Remote Desktop Client Ends with 2023

Heads up to everyone out there that Relativity will discontinue support for Remote Desktop Client at the end of this year. In place of RDC, admins will now rely on the Import/Export application to load documents and metadata and send exports from workspaces.

The Import/Export application includes an Express Transfer function which can process files of more than 20 GB, and can queue multiple import jobs. There is some anxiety among Relativity admins about the demise of RDC. Concerns raised in the Relativity hosted community for admins, include the new application being case sensitive when processing load files [it will error if a load file references an image file in lower case text but the file names are in upper case - RDC was not case sensitive], and the inability to import OCR text into a field other than 'Extracted Text'. Other admins report that Import/Export will often crash when importing large jobs that RDC could handle.

Relativity has reported that it is working on fixing these problems.

SEC Director of Enforcement on Penalties for Data Preservation Failures

In October 2023, the SEC's Director of Enforcement Gurbir Grewal addressed the New York City Association.   See the transcript posted here.  In remarks which emphasized the need for businesses to be proactive in complying with financial regulations, the Director stressed the need to preserve electronic data.  In the past two years

the SEC has fined more than 40 companies over a $1.5 billion for failing to preserve electronic communications.  Most of the noncompliance was a result of employees failing to follow data preservation policies.   A key problem was that communications were being conducted outside of official channels.

In December 2021, J.P. Morgan Securities had to pay a $125 million penalty because its employees were communicating about business using text messages, personal email, and WhatsApp, and no steps were taken to preserve the data.  The violation was particularly egregious because the individuals responsible for implementing J.P. Morgan’s policies communicated outside of official channels themselves.   In this press release, Gerwal warned businesses to, “scrutinize their document preservation processes and self-report failures”.   Businesses that find their data preservation processes fall short of the requirements of securities laws are encouraged to report the problem by emailing BDRecordsPreservation@sec.gov.

Gerwal pointed out that the ability of a company to provide the SEC with summaries of financial analyses, locate key documents, and make data custodians available for interviews may lead to a mitigation of the amount of penalties that they are ordered to pay.

Thanks to Amy Sellars of CBRE for pointing out Gerwal’s remarks at yesterday’s ACEDS webinar on the 2023 Legal Industry Collaboration Data Survey.

make your mobile hotspot faster

Keep in mind that if you're using your phone's mobile hotspot to get online with a laptop or other device the speed of the connection should improve if you tether uour cell phone. Connecting via a USB cord from the smartphone to the laptop will provide a cabled internet connection. This method can prevent drain on the laptop's battery and will be more secure.