Heuristica Celebrates First Anniversary with Expanded Team

Heuristica Discovery Counsel is celebrating its first anniversary and thanks to an extremely successful first year is pleased to announce the addition of two key positions at the firm.

With the addition of several major new clients Heuristica recently has recruited Alan Dingle and Keith Bedford.

Alan and Keith bring relevant expertise and experience to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of the market and our clients. The two new positions enable Heuristica to continue its expansion and ensure that it continues to exceed client expectations.

Alan Dingle joins Heuristica as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. … Read More

Crystal O’Donnell to Speak at Legal Entrepreneurship Panel

On April 1st, Crystal O’Donnell will speak at the Commercial Litigation Women’s Breakfast.

As part of a panel discussion, Crystal will discuss alternative pathways for women entrepreneurs in the law.

The event is hosted by the Commercial Litigation Practice Group of the Advocates’ Society.

More information about Practice Groups can be found on the Advocate’s Society website.

Crystal O’Donnell’s EDRM interview

A recent interview of Crystal O’Donnell, Founder and President of Heuristica, can be found on the website of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM).

In the interview Crystal discusses the unique approach that Heuristica takes to e-discovery, her involvement with Sedona Canada, and differences between Canadian and American procedural rules relating to electronically stored information.

Click here to read the interview.

Privilege Risks and Electronic Discovery

On December 2, 2015, Chief Justice Rossiter of the Tax Court of Canada ruled on the Crown’s motion in CIBC v. The Queen[1] regarding, among other things, CIBC’s privilege claims and the adequacy of CIBC’s Schedule B with respect to electronic data.

The Crown’s motion related to CIBC’s appeal relating to its claim to deduct $3 billion in settlement payments, interest on the payments, and related legal expenses from its business income for the 2005 and 2006 taxation years. The Minister of National Revenue denied the deductions. From an eDiscovery perspective, there are two interesting issues from the ruling, one of which may impact professional liability insurance for privilege errors.… Read More

Updated Sedona Canada Principles

Recently, the Sedona Conference® published the second edition of the Sedona Canada Principles Addressing Electronic Discovery[1] (the “Principles”).

The Principles provide guidance on best practices for dealing with electronically stored information (ESI) with respect to parties’ discovery obligations. The original version of the Principles, published in January 2008, are referenced in the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure requiring parties to consult and have regard to the Principles in preparing their discovery plan.[2] Crystal O’Donnell, the founder of Heuristica Discovery Counsel is a contributing editor to the second edition.

There are a number of updates to the Principles and commentary, including an emphasis on the overarching principles of early and meaningful cooperation between counsel (Principle 4) and proportionality (Principle 2).… Read More