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Electronic Discovery Simplified

	What is Electronic Discovery? Posted: Feb 14 2003 Richard A. Lazar, President and CEO, Fios, Inc. Electronic discovery is the collection, preparation, review and distribution of electronic documents associated with legal and government proceedings. “Documents” can include email correspondence, memos, reports, plain text files, databases, spreadsheets, digital art and photos, presentations and any other data that is created or stored on a computer, computer network or other storage media. Many legal teams we speak with are just beginning to utilize electronic discovery as a powerful resource, especially given that savvy litigators understand the value of asking for documents in electronic form. The most important benefits of electronic discovery include speed, accuracy and cost savings. It’s the most efficient method you can use to review electronic documents, helping you find the right information within aggressive discovery deadlines. It helps you search through large or small quantities of electronic documents to retrieve only those files that contain certain key words, subject matter and/or time frames. Electronic discovery helps your counsel gain a competitive edge with superior visibility into the client’s electronic documents. As a legal professional providing litigation support, you may have already experienced the situation of having a few (or many) CD-ROMs or other storage media dropped on your desk with instructions to “produce them.” Did you know that immediately converting to paper isn’t the most efficient method? Electronic discovery can help you provide clearer visibility into the contents of those CDs and media. Getting Started is Easy While electronic discovery is vital for large and complex data sets, it is equally useful for modest sized projects. The focus of this article is on how you can manage those smaller jobs. What do you do if you have a stack of CDs sitting on your desk? The following steps are fundamental to getting started. Set a Quick Strategy To make the best decision about how to handle the data you’ve been given, you’ll need to know the following: · What does the attorney want to accomplish? · Is this the full data set, and if not, when will the additional information arrive? · What is the desired production format (data and/or paper)? · What are the deadlines and distribution needs for production? Select a Competent Electronic Discovery Vendor You’ll want to select a vendor that you can trust to get your project done quickly, accurately, and without any glitches. Research their service offerings on the Web, and ask your colleagues for recommendations. Whoever you choose for your electronic discovery services, be sure they have years of experience doing it. They should have project managers who are focused on getting tasks done properly, and within your discovery deadlines. Quickly Aggregate Your Data A good electronic discovery vendor helps you manage the data on those CDs, backup drives, or whatever storage media you have. Raw electronic data can be difficult to handle and assess in a way that maintains a legally defensible audit trail. Because data can reside in a variety of original file formats, it can contain many layers of seemingly hidden information. It is also exposed to the risk of viral contamination or content alteration if not handled correctly. Your electronic discovery vendor must be able to easily handle those files for you to prevent problems. Printing Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story Current estimates indicate that more than 90% of information created is in digital format. There is a wealth of information that is not visible in printed documents, including email metadata (data about the data, such as blind cc:, creation information, routing data, etc.), hidden columns and cells, and incomplete print ranges. While vendors can print these CD’s for you, there is a better option that will cost less money, take less time and accelerate the privilege and relevance review. Fios can take your CDs or other storage media and post them to our secure Web tool called “PrevailTM.” You can then supply the search terms and categories to jump start review. Online Review – The Silver Lining With completely secure access to your electronic data sets via the Internet, you’ll get full visibility into your client’s word processing files, spreadsheets, emails (and attachments) and other electronic documents. You’ll even be able to view hidden metadata and text, providing a fuller view of what’s in those CDs the attorney dropped on your desk. Firms using Prevail can securely designate from one to hundreds of users to concurrently review small or large quantities of data, with capacity measured in megabytes to terabytes. Online review is easy to do, and you can be proficient using Prevail in less than 30 minutes. When your online review is done, you can then produce the right documents in electronic or paper form. Reviewing online and then producing only the required documents saves you valuable time and increases your productivity during your busy workday. About Fios Fios delivers electronic discovery services that are fast, easy, affordable and accurate. We’re dedicated to making your job easier by helping you meet aggressive response deadlines arising during the discovery process. Fios is experienced at managing electronic discovery from start to finish, delivering unrivaled efficiency and accuracy to Fortune 500 clients, major law firms and government investigatory agencies. Visit www.fiosinc.com or call us toll free at (877) 700-3467 for more information. © Copyright 2003, Fios, Inc. All rights reserved. Go Top