10 Critical Decisions for Successful E-discovery Part 2
The Information Management Journal / September / October 2007 – Today? S explosion of electronic Data, coupled with the December 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) concerning electronically stored information (ESI), information and lawyers, to expand their knowledge on dealing with electronic discovery. Recent amendments to the FRCP are:
* Definitions and safe-harbor provisions for the routine changes of electronic files during routine operations such as backups last [Rule 37 (f)]
* Information about the Dealing with data that are not available set correctly [Amended Rule 26 (b deal) (2) (B)]
* How inadvertently produced privileged material handling [Amended Rule 26 (b) (5)]
* ESI preservation responsibilities and the pre-trial conference. [Revised Article 26 (f)]
* Electronic Production Act requests [Article 33 (Amended d), 34, 26 (f) (3), 34 (b) (iii)]
There are many opinions about ESI, as it should be planned are managed, organized, stored and retrieved. Some of the available options are extremely costly in terms of their required financial and time commitments. Constantly changing technologies only confusion. One area of confusion is the distinction between computer forensics and electronic discovery, there is a significant difference. These are described in the sidebar Computer Forensics vs. Electronic Discovery.
The right choice
Successfully responding to e-discovery within the constraints the amended FRCP require companies, many critical decisions that will affect the collection and processing of ESI.
Processing Choices
Because of the volume of information available in the smallest of collections, it is necessary to complete the process to time and budget control. The following questions must be answered:
1st Who are the people?
People important to a case should be identified. These important people are not only managers but also the assistants and other support staff from the Engineering, Accounting, Sales and Marketing, Operations and Human Resources departments.
2nd Where are the files are located?
All potential sites of electronic evidence should be identified. These computers are at home and all computers that would be an important person in other ways (eg to use a friend or a friend? S home), mobile phones, PDAs, BlackBerrys and other digital devices that can be used. It is important to note that MP3 players like iPods can also be used to store documents or important files.
3rd How the library can be culled?
Methods for Limiting the number of files can be recorded only with the registration of certain periods or only with selected keywords or concepts. This can either before or after a whole hard drive forensically be collected. Known file sizes filtering can also reduce the collection of standard application of common files all the computers (such as the Microsoft Windows? logo file).
4th How should password-protected/encrypted files be handled?
Encrypted files can not be processed until the encryption broken. In some cases, files with exact or similar names, without the use of passwords or encryption. File locations may include information on the value of the decryption. The decryption can require substantial time. Sometimes, a password can be easily attracted by them, this should be the first step. If that fails, successful with a subpoena.
5th How should duplicate and near duplicate documents handled?
Electronic file collections almost always include duplicates. Several people can use the same e-mail, with the same equipment. checked two or more people to important documents have, they store on their hard drives during the process. During the processing of electronic collections, it is possible to identify exact duplicates, and the number of documents requiring review.
Identify exact duplicates usually occurs in the phase in which the metadata identified and extracted from the file. De-duping Collection minimal processing delay.
Standard de-duping is the identification of files that are exact duplicates and remove them. If something in a document has changed, including formatting, how to change the font, it is no longer an exact duplicate and is not de-dupe.
It is imperative necessary that both sides of a matter agreed with what de-dupe. Many electronic discovery systems literally delete the files they have disappeared from the collection. The forensic Tools used in law enforcement, but rather not to delete the duplicates, but only in order to identify them for future use.
Discussion this definition in the pre-trial conference to ensure that all sides of a case with the same definition is essential to ensure that it is not a discrepancy in the number of files, which later each side.
An essential part of any collection are duplicates to close. These include files, much changed or have only part of the main document. For some projects, requires the sheer volume of files that identify near duplicates and reviewed as a group be. This reduces time and costs, if the traditional linear writing to verify.
Identify near duplicates requires require the comparison of all document or other document with advanced software applications that provide additional processing time. This technology increases the consistency of the review Categories which identifies the privileged opportunity near duplicate documents and non-privileged.
6th should take the form in which the collection?
The new rules state that the parties meet and decide in which format they would like to receive electronic evidence. In the absence of a settlement in which format it is held in common, or a reasonably usable format.
The choice of a legal team, including whether each side draws on electronic evidence in native file format or converted to PDF or TIF received in other forms. Often this will depend on the team? S Standard disputes review system.
Such systems handle both native and converts files, with or without associated metadata and full text. There are advantages and disadvantages for both options. Native extracts metadata files reflect the exact original file but they can not relate Bates, a technique for documents with a unique identification mark, as they are processed, and are subject to random change.
Converting native files to TIFF or PDF format is time consuming and is the most expensive task in electronic discovery. Since 60-80 percent of the files in a collection can not respond or irrelevant, both the time and finances in the conversion are output to counter.
The best compromise includes receiving files in native format, they write for the currency, and select only those who can produce, or largely for the conversion to the format used.
Managing the vast amounts of electronic files for litigation requires preparation of the planning of the production, organization and retrieval of pertinent and relevant documents, and the administrative cost and Time budgets. As each case presents unique circumstances, there is no absolute right answers to the questions above. But a team that understands the impact of their decisions and is prepared informed decisions lead in the best possible result for the case and the organization.
American Document Management specializes href = "http://www.amdoc.com/about.shtml"> e-forensics and electronic Document Management
About the Author
Karen Unger founded American Document Management in 1989. Specialized in e-forensics
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