My name is "Frank"... it is good to meet You

Does anyone remember the childhood tale “Rip Van Winkle”, by Washington Irving? If not, when you finish reading this page just Google the name and take a peek at the summarized version on Wikipedia. It will all make sense to you then. I consider myself in a strange sort of way, to be rising from a 20 year nap (in my case a 5 year hiatus) and stunned to discover the accelerated amount of progression within the legal industry particularly of Litigation Support (sometimes referred to as E-discovery or Practice Support).   

I was saying to myself wow; it has been a very long time since I sat in front of a PC staring at Summation iBlaze version 2.7.1. It’s been awhile since I ran a large print job at 3:59 on a Friday afternoon that needs to be reviewed this weekend by the team on the 32nd floor, or granting access to the newest team member on the case at 4:30 that same afternoon. Does anyone in Lit Support even do these tasks anymore?

When I was in the Lit Support department back in 2006 that is what we did, among other things. I enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed the people; I loved to learn new methods of tackling/trouble shooting a case scenario, the constant speed of the department heading into a weekend. I enjoyed Lit Support very much.  

It is 2011 and I am pretty eager to work in someone’s Lit Support Department. Like Rip Van Winkle, I am wide awake now and the Lit Supp world is a different place than when I last saw it. There are numerous Networking groups and LinkedIn groups, Blogs, and Organizations, a slew of conferences all year round. There is a process for Lit Support now called the “Litigation Lifecycle”; a fancy term that depicts a model that speaks of properly managing electronic data is called the EDRM model. Heck, the federal government even stepped in to allow for ESI to be used more freely and in a manageable fashion. All of this is new to me, nonetheless very intriguing even from the distance that I currently stand. I have committed myself to making this discovery, through classes both online and on campus, joining networks, seeking out mentors, and traveling to where ever the opportunity to learn, meet and do presents itself. 

Like Rip, I am searching to re-discover my place among what was once familiar. This blog is just an expression of that journey. Thanks for spending the time here today.

Frank