E-Discovery is a very complicated area of legal practice. Here are some things to think about when going into an e-Discovery project.
Remember to always consult the Help sections on vendor platforms. They often contain helpful user guides and tutorials.
Representations to opposing counsel and the court – Discovery involves numerous representations in written discovery responses, initial disclosures, meet and confers, discovery plans and discovery motions. Making accurate representations requires knowledge of electronically stored information (ESI) types and sources, production format and the significance of proportionality factors like data volume, cost, and burden.
Preservation – Knowledge of ESI types and sources also comes into play in writing effective preservation demand letters and legal hold notices. Some other tech-related aspects of preservation are auto-deletion (a high-risk area in preservation), IT protocols for employee separation, and forensic imaging.
Managing the eDiscovery Project – Managing an eDiscovery project demands both wide-ranging and deep understanding of technology. This is especially true of the collection, processing, and production stages of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) workflow. Some cases additionally involve digital forensics.
Document review – Document review is a complex operation. Reviewers need software training and experience to use review platforms effectively. Filtering, searching and utilizing advanced analytics tools requires a) knowledge of the ESI types in the dataset, b) review goals, and c) review tool capabilities. Quality control similarly must be tailored to the review project, and can be technologically sophisticated; for example, statistical sampling in predictive coding reviews.