’s partnership creates the first AI-driven solution that will allow law firms to further reduce non-billable, labor-intensive end-to-end workflows by managing manual administrative tasks with AI. In addition, law firms and other end users will experience improved records operation and management in their ability to find the most current version of pleadings in their DMS on demand.

“ZERØ’s AI technology was built for precisely this purpose—to analyze large volumes of information sent through email so that critical data can be processed faster and more accurately than ever before,” said ZERØ CEO Alex Babin. “Our partnership with ALN applies that same intelligence to seamlessly organize court documents and connect them with the firm’s existing DMS, ultimately enhancing how docketed and related court documents are managed.”

Some key benefits of the integration include:

  • Risk Reduction. ALN’s eDockets and ZERØ’s integrated product automation helps reduce liability by mitigating the risk of errors from manual tasks of sorting and filing and replacing it with a reliable and consistent filing system.
  • Additional Attorney Billable Time. ALN’s eDockets and ZERØ’s integrated product and the enhanced AutoDocket Pro capabilities will save firms both time and money by downloading documents from court websites automatically, using existing free access policies to avoid downloading charges. In addition, attorneys will see their billable time increase as a result of the automated document sorting capability, which eliminates the time-consuming practice of manual entry filing.
  • Security and Efficiency. ZERØ’s secure architecture is the most advanced in the industry, operating inside a device and remaining completely within a firm’s security perimeter with no third-party cloud processing. This solves the problem of document accessibility, which was a significant challenge for law firms. For the first time, instead of an attachment, a link to the document can be sent through email and made accessible outside the firm’s security perimeter.

Click HERE to read the Press Release.

New Chief Clerk Named for NY County’s Supreme Court-Civil Term

New Chief Clerk Named for NY County’s Supreme Court-Civil Term

Denis Reo Esq. has been named Chief Clerk of State Supreme Court’s Civil Term in Manhattan, the Court’s highest-ranking non-judicial employee. Under the direction of the Court’s Administrative Judge, Hon. Deborah Kaplan, Mr. Reo will oversee operations related to case processing, budget preparation, personnel management, coordination with non-court agencies, and receipt and disbursement of fines and fees, among other duties, in New York State’s busiest Supreme Court-Civil Term. He succeeds the Court’s long-serving Chief Clerk, John F. Werner, who recently retired. 

“Denis Reo is a skilled attorney and adept manager whose extensive knowledge of the law and court operations will prove invaluable in his new capacity as Chief Clerk. I am pleased that he has accepted this critical assignment and look forward to our working together to further the goals of the Chief Judge’s Excellence Initiative and better serve the civil justice needs of New York County,” said Judge Kaplan.

“Since joining the court system 15 years ago, Mr. Reo has enthusiastically pursued increasingly challenging management roles, acquiring vast knowledge of all aspects of court operations and earning the praise of colleagues and the public alike for his expertise, tireless work ethic and dedication to public service. While I will greatly miss working with him as my Chief of Staff, I congratulate Denis on his well-deserved appointment and know he will be a tremendous asset to New York County’s Supreme Court-Civil Term,” said Hon. George J. Silver, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the New York City Courts.

Denis Reo began his court career in 2004 as a Court Attorney in New York County Supreme Court’s Civil Term. He subsequently held this title in Civil Court in Kings County, later serving as a Senior Court Attorney in Family Court in the Bronx, then as a Principal Court Attorney and a Principal Law Clerk in New York County Supreme Court’s Civil Term. In 2017, he was named Special Assistant to Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Silver and has since been serving as Judge Silver’s Chief of Staff, providing administrative guidance and support for New York City’s trial-level courts in a broad range of areas including case processing and management, trial court operations, human resources, fiscal management and technology.

Mr. Reo is a graduate of St. John’s University of Law School.

His appointment is effective August 8, 2019.

 Click HERE for the original press release.

Expansion of eFiling in New York

Expansion of eFiling in New York

There are significant changes/expansion to NY Appellate Division First Department Electronic Filing categories, both mandatory and consensual. New case types have been added which will greatly expand the volume of cases that will be electronically filed. This will have an affect on calendaring in the sense that the Appellate Division First Department briefing schedule runs on their Term Calendar, so depending on when you “perfect your appeal” (which is the date you serve and file your Appellant’s Brief, Record on Appeal and Note of Issue), that will determine the due dates for Respondents Brief, Appellants Reply Brief and other incidental items such as Stipulations of Adjournment, Oral Argument Time Requests, and Letters Regarding Unavailable Dates for Argument. In addition, from a practical perspective, if you want to have your appeal calendared for argument and heard in 2019, and your Notice of Appeal is dated on or after July 15, 2019, or in matters in which notices of appeal are dated prior to July 15, 2019 and where the appeal will be perfected on or after September 1, 2019, this severely limits your ability to do so, since the only available terms left in 2019 that you can perfect for are now October, November and December. Click HERE for the 2019 term calendar. 

The First Department is expanding the categories of appeals that will be subject eFiling.  Beginning on July 15, 2019, eFiling will be mandatory in the following case types originating in the Supreme Court, Bronx and New York Counties:

     ► Medical, Dental or Podiatric Malpractice

     ► Other Professional Malpractice

In addition, beginning on July 15, 2019, the Court will permit voluntary, consensual eFiling in all other tort matters originating in the Supreme Court, Bronx and New York Counties. All parties to an appeal must consent to the voluntary participation in eFiling.

This expansion of mandatory eFiling in malpractice matters and the consensual eFiling in other tort matters will be effective as follows:

     ► Matters in which notices of appeal are dated on or after July 15, 2019;

     ► Matters in which notices of appeal are dated prior to July 15, 2019 and where the appeal will be perfected on or after September 1, 2019.  In these matters, compliance with the requirements of 22 NYCRR 1245.3(a) (Entry of Initial Information for Electronic Filing) will be measured from July 15, 2019.

     ► Appeals on malpractice matters which have already been perfected are exempt from the mandatory eFiling requirements.

 You should also note:

     “will be perfected on our after September 1, 2019 “ means only eligible terms in 2019 to perfect for and be heard in 2019 are the November and December Terms.

     Impact: will increase already crowded Term Calendars and could lead to more administrative adjournments of appeals to future terms.

These changes follow Presiding Justice Rolando Acosta’s priorities to modernize the court through use of technology like eFiling and live streaming of oral arguments..

If you have any questions, comments or feedback please contact Court Rules at CourtRules@AmericanLegalNet.com

ALN Risk Management Learnings

ALN Risk Management Learnings

Here is a short video by Audrey Priolo, one of over a dozen Attorneys with American LegalNet, as part of our new series – ALN Risk Management Learnings – where we will be talking about case law and court rules, as well as related deadlines, and best practices relative to risk management for law firms. In this video Audrey talks about “Forum non conveniens” the legal doctrine whereby courts may refuse to take jurisdiction over matters where there is a more appropriate forum available to the parties.

If you want to learn more about this subject or want to share any suggestions on this or future topics, please leave a comment below.

Click HERE to read the full article.

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