From Lemonade Stand to Heuristica Discovery Counsel

Pamela Fontaine-Peters

Director, Litigation Support and Senior Law Clerk

I am thrilled to be an “official” member of the team at Heuristica Discovery Counsel in my new role of Director of Litigation Support.

I’ve worked in the legal industry for almost 25 years as a law clerk, certified trainer and eDiscovery consultant. Working at Heuristica allows me to use all of my technical skills and draw on my clerking experience. I look forward to meeting the challenges of this exciting position.

I have always loved technology. I was introduced to computers in public school playing a computer card program called Lemonade Stand. … Read More

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

Court Orders Production of Files in “Usable” Format

On May 24^th, the Alberta Court of the Queen’s Bench ruled that, in certain circumstances, meaningful disclosure requires the production of native electronic files.

Background and Arguments

In Bard v Canadian Natural Resources,[1] the plaintiffs brought a motion requesting, amongst other things, that the court order the defendants to deliver native Excel spreadsheets. The defendant had provided the data in TIFF image files as agreed to by the parties in the discovery plan. The plaintiffs claimed that TIFFs were not a “usable” format.

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