Electronic Discovery – Simple Concepts And Tools To Open The Black Box

A version of this article was originally published in The National Law Journal.

After several high-profile court decisions and, more recently, the imposition of the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure relating to electronic evidence, attorneys and their clients are now more than ever under pressure to manage discovery of electronic evidence correctly in any litigation, regulatory inquiry, or law enforcement matter. Of course, legal education does not exactly focus on the technical skills and concepts necessary to effectively manage electronic discovery, so most lawyers rely on technology-focused vendors to help manage and process the data to find responsive records.

This in itself can be nerve-wracking for the responsible attorneys. How are they to know if the evidence advisors are doing a thorough job if overseeing attorneys do not understand how the software works or where various types of documents are or may be within the client’s electronic records? And what happens if on