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Compliments of



 The Technologist’s
      Guide to
  eD iscovery Law


Learn to:
• Work well with the legal team
• Understand common legal
  terms and processes
• Understand your impact on
  the process




Jim Shook, Esq.
Heidi Maher, Esq.
William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq.
Addressing Today’s eDiscovery and GRC Challenges

Governance, Risk, and Compliance regulations surrounding discovery of electronically
stored information have changed corporate business practices. With expanding
rules and regulations, the legal department must defend the corporate interest,
meet governance challenges, and ensure regulatory compliance, while balancing
risks and expense. To meet today’s challenges, corporate attorneys need legal
knowledge and experience, as well as an increased understanding of corporate IT
capabilities, policies, and technologies. At the same time, corporate IT needs to
understand the significant risk and cost implications of implementing technologies
that do not address legal, compliance, or regulatory requirements.

The authors of this book are a part of the EMC Information Governance, Risk, and
Compliance Practice, which is a specialty practice within EMC Corporation, consisting
of seasoned attorneys who also have backgrounds in business law, eDiscovery,
information technology, records management, security, and compliance. The team
helps organizations understand their legal and regulatory obligations, best practices
to meet those obligations, and how EMC solutions can be leveraged as a part of a
GRC or information governance strategy and process.

For more information about the EMC capabilities and solutions, visit
www.emc.com/informationgovernance or contact us at goodgovernance@emc.com.
The Technologist’s
             Guide to
         eDiscovery Law
                                  FOR


               DUMmIES
                                                           ‰




              by Jim Shook, Esq.,
            Heidi Maher, Esq., and
           William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq.




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The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies®
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Introduction
         T    he world continues to create and store data at incredible
              rates. In 2009, the IDC corporation says the total amount
         of the world’s digital information grew to 800,000 petabytes,
         equivalent to a stack of DVDs reaching from the earth to the
         moon and back. The number is expected to grow to 1.2 million
         petabytes, or 1.2 zettabytes by the end of 2010, and then to
         1.8 million zettabytes by 2011.

         A petabyte is a thousand terabytes or a million gigabytes.

         The bad news for companies like yours is that IDC also says
         that enterprises are liable for about 80 percent of that
         data — and that data falls into your custody. It’s an enormous
         task further complicated by the fact that an amazing web of
         compliance and privacy laws and requirements demand that
         chunks of that data be retained, deleted, stored, or secured,
         often in a conflicting manner.

         And you’re not a lawyer — you work in IT. Your job is to
         corral and store all of that data, right? True, but it also
         involves producing that data whenever required, and that
         includes legal proceedings. You have to furnish everything,
         from the actual information to logs and metadata regarding
         that information.

         In the civil litigation system in the United States, companies
         must frequently locate and preserve data that is relevant to
         a specific case. It can be a daunting task given the volume of
         information and number of repositories that may hold rel-
         evant information. Companies unprepared for this process
         frequently face a difficult choice: Spend a lot of money to fully
         and properly respond to this challenge; or just wing it and
         hope for the best.

         If things don’t go well, your company can face serious sanc-
         tions from a court and comparable losses in the stock market
         and the court of public opinion. You may not have to deal
         with that directly, but your executives will, and that means
         you’ll deal with it by proxy.
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
2     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies

             Because of the high cost and risk, many companies have
             undertaken initiatives to improve their eDiscovery processes.
             Even then, it can be difficult work because it requires smooth
             communication and coordination between two groups that
             frequently just do not seem to speak the same language: legal
             and IT.

             In fact, without personnel who can understand both legal and
             IT issues, initiatives frequently falter or fail.



    About This Book
             This book is written to help personnel in both the legal and
             IT departments to understand those parts of the eDiscovery
             process that may not come naturally to them. Hopefully, what
             you read here will help to bring the two sides together in
             blissful eDiscovery harmony.

             The side you’re reading right now assists IT professionals
             understand the legal pitfalls and requirements of the eDis-
             covery process. The other side of the book helps lawyers try
             to grasp the technology involved in the eDiscovery process.
             They may still call you with questions just because that’s
             what they do, but we try to explain stuff the best we can.
             On the off-chance that these two groups are fighting over a
             copy of this book, please either tear it in half or call EMC for
             another complimentary copy.



    Icons Used in This Book
             This book uses a couple of icons to draw your attention to
             special information. You’ll gain some good knowledge if you
             stop and take notice.

             This icon denotes information that will save you time or
             money.

             This icon points out common traps and pitfalls you might
             run into. Pay attention to these bad boys — it’s better to be
             warned now that run into trouble later.




    These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
    dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 1

            Understanding the
            Litigation Process
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding what kinds of litigation require electronically stored
  information
▶ Learning about the rules and regulations governing this process
▶ Discovering your role in the process




         F    or many raised on lawyer television shows (from
              Petrocelli to LA Law and more recently, The Practice), it
         comes as a shock that there’s a lot more to the civil litigation
         process than heading immediately to a trial. In fact, only a very
         small percentage of cases (around 1 percent in Federal Court)
         actually wind up in trial. Cases frequently settle, or they’re
         won or lost on motions well before a trial begins. Knowing the
         basics and having some understanding of the full litigation pro-
         cess is a significant asset in working in eDiscovery.



A Civil Lawsuit
         A lawsuit is a complex process that we break down into a few
         basic components.


         The Complaint: Starting
         the lawsuit
         The Complaint is the first document in the litigation process,
         and it contains the basic allegations upon which the plaintiff
         (the party starting the process) is making a claim against the
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4     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies

             defendant (the party against whom the suit is filed). The com-
             plaint is actually one of several pleadings (formal statements
             filed with the court) that ensure everyone is aware of the
             claims being made.


             Responding to the lawsuit
             The defendant usually has less than a month to file an Answer
             (another pleading), which is a formal document that responds
             to the allegations in the complaint. In general, the Answer
             responds to the claims and factual statements made by the
             plaintiff and sets up any defenses. In some cases, the answer
             may contain counterclaims, or claims against the plaintiff. For
             example, the defendant sued for breach of contract might say
             that it is the plaintiff who actually breached the contract.

             Crossclaims are filed when parties have claims against each
             other, such as when one of several defendants claims that
             another defendant is obligated to reimburse it for any dam-
             ages. New parties can even be brought into a case if needed to
             administer justice.


             Discovery: Getting to the truth
             During discovery, the parties must provide each other with
             information in their possession related to the claims in the
             lawsuit. They may request other information from each other,
             and they may even ask third parties for information that is
             relevant. They have many tools to do this, including the fol-
             lowing:

               ✓ Depositions: Lawyers have witnesses respond orally to
                 questioning, under oath, with everything spoken being
                 recorded by a court reporter.
               ✓ Interrogatories: Lawyers ask written questions that must
                 be responded to, in writing, and under oath.
               ✓ Requests for production of documents and things:
                 Lawyers file written requests from one party to the other
                 asking for documents (including electronic information)
                 and other physical objects that may be relevant to a
                 case. For example, the defendant in a contract case might
                 ask for all copies, including draft copies, of the contract
                 at issue.

    These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
    dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 1: Understanding the Litigation Process          5
         Although electronically stored information (ESI) was never
         excluded from the discovery process, it was not until
         December 2006 (when the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
         were amended), that actual rules were clearly established for
         incorporating ESI as part of the discovery process.

         Understanding the 30(b)(6) Deposition
         The 30(b)(6) deposition is a special kind of request. Most
         depositions require a party to specify the person that it
         wishes to depose. A 30(b)(6) deposition enables a party to
         instead specify certain topics that it wants to discuss. The
         responding party must then designate and supply the people
         within its organization that can provide that information.

         Many have used this tool effectively in cases involving eDis-
         covery issues, where one party might compel the other to
         provide detailed information about its IT systems. This infor-
         mation can include backup and retention policies, data infra-
         structure, and e-mail accounts. These depositions can be very
         damaging if an IT deponent is unprepared or provides infor-
         mation about systems that don’t work as legal had assumed.

         Subpoenas
         Parties that are not named in a lawsuit may also have infor-
         mation relevant to the case. For example, a party may want
         a copy of bank information or medical records important to
         their case. The rules of discovery provide a mechanism to
         obtain this information directly from that party through a
         document called a subpoena.

         Subpoenas have an important role in eDiscovery because
         information can be obtained directly from a source that may
         have information the other party hadn’t considered, such as
         text messages. Today, this can even include social networks
         like Facebook and Twitter.

         If you’re responding to a subpoena, you may be able to
         recover costs incurred in responding. So make sure that you
         track your costs and give this information to the lawyers on
         the team.




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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
6     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies


             Motion practice: Narrowing
             the issues
             The parties also have the opportunity throughout most of the
             litigation process to ask the court to decide certain issues of
             law related to the case. If granted, some of these motions can
             end the case. In other situations, the motions narrow or limit
             the issues (or the potential damages) so that a settlement can
             be more easily achieved.

             Motion practice is also the point when a party might claim
             that the other party hasn’t met its eDiscovery obligations in
             some way. Generally, a motion alleging spoliation (intention-
             ally or unintentionally withholding or damaging evidence) by
             the other party will also request some type of sanction, rang-
             ing from a monetary fine all the way to a terminating sanction,
             which ends the case in the other party’s favor.


             Trial: Letting someone else
             decide the outcome
             If motions don’t resolve a case and a settlement can’t be
             agreed on, the matter will be tried to a judge or jury. Getting
             all the way to a trial is one of the most exciting aspects of liti-
             gation. However, the time and expense of reaching trial makes
             it extremely impractical for many litigants. In addition, a trial
             presents certain risks that many companies aren’t willing to
             take. For example, while a party may believe that a case is
             only worth a maximum of $500,000 under any circumstances,
             a jury could view the case very differently. The result could be
             an award of nothing or $10,000,000 — or any amount between.
             The uncertainty of trial causes many companies to avoid
             trying cases except as a last resort.


             Appeal: When you don’t
             like the outcome
             After a final verdict, a party may believe that mistakes were
             made by the judge, jury, or both during the litigation process
             and file a formal appeal listing its concerns. The other side
             will respond, and typically the parties will argue the appeal

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    dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 1: Understanding the Litigation Process           7
         before a court that is higher than the trial court. There are
         even a few levels of appeals (all the way to the U.S. Supreme
         Court) if a party doesn’t like the answer it receives on appeal.
         The appellate process doesn’t typically permit the introduc-
         tion of any new facts or documents; instead, the higher courts
         review the legal decisions made in the case.


         A long haul
         The entire litigation process can take years; large cases may
         not be resolved for five years or more. As you think about
         your eDiscovery work, remember that the other side may
         have the right to ask you exactly what work you did — three
         or four years later!



The Rules
         People working with the eDiscovery process often hear that
         something is required by “The Rules.” But what does that
         mean? Where do these rules come from? There are actually
         many different types of rules within each court system, and
         the rules can even vary among different courts.

         Make sure you have been given information on the rules that
         will apply to your case. Even courts within the same state can
         have different requirements.


         Federal Courts
         Only certain types of cases can be tried in Federal District
         Courts. They must involve federal concerns or include par-
         ties who are citizens from different states. The U.S. Court
         of Appeals (Districts 1 through 11 plus the DC and Federal
         Circuit) will hear appeals from these courts. The U.S. Supreme
         Court, which only takes cases that it wishes to hear, is the
         final appellate court.

         The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (or FRCP) govern the pro-
         cess for civil cases that are tried in the Federal Courts. These
         rules typically govern the administrative process and are nor-
         mally what are referred to in the eDiscovery process. There
         are many other rules, such as the Federal Rules of Evidence,
         that may also apply.
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8     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies


             State courts
             Most civil cases are litigated in state courts. Decisions ren-
             dered at the trial court level are generally appealable to a
             court of appeals, and then (potentially) to a state supreme
             court. Some decisions are even appealable from there to the
             U.S. Supreme Court.

             Each state has its own rules of civil procedure, which are usu-
             ally modeled after the FRCP but can vary in important ways.


             Caselaw
             Whenever an important new ruling is made that affects the
             eDiscovery process, many people will hear about it, write
             about it, and talk about it. But what does such a caselaw deci-
             sion really mean?

             Typically, cases on eDiscovery issues are handed down by
             the various courts of appeals, and technically they’re effec-
             tive only in the jurisdiction in which they were decided. These
             cases then form precedent that should be followed in that
             jurisdiction unless overturned by a higher court or in a later
             case. Every jurisdiction is free to adopt, reject, or ignore deci-
             sions from parallel jurisdictions (such as other states or even
             Federal Courts in other states), but they must follow decisions
             from higher courts in their jurisdiction.

             For example, the early eDiscovery case of Zubulake v. UBS
             Warburg, LLC is frequently cited as jump-starting the aware-
             ness of eDiscovery issues. Technically, Zubulake is control-
             ling only in the Second Circuit, where the Court that decided
             the case is based. However, because it was well-reasoned
             and many states had similar rules and/or laws to those that
             Zubulake depended on, the case was largely accepted or fol-
             lowed in many other jurisdictions.




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    dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 2

       Starting an eDiscovery
              Process
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding how to map data sources
▶ Anticipating litigation involving ESI
▶ Learning what triggers the eDiscovery process




         G      ood eDiscovery requires a blend of both legal and IT
                skills and knowledge. However, the IT knowledge and
         information required tends to be focused on different issues
         than what an IT professional uses in regular day-to-day activi-
         ties. In this chapter, we look at how IT can support legal
         in better understanding systems that contain ESI. We also
         explore how you should identify the appropriate starting
         point for the eDiscovery process.

         The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) is an
         excellent tool for analyzing and working on eDiscovery
         requirements. Both legal and IT teams must understand the
         EDRM model, but there’s only so much space we have to dis-
         cuss these issues. Refer to Chapter 1 on the flip side of this
         book to familiarize yourself with EDRM.



Data Mapping
         A great starting point for eDiscovery (and to get legal and IT
         working together) is to create a data map. Before you pull out
         your network diagram, understand that a data map is just a
         useful listing of data (ESI) that is created, used, or stored and
         that is likely to be needed in litigation. The eDiscovery team

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10     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies

              uses the data map to determine, at the outset of a matter,
              which repositories of ESI are likely to be important in a
              case and figure out how to hold and collect data from
              those repositories.

              A data map has no fixed form — it just needs to be useful to
              the people that are using it. Table 2-1 illustrates a portion of a
              sample data map to provide a general idea.


               Table 2-1                   A Sample Data Map
               Repository   Custodians      Types of Data    Other           Size
                            (Who to                          Information
                            Notify)
               Laptops      Individual      Productivity     Data is         2-4
                            employees,      documents,       backed up       GBs
                            contractors     e-mail, notes,   weekly over     per
                                            misc data        the network     user
               E-mail       Messaging       E-mail           E-mails can     10-12
               server       team,           messages         be deleted      TBs
                            employees       and              by users;
                                            attachments      rolling
                                                             deletion will
                                                             delete after
                                                             six months
               Salesforce   Third party     Sales and        Deleted ten     7 TBs
                            (Salesforce.    customer         years after
                            com)            information –    last entry/
                                            contact info,    modification
                                            meetings,
                                            appointments,
                                            forecasts


              Update your data map regularly to make sure it remains
              useful.

              The map doesn’t need to be (and probably shouldn’t be) too
              detailed from an IT perspective. For example, it would be a
              rare case where IP addresses, network segments, and even
              application versions would be necessary. Keeping that kind of
              detail makes it less likely that the map will be kept updated!



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Chapter 2: Starting an eDiscovery Process          11

Litigation Holds Begin
before the Lawsuit!
         Although smart companies prepare for eDiscovery pro-
         actively, an actual eDiscovery process is never done in a
         vacuum. It is always done in response to a triggering event.
         However, that trigger is frequently misunderstood.

         The actual trigger that begins an eDiscovery process is usu-
         ally not the filing of a lawsuit, but frequently something that
         is known about much earlier. When a party can reasonably
         anticipate that litigation will commence, the process officially
         begins and a party must begin to hold, or preserve, ESI that is
         relevant to that matter.

         The legal department should be made aware of potential liti-
         gation at the earliest opportunity, so that it can make a deci-
         sion on whether it’s time to preserve data.

         Basically, reasonable anticipation means that an event has
         taken place that leads to a reasonable conclusion that a law-
         suit will commence. When that event occurs, lawyers have the
         immediate duty to preserve ESI that is reasonably accessible,
         if it is potentially relevant. If they don’t preserve, then they
         and/or their company could be subject to sanctions. That’s
         why the legal team frequently asks IT to drop everything in
         order to immediately work on preserving and/or collecting
         that information.

         Here are a few scenarios where the reasonably likely require-
         ment might be triggered:

           ✓ An employee files a harassment complaint with the HR
             department that merits an investigation.
           ✓ A company decides to pursue litigation against one of its
             competitors for violating its patents.
           ✓ A malfunctioning product has caused a serious accident.




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12     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies




     These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 3

   Understanding the Scope
        of ESI to Hold
In This Chapter
▶ Discovering what ESI is included in the scope of an investigation
▶ Understanding the legal concept of proportionality
▶ Preserving and collecting ESI




         O      nce the eDiscovery process has been triggered, certain
                information and storage media (ESI, physical docu-
         ments, and other objects) must be preserved so that they can
         be reviewed during the litigation. In today’s digital explosion,
         it’s fortunate that not all data belonging to a company must be
         preserved. In this chapter, we look more specifically at what
         must be preserved and the best way to save relevant ESI.



Determining What
Is within Scope
         Unfortunately, there’s no literal, clear-cut definition of what
         ESI must be preserved for a case. Instead, you must rely on a
         flexible rule that’s roughly equivalent to: Preserve anything
         that might be used as evidence or anything that might reason-
         ably lead to the discovery of such evidence.

         Because most litigation holds should begin before or very
         early in a lawsuit, the process can get complicated. For exam-
         ple, there’s a common misconception that selecting ESI for
         preservation can be done by using keywords to identify data.
         Although keywords frequently have a place in the eDiscovery

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14     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies

              process, they generally can’t be used for preservation. The
              issues involved in a lawsuit can be broad and complex, and
              narrowing those issues down to a set of keywords can be very
              difficult. In addition, if a lawsuit hasn’t yet been filed, there is
              nobody on the other side to agree upon the keywords.

              Determining a proper scope requires the legal team and IT to
              work together to understand the systems and data custodians
              that likely have data relevant to a case. For example, in a con-
              tract case, you may know the employees who worked on the
              contract. You may also have a date range that is important to
              the case. That information creates a good starting point from
              which you can begin to determine ESI that is important to
              preserve.



     Proportionality
              Another potential limit to the scope of ESI is the idea of pro-
              portionality. In short, proportionality means that the effort and
              expense of eDiscovery should bear some reasonable relation-
              ship to the “value” of a case.

              Your lawyers will need your help in making proportionality
              assessments. Although they should understand the “value” of
              a case, they may not understand how much certain eDiscov-
              ery work will cost. So before you take forensic images of 1,000
              desktops or order 50 new backup tapes every week to hold
              data for litigation, make sure that you provide an estimate of
              how much the work may cost.

              Proportionality is a quickly evolving concept with a lot of
              nuances. For example, don’t assume that you will not have to
              spend $500,000 in a case that you think is worth just $50,000.
              The other party may have a very different opinion of both the
              value of the case and the cost of eDiscovery.



     Preserving and Collecting ESI
              Once ESI is identified as being within scope for a case, it must
              be preserved. Nothing in the FRCP (or elsewhere) mandates
              that preservation should be done in a specific way, so the



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     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 3: Understanding the Scope of ESI to Hold               15
         actual method for preserving ESI will vary. Weigh the risk and
         expense involved in each type of preservation method so that
         you and your attorneys choose the right one for your case.

         You can review several common collection method in Table 3-1.


          Table 3-1                Comparison of Common
                                    Preservation Methods
          Method          Pros                     Cons
          Hold in place   Simple, quick to         Works well only in systems
                          implement, saves         designed with holds; risk
                          on storage               of physical loss or user
                                                   intervention
          Forensic        Complete preservation    Expensive across even
          imaging         of all data; generally   moderate numbers of
                          good for authenticity    custodians; substantial
                          and admissibility        overcollection of ESI
                          concerns
          Custodian or    Easy, simple, fast       Substantial risk that
          manual hold                              custodians will not pay
                                                   attention, not understand, or
                                                   will intentionally miss data
          Automated       Requires tools and       Safe, fast, enables quick
          collection      incremental storage      and easy early case/data
                                                   assessment




ESI Collection and Metadata
         At some point after being preserved, ESI must be collected or
         copied to another location in a legally sound manner. Collection
         enables further processing, such as de-duplication, normaliza-
         tion of data, analysis of the data (such as concepts and e-mail
         threading), and even the review and production phases.

         The collection process should be carefully designed so that
         important metadata isn’t lost or changed while ESI is being col-
         lected. Although metadata will not be important in all cases, it
         can be difficult to know beforehand whether it will be required
         in a specific case. So create a process that preserves metadata.


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16     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies




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     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 4

         What Does Legal Do
          with This Stuff?
In This Chapter
▶ Reviewing and analyzing the data with the legal team
▶ Assessing the case early in the process
▶ Choosing the right production format (or formats) for the case




         T     he eDiscovery process can be so difficult and techni-
               cal that people often lose sight of its purpose. The real
         reason for worrying about all this ESI is that there is a poten-
         tial lawsuit or investigation, and the lawyers need to under-
         stand what happened so that they can put together their
         legal case. Although much of a case involves testimony from
         witnesses and physical objects, ESI is extremely important in
         understanding what happened in a case.



Legal Review and Analysis
         The legal team will review and analyze the ESI to see how it
         supports or contradicts other information about what has
         transpired.

         In addition, the legal team will deploy different methods to
         review data to determine whether it meets the following
         conditions:

           ✓ The data is relevant to the case and should be produced
             to the other side.
           ✓ The data is irrelevant.

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18     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies

                ✓ The data is confidential or subject to privilege and
                  should not be produced, produced separately from other
                  information so that it can be protected, or redacted to
                  remove confidential information.

              With the large volumes of data present in most cases, the
              review process will normally need to take a phased approach.
              Data that is clearly irrelevant, such as spam e-mails and infor-
              mation well outside of the relevant date range for the case,
              can be eliminated. Other information may require “eyes-on”
              review, where a person with legal training must actually
              review the data and determine its relevance.



     Early Case and Data Assessment
              Early case assessment (ECA) is the process of making deter-
              minations about a case while it is still in its early stages. This
              typically involves a high-level understanding of the facts of
              the case, the status of any legal issues, whether the organiza-
              tion has insurance to cover liability and/or attorney’s fees,
              and other important information.

              An important part of ECA is the ability to have a basic under-
              standing of the company’s ESI that is relevant to the case,
              sometimes known as early data assessment (EDA). In most
              cases, this requires knowing how much data is going to be
              collected and how expensive or burdensome that process will
              be, as well as the ability to review information maintained by
              the key players.

              Some methods of preservation and collection will allow early
              EDA/ECA, while others may hinder it by precluding an early
              review of the data. For example, forensic images can take a
              while to create and then process, as does restoring backup
              tapes. Even custodian preservation provides little assistance
              for EDA. On the other hand, processes that enable legal inves-
              tigators to have early access to view the data will significantly
              enhance early assessment processes.

              Better ECA/EDA is important for many reasons. For instance, a
              better understanding of the actual position in a case will lead
              to a better settlement position. Also, making determinations
              without data can lead to taking positions in a case that are
              expensive or difficult to defend.

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Chapter 4: What Does Legal Do with This Stuff?          19

Analyzing and Producing ESI
         Eventually, ESI must be produced to the other side in a case.
         Production of data can take many forms, and we look at a
         few here. Remember that you should have an agreement
         with the other side about the format in which you are
         producing the data.

         You will also have the opportunity to specify the format in
         which you would like data from the other side. Help your
         lawyers to understand which format is best for the specific
         requirements of each case.


         Paper
         Lawyers love paper! It may be difficult to believe, but many
         litigants (or at least their attorneys) still prefer to deal with
         paper and just want to print everything. Bates stamping (a
         process where documents are stamped with a unique string of
         letters and numbers) is also frequently a part of this process
         so that documents can be more readily identified. Still, print-
         ing ESI to paper has drawbacks, including the loss of most
         metadata and an inability to electronically search. But many
         parties may still request this format.


         Images
         Some parties don’t want to deal with boxes (or truckloads) of
         paper, but still want image files or pictures of all documents.
         In these cases, the ESI is converted into image files such as
         TIF, GIF, or PDF formats. Note that once again, metadata is
         lost, and in straight image files, there is little ability to elec-
         tronically search through text.


         Native
         A default format is to produce the data in its native format.
         This tends to work reasonably well for most ESI, such as
         e-mail and productivity files (word processing, spreadsheets).
         It is more difficult when you’re producing structured data,
         such as information from databases. But if you’re prepared
         to produce in native format and you have properly preserved
         metadata, you should be able to meet almost any request.
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20     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies


              Proprietary formats
              A frequent compromise format is to generate information
              in certain proprietary formats, sometimes called load files.
              These files combine images with text so that metadata can
              be preserved and text can still be searched. Some of these
              formats are specific to the products or platforms on which
              they’re loaded, such as the Concordance and Summation
              platforms. This can be a good compromise format because
              lawyers can see the images and the metadata is still available,
              if needed. However, you must have a license to use one of
              these products (or your own solution must have the ability
              to access these formats).


              Other standards (EDRM XML)
              The promise of an open standard (a Rosetta stone for
              eDiscovery formats) is always an intriguing proposition.
              EDRM is currently continuing its work on such a standard
              (known as EDRM XML), which is gaining traction in the
              industry. Because the standard is meant to be common
              and open to all, it holds great promise for ending many
              of the current issues with varying formats.




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Chapter 5

         Ten Ways to Prepare
          Your IT Department
            for eDiscovery
In This Chapter
▶ Pinpointing your data
▶ Working together




         T   his chapter gives you a quick reference to important
             steps in the eDiscovery process and what you need to
         do to be prepared for them.

           ✓ Know where your data lives: A clear and efficient data
             map makes it obvious where your important data is
             located and how you can efficiently retrieve it. Be
             sure to take into account all possible locations —
             your servers, your computers, your mobile devices,
             and even social media accounts.
           ✓ Learn the rules: It’s easier to play the game when you
             know exactly how to play it. Learn what regulations
             apply to your data (especially in the extremely regulated
             fields of health care and finance) and make sure you’re
             compliant with each and every one.
           ✓ Don’t be too literal: Remember that Legal and IT stan-
             dards have almost nothing in common. Where IT is
             binary, Legal works in gray areas like “reasonableness.”
             Make sure that you don’t apply the wrong standard.




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22     The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies

                ✓ Keep a trail: Legal proceedings can carry on for many
                  months or even years. Make sure that you have a record
                  of what your team did in finding and collecting informa-
                  tion, so that someone can talk about it later — even if
                  that means four or five years later.
                ✓ Work as a team: You’re not in this alone. The legal
                  team needs to work with you to provide speedy,
                  compliant answers to requests and subpoenas. Keep
                  the overarching goals of your efforts in mind when
                  making decisions.
                ✓ Data isn’t the only data: No computer file exists in
                  a vacuum (unless you accidentally swept up a USB
                  drive, but that’s a different case). Be sure to preserve
                  all applicable metadata for your files and make it
                  available when necessary.
                ✓ Choose the right media: You already know a ton of
                  storage media used to share data with others, from
                  .CSV files to flash memory drives to (shudder) paper.
                  Be sure you know which one is appropriate for the
                  situation and use it correctly.
                ✓ Know when (and where) to hold ’em: Data retention
                  policies demonstrate a clear and approved method of
                  retaining and destroying records. Create a valid policy
                  and stick with it, so you can better furnish data and not
                  be burdened with excessive data storage requirements.
                ✓ Do it as early as possible: There’s no time like the pres-
                  ent. The earlier you prepare your systems for eDiscovery
                  requirements, the less trouble you’ll encounter down
                  the line.
                ✓ Know the standards: Whether they’re open or proprietary,
                  standards are still standards. Find out which data storage
                  standards your system uses and the best way to extract
                  them in case the legal team requests them.




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Compliments of



      The Lawyer’s
        Guide to
  eDiscovery Technology



Learn to:
• Work well with the IT team
• Understand common IT terms
  and processes
• Understand your impact on
  the process




Jim Shook, Esq.
Heidi Maher, Esq.
William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq.
Addressing Today’s eDiscovery and GRC Challenges

Governance, Risk, and Compliance regulations surrounding discovery of electronically
stored information have changed corporate business practices. With expanding
rules and regulations, the legal department must defend the corporate interest,
meet governance challenges, and ensure regulatory compliance, while balancing
risks and expense. To meet today’s challenges, corporate attorneys need legal
knowledge and experience, as well as an increased understanding of corporate IT
capabilities, policies, and technologies. At the same time, corporate IT needs to
understand the significant risk and cost implications of implementing technologies
that do not address legal, compliance, or regulatory requirements.

The authors of this book are a part of the EMC Information Governance, Risk, and
Compliance Practice, which is a specialty practice within EMC Corporation, consisting
of seasoned attorneys who also have backgrounds in business law, eDiscovery,
information technology, records management, security, and compliance. The team
helps organizations understand their legal and regulatory obligations, best practices
to meet those obligations, and how EMC solutions can be leveraged as a part of a
GRC or information governance strategy and process.

For more information about the EMC capabilities and solutions, visit
www.emc.com/informationgovernance or contact us at goodgovernance@emc.com.
The Lawyer’s
            Guide to
     eDiscovery Technology
                                  FOR


               DUMmIES
                                                           ‰




              by Jim Shook, Esq.,
            Heidi Maher, Esq., and
           William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq.




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The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies®
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Introduction
         T    he world creates and stores data at incredible rates. In
              2009, the Digital Universe — all of the world’s digital infor-
         mation — grew to 800,000 petabytes, equivalent to a stack
         of DVDs reaching from the earth to the moon and back, or
         one million times the amount of information in the Library of
         Congress. The IDC Corporation forecasts growth reaching 1.2
         million petabytes, or 1.2 zettabytes by the end of 2010, and
         then to 1.8 million zettabytes by 2011.

         A petabyte is a thousand terabytes or a million gigabytes.

         The bad news for companies like yours is that IDC also says
         that enterprises are liable for about 80 percent of that data.
         It’s a huge task made even more complicated because of the
         amazing web of compliance and privacy laws and require-
         ments that require chunks of that data to be retained, deleted,
         stored, or secured at different rates.

         Even if you’re not particularly tech-oriented, you’re a lawyer.
         That means having to deal with both that stored data and the
         laws that concern it. You work with companies to locate and
         preserve data that is relevant to a specific lawsuit, which can
         be a daunting task if you think about the massive amount of
         information and all the different repositories that may hold
         that information.

         If you do this work poorly, you and your company can face
         serious court sanctions, ranging from small money penalties
         to outright legal judgments being entered. The bad press that
         comes along with the sanction can be even worse!

         Because of this, many companies implement initiatives to
         improve their eDiscovery processes. Even then, it can be a
         difficult process that requires a lot of communication and
         coordination between two departments that just don’t seem
         to speak the same language: Legal and IT.

         In fact, without personnel who can understand both legal and
         IT issues, initiatives frequently falter or fail.
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2     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies


    About This Book
             This book is written to help personnel in both the legal and IT
             departments better understand those parts of the eDiscovery
             process that may not come naturally to them. Hopefully, what
             you read here will bring the two sides together in blissful
             eDiscovery harmony.

             The side you’re reading right now assists lawyers in under-
             standing more of the IT-specific requirements of the eDiscov-
             ery process. The other side of the book will help people with
             strong IT skills to better understand the legal parts of the
             eDiscovery process. On the off-chance that these two groups
             are fighting over a copy of this book, please either tear it in
             half or call EMC for another complimentary copy.



    Icons Used in This Book
             This book uses a couple of icons to draw your attention to
             special information. You’ll gain some good knowledge if you
             stop and take notice.

             This icon denotes information that will save you time or
             money.

             This icon points out common traps and pitfalls you might
             run into. Pay attention to these bad boys — it’s better to be
             warned now than run into trouble later.




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    dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 1

           Preparing for and
         Initiating eDiscovery
In This Chapter
▶ Learning what eDiscovery means
▶ Examining the Electronic Discovery Reference Model
▶ Managing your information prior to eDiscovery




         e    Discovery is necessarily a reactive process, as you only
              perform eDiscovery in response to certain events. That
         shouldn’t stop you from preparing in advance and reaping
         the benefits of your foresight. In this chapter, we look at the
         various forms of eDiscovery and how companies can prepare
         for the eDiscovery process.



Defining eDiscovery
         The term eDiscovery normally conjures the specter of litiga-
         tion for most lawyers. But in today’s compliance environment,
         the process of eDiscovery takes many forms. When you define
         eDiscovery as the process of identifying, collecting, and evalu-
         ating information as part of a legal inquiry, it becomes very
         similar to several other activities. Take a look at Table 1-1 to
         see those similarities.




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4     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies


              Table 1-1               eDiscovery Similarities
              Process               Description
              Litigation            Providing ESI as part of a lawsuit, whether
                                    you’re a plaintiff or a defendant.
              Regulatory inquiries Providing ESI to a regulator investigating you
                                   or checking on compliance requirements.
              Internal audit        Implementing internal audit processes to
                                    ensure that certain policies and procedures
                                    are being followed — because most informa-
                                    tion is now electronic, these auditors must
                                    request or find ESI on their own.
              Freedom of            Processing requests from citizens for
              Information           government-held information.
              Act/Open Records
              Requests
              Third-party           Processing requests for information for
              subpoenas             entities not involved in litigation as a named
                                    party. Although non-party obligations are
                                    usually less onerous and costs can often be
                                    recouped, the process of finding and produc-
                                    ing this information is virtually identical to the
                                    litigation process.


             Although these processes have a lot in common, the starting
             points can vary greatly for each, as can the time available to
             respond and the penalty for failing to get it right.



    The eDiscovery Process
             Think of the eDiscovery process as an enormous funnel. You
             shovel electronically stored information, or ESI, into the top
             of the funnel and run it through a series of filtering processes
             that cut down the amount of information (mostly to eliminate
             duplicates and irrelevant or privileged data). Once all the fil-
             ters have done their jobs, the final data set comes out as the
             product of the process.




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Chapter 1: Preparing for and Initiating eDiscovery                                                  5
         The keys to an efficient process are:

           ✓ Restricting the amount of information shoveled into
             the top of the filter, because it’s expensive to push data
             through the process.
           ✓ Making sure that potentially relevant data is fed into the
             filter — if you miss relevant data, you may face sanctions.
           ✓ Making the filtering process as fast and inexpensive as
             possible.

         Understand your current legal and regulatory profile as the
         starting point. You need to know what type of lawsuits are
         common, what data is involved in those suits, which regula-
         tors actively seek data, and any other relevant information.

         Sounds simple, right?



Introducing the EDRM
         eDiscovery is a complex and ever-changing process, so it’s
         helpful to have a useful framework with which to analyze the
         process. Take a look at the Electronic Discovery Reference
         Model, or EDRM, in Figure 1-1.


                                                                   Processing

                                           Preservation

         Information                                                 Review
                       Identification                                                      Production   Presentation
         Management

                                             Collection

                                                                    Analysis




          VOLUME                                                                                       RELEVANCE
                               Electronic Discovery Reference Model / © 2009 / v2.0 / edrm.net

         Figure 1-1: The Electronic Discovery Reference Model.


         Although the EDRM process moves from left to right, you’ll
         note arrows going in every direction. The process can loop
         back and forth depending on new information about the case,
         adding or reducing ESI, and changing legal claims and theories.


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6     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies

             We use the EDRM model throughout this book; the model
             itself can be broken down into three basic parts.


             Information management
             This node refers to things that happen “outside” of the eDis-
             covery process, but still have a significant impact on the pro-
             cess itself. For more on this see the section “Understanding
             Information Management” later in this chapter.


             Identification, preservation
             and collection
             The left side of the model includes steps that are focused
             on IT issues: identification, preservation, and collection. ESI
             within the infrastructure that is relevant to a case must be
             identified; then it must be preserved (so that it’s not deleted)
             and eventually collected (for further work).


             Processing, review, analysis
             and production
             The right side of the model includes tasks that are more legal
             in nature: processing, review, analysis and production. In
             these steps, ESI is processed so that it can be reviewed and
             analyzed for its impact on a case. Ultimately, relevant, non-
             privileged information must be produced to the other side in
             the case. (The last step, presentation, refers to how data is
             presented at trial, which is rare).



    When Do We Start?
             The duty to preserve data actually can begin long before
             a party is sued or files suit. The Sedona Conference
             Commentary on Legal Holds says

                  Reasonable anticipation of litigation arises when an
                  organization is on notice of a credible threat it will



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    dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 1: Preparing for and Initiating eDiscovery         7
              become involved in litigation or anticipates taking
              action to initiate litigation. In other words the threat
              must be a credible probability — and not just possibility.

         Waiting to preserve ESI until after receiving a summons and
         complaint could result in spoliation claims and sanctions.

         When you can reasonably anticipate litigation, you must take
         some critical steps quickly:

              1. Suspend any records management or other policy
                 that allows the destruction of potentially relevant
                 information (both ESI and physical data).
              2. Send a written litigation hold notice to all custodians
                 of data that may have discoverable information.
                 Don’t rely on the notice and the custodians as the only
                 method of preserving ESI. Depending completely on
                 custodians to preserve relevant ESI has been heavily
                 criticized in many recent cases.
              3. Follow up with custodians that have questions or
                 concerns. You have a duty and an obligation to stay
                 current and involved with the process.
              4. Ask each custodian to acknowledge receiving the
                 notice. Send reminders on a regular basis.
              5. Understand where the relevant ESI is likely to be
                 located and take steps to actively preserve that data.
                 Find more information on preservation in Chapter 3.



Understanding Information
Management
         Technically, information management isn’t part of the eDis-
         covery process. However, getting your information “house” in
         order has a significant impact on the quality and risk level of
         your eDiscovery process. Keeping your information organized
         (and documenting how that information is organized and
         archived) helps set the stage for your eDiscovery efforts.




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8     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies

             Consider reviewing your policies and technologies in the fol-
             lowing areas when you are looking to improve on information
             management:

               ✓ E-mail management and archiving
               ✓ Records management systems
               ✓ Backup strategy and retention
               ✓ File visibility, classification, and clean-up
               ✓ Retention policies

             The better an organization governs its information prior to
             the triggering event of an eDiscovery matter, the more effi-
             cient and painless eDiscovery will be!




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    dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 2

            Understanding ESI
             and IT Systems
In This Chapter
▶ Learning about e-mail systems and preservation
▶ Examining other potential sources of electronic data
▶ Accounting for all your electronic data




         A     lthough the next step in the process is to preserve and
               collect relevant information, it’s difficult because most
         lawyers don’t understand the basics of information technol-
         ogy. In this chapter, we look at a high-level overview of a few
         basic IT issues that are important to the eDiscovery process.



E-mail Systems
         Most companies use e-mail — it’s by far the most common IT
         system. Beyond mere communication, e-mail can be used as:

           ✓ A workflow mechanism to route approvals
           ✓ A filing system and de facto records management system
           ✓ An electronic replacement for approvals of contracts,
             understandings, and requisitions
           ✓ A host of other things for which it is not really built

         For these reasons, e-mail is a treasure trove of information
         and is one type of data that is almost always requested.

         The basics of an e-mail system are actually fairly simple and
         can be compared to the U.S. Postal system:
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10     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies

                ✓ An e-mail user creates a message that is addressed to
                  another user (much like writing a letter).
                ✓ The user sends this message through their company
                  e-mail server (much like putting outgoing mail into a
                  mailbox).
                ✓ The e-mail traverses a network until it reaches its desti-
                  nation (much like a letter goes through the postal system
                  until it reaches the destination mailbox).
                ✓ Once in the destination mailbox, the message remains
                  there until the intended recipient opens it (much like a
                  real letter).

              Of course, important differences exist. Among others — e-mail
              travels almost instantaneously, and you can send an e-mail to
              200 people as easily as you can to one person. Multiple copies
              of e-mails can be created all along the way to the recipient,
              and additional copies can be kept even after receipt.

              Most users interact with the corporate e-mail system through
              a client, an e-mail program (such as Microsoft Outlook or
              Lotus Notes) that provides access to messages within the
              larger corporate e-mail system. Many of these e-mail systems
              allow users to copy or move e-mails from the main corpo-
              rate server (where space may be limited) to their local hard
              drives. Once there, end-users can maintain messages in local
              e-mail containers (typically PST or NSF files) that are com-
              pletely under their control. These local containers can be
              copied, moved, backed up, written to CD/DVD, or copied onto
              USB drives. This makes them very difficult to find for eDiscov-
              ery purposes.



     Laptops, Desktops,
     and Fileshares
              Almost everyone uses a laptop or desktop computer in
              their daily work. With applications such as Microsoft Office,
              employees can create enormous volumes of data. In addition,
              computers frequently create some of their own data, storing
              cookies from Internet sites that have been visited, generating
              journal logs of activities by the user and by the system, and so
              on. All this information is preserved and maintained on a hard
              drive that stores data until it is deleted by the end-user.
     These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 2: Understanding ESI and IT Systems           11
         Many workers also have access to a fileshare, which they
         may know as a home share, a department directory, or a logi-
         cal name like the X drive. These repositories appear as local
         drives on a computer, but actually reside on the company net-
         work and are used by groups, departments, or even the entire
         company. The IT department generally manages these shares.
         Even if there is just one physical system, it may appear as
         many different systems to end-users.



Document Management and
Records Management Systems
         A document management or records management system puts
         some formality into the process of creating, retaining, sharing,
         and destroying electronic documents. Most lawyers know these
         systems as collaboration tools. In these systems, users must gen-
         erally use a check-in and check-out process to track who created
         and made changes to documents, as well as how long the docu-
         ment is supposed to be retained. Better systems even enable
         litigation holds and prevent anyone from deleting the document
         (accidentally or intentionally) until the hold has been released.



SharePoint
         SharePoint is a Microsoft family of products designed to
         enable collaboration, file sharing, and Web publishing. Its
         ease of use has taken end-users by storm. However, the dif-
         ficulty in tracking and managing SharePoint data has created
         headaches for IT (and soon for legal). SharePoint sites, or
         collections of data, frequently spring up to support a project,
         and users tend to be free to collaborate and share informa-
         tion. After the project has been completed, the site is often
         left behind — it’s no longer in use, but still contains important
         information that can be difficult to locate for eDiscovery.



Database Management Systems
         Databases are used to maintain vast amounts of data shared
         among many people and in critical systems, such as for finan-
         cial accounting, human resources, and manufacturing data.

These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
12     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies

              These systems maintain data in a very formal, structured
              manner that makes storage, searching, and sharing the data
              extremely efficient. It also makes the data inaccessible with-
              out the proper tools.

              You can’t just “print out” or “give” someone your database.
              There are enormous amounts of information in a database
              that the other side has no right to view, and specialized,
              expensive software is usually necessary to operate and access
              the information. Yet it can be difficult to extract the specific
              data that is relevant to a case, and someone may have to gen-
              erate a new report or query to extract that information in a
              usable format.



     Social Media and
     Cloud Computing
              It’s impossible to predict new technologies that will be
              invented in the next several years, but if businesses use them,
              they will be important to lawyers. We close this chapter with
              a quick look at two rapidly developing technologies that hold
              great promise: social media and cloud computing.

              Social media is data that is shared among groups of people,
              mostly for social purposes but increasingly for both social
              and business uses. Current examples of social media include
              services like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Because social
              media usually resides outside of the company’s control, it can
              be difficult to collect and hold — if a company is even able
              to identify that it is relevant to a case. In addition, its mixed
              business and personal usage makes corporate policies and
              relevance difficult to determine in many cases.

              Cloud computing refers to delivering computing and data stor-
              age in a “power plant” model. In a cloud model, a third party
              is responsible for maintaining and provisioning computing
              services on an as-needed basis to end-users. The cloud can
              create compliance and eDiscovery issues because although
              the data is created and owned by the company, a third party
              is now contractually responsible for operating the infrastruc-
              ture and thus may have actual control over the data.



     These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 3

     Finding, Preserving, and
          Collecting ESI
In This Chapter
▶ Creating your data map
▶ Getting everybody involved in the preservation and collection
  process
▶ Choosing the right preservation and collection methods




         N      ow that you know a little bit more about the systems
                where your ESI may be stored, we cover how to actually
         find, preserve, and collect that data.



Finding Your Data
         Before starting on any journey, it is always nice to have a map
         to guide you where to go. Many people embrace this concept
         in eDiscovery by creating a high-level data map of ESI reposi-
         tories. Creating a useful data map requires perspective from
         both IT and legal.

         A good data map isn’t the same as an IT infrastructure dia-
         gram. Instead, a data map is more of a checklist that contains
         high-level information about the repositories of data in your
         environment that are likely to have data subject to eDiscovery
         requirements. Look for systems outside your company that
         may have important information, such as customer and sales
         tracking systems and human resource and payroll information.




These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
14     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies

              When creating a data map, begin with ESI repositories con-
              taining content that has been needed in your recent cases and
              add the systems that your key players access. You can even
              flip this idea around — ask which systems, applications, and
              data stores don’t contain responsive data based on your typi-
              cal legal claims and regulatory requests.



     Get the Right People Involved
              Many companies performing eDiscovery today still maintain
              that identifying, preserving, and collecting data is a job that
              belongs to IT. That thinking is outdated for the following
              reasons:

                ✓ More courts mandate that legal counsel (both in-house
                  and law firm counsel) take an active and informed role in
                  the eDiscovery process. Failing to do so can lead to spo-
                  liation claims and sanctions against both the company
                  and counsel individually.
                ✓ IT can’t effectively preserve and collect ESI without
                  important input from legal on what needs to be found.
                  Without legal input, the result is typically an over-
                  collection, because IT preserves everything possible.
                ✓ If this step goes wrong and data isn’t preserved, the rest
                  of the process can’t fix the initial problems.



     Choosing the Right Method of
     Preservation and Collection
              Based on your data mapping and your early case assessment,
              you should have a good understanding of the important data
              for your case. At this point, you must decide how to preserve
              and collect the data. These choices vary depending on your
              assessment of risk, the availability of resources and tools to
              assist you, and the timeframe for completing the work.

              There are many ways to preserve and collect ESI. Table 3-1
              provides a brief description of some of the most popular
              methods.


     These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 3: Finding, Preserving, and Collecting ESI                      15
          Table 3-1                    ESI Collection Methods
          Method            Pros               Cons                 Bottom Line
          Backup tapes      Easy and simple;   Overcollection of Use only as a
                            low risk of        data resulting in last resort
                            spoliation         huge costs; risk
                                               can actually be
                                               increased due to
                                               potential loss of
                                               restoration; can’t
                                               analyze data
          Forensic images   Complete;          Tricky and           Use when
                            preserves          expensive to do      needed: criminal
                            authenticity/      right; significant   cases, FCPA,
                            admissibility;     over-collection      allegations of
                            retains deleted/   of data; no          deletion
                            slack space        access to data
          Archives          Great for infor-   Takes time to        Great for one
                            mation manage-     be of value; no      specific
                            ment purposes      value outside        repository
                                               that repository
          Custodian-based Easy to do,          Can’t be relied      Risky, use only in
          hold            inexpensive, can     on; heavily criti-   very limited cir-
                          appear valid         cized in cases       cumstances (or
                                                                    as an additional
                                                                    layer)
          Custodian-based Easy, simple,        Easy to chal-        Use only for lim-
          collection      can appear valid     lenge, metadata      ited sources (for
                                               changes, can be      instance, USB
                                               incomplete           drives, paper)
          In-place index-   Fast, efficient,   Initial purchase     Best practice
          ing and/or        complete           required; ongo-      for repetitive
          collection                           ing maintenance      litigants
                                               and expertise;
                                               infrastructure
                                               overhead




These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
16     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies

              Most litigants preserve data by holding it in place or making
              a copy and storing it someplace safe. Holding data in place
              can be fast and efficient and save money on storage. However,
              most systems don’t enable a real “hold-in-place” capability,
              or they use a system that can be easily worked around by
              end-users. Affecting a hold by making a copy of data works
              well for those who believe that collection will eventually need
              to be done. In addition, this method ensures that data will be
              preserved and maintained under a watchful eye.

              Using cheap sources to preserve ESI (for example, backup
              tapes) can cost a lot more over the entire life of the case and
              substantially increase your overall risk.


              Collect What You Need
              Lawyers tend to be risk-averse, and in eDiscovery, they tend
              to want to collect everything. This may have worked back
              in the good old days of paper, but when one gigabyte is the
              equivalent of 77,000 pages, it just isn’t a financially feasible
              process.

              Get your outside counsel on board! Make them read this book.
              Get them comfortable with your new process and make them
              as eDiscovery savvy as you.

              CDs, server backup tapes, e-mail archives, and other data
              sources can contain a massive amount of information that
              needs to be examined, retained, or tossed out. Take a look at
              Table 3-2 for some common sizes.


               Table 3-2                  Sizes of ESI Repositories
               ESI Repository                  Common Size   Physical Equivalent
               CD                              650 MB        50,000 pages
               E-mail PST                      400 MB        3,500 e-mails (1.5
                                                             pages per e-mail)
               USB drive                       1 GB          77,000 pages
               Laptop drive                    40 GB         3 million pages
               Backup tape (Super DLT)         60 / 120 GB   4 to 9 million pages
               Source: Ralph Losey, e-discoveryteam.com.



     These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 4

        Reviewing, Analyzing
         and Producing ESI
In This Chapter
▶ Reviewing all electronic information
▶ Reducing your data and your costs
▶ Understanding available production formats




         A     fter ESI has been collected, the next step is to analyze
               the data in the context of how it affects the case. You
         might also mark or tag documents that may be privileged,
         confidential, non-responsive, or responsive to particular
         issues in a case or even specific Requests for Production. In
         this chapter we show you how that work is currently being
         done, and some best practices for improvement.



Reviewing the Review Process
         In the ancient days of litigation, when lawyers dealt almost
         exclusively with actual paper documents, each document was
         reviewed by someone and tagged, boxed, or stacked accord-
         ing to that process.

         With the cost of legal review at about $18,000 to $35,000 per
         GB of ESI, it’s clear that handling the review in the same way
         as paper is incredibly expensive!




These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
18     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies


              Reducing Your Data Sets
              Reducing the amount of data that requires review can
              save a lot of money. There are many ways to cut back on
              data — starting with not collecting unnecessary data. Another
              common method is to eliminate duplicate files and e-mails.

              A great tool for identifying duplicate information is known as a
              hash algorithm. A hash algorithm takes an electronic file as input
              and returns a unique sequence of data as an output. Identical
              files will always return the same value — but if even a single bit
              is different, the algorithm will return a completely different value.

              You can leverage this information to ensure that duplicate
              documents are tagged the same way and that the document is
              reviewed only one time. Because it is a unique identifier, the
              hash value can even replace the old-fashioned and outdated
              Bates stamp!


              Privilege review – an
              ounce of prevention
              Another area undergoing rapid change is in reviewing infor-
              mation for attorney-client or work product privilege, which
              typically is not produced. Mistakenly producing privileged
              documents can result in a waiver, so parties frequently spend
              a lot of money and effort reviewing all their documents to
              determine which are privileged. In fact, having a diligent pro-
              cess is a significant factor in protecting against a waiver.

              To protect privilege, use special agreements, or clawbacks, with
              the other side and review the protections under Fed. R. Evid. 502.

              New technologies and processes can cut costs and save time
              in privilege review, including:

                ✓ Objective privilege: Documents are marked as initially
                  privileged based on an objective basis (such as date
                  range or author/sender), a privilege log is generated, and
                  the presumption can be challenged.
                ✓ Machine review: An initial batch of privileged docu-
                  ments is marked and then similar documents are identi-
                  fied through computational methods.

     These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 4: Reviewing, Analyzing and Producing ESI                  19
         Leverage technology to tag and manage privileged information,
         then produce an appropriate privilege log of those documents.
         Even if mistakes are made, the combination of diligence and
         clawback agreements can help to protect the privilege.



Analysis – Remembering Why
We Are Doing This Work
         In the midst of an eDiscovery process, there is frequently so
         much concern about locating, preserving, and collecting data
         (and preventing spoliation) that people forget the work is being
         undertaken for a specific purpose — to help to prove or defend
         against allegations made by another party. Analysis represents
         the stage at which you see how the data impacts a case.

         Ensure that your eDiscovery process will permit you to begin
         analysis at the earliest possible time!



Producing Your Information
         Production is something that you should think about from the
         very beginning of the case. Take a quick look at some of the
         most common formats in Table 4-1.


          Table 4-1           Common Production Formats
          Production Type   Description
          Native            File preserved in its original format such as text
                            files, spreadsheets, and word processing.
          Quasi-native      CSV or tab-delimited files
          Image             PDF and TIFF files
          Load files        Generally consist of an image file along with
                            associated information containing the text rep-
                            resented by that image and metadata from the
                            original, native version
          Hosted            Online with a third party
          Paper             Sometimes the paper is the original format. Other
                            times, paper format is the result of printing ESI


These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
20     The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies

              In general, don’t use a single form of production for all items.
              Instead, tailor the form to the data. With well-established
              tools requiring TIFF and/or load files, those formats may be
              needed, and they’re good for content with simple text like
              e-mails or Microsoft Word documents. Native forms are gen-
              erally best for spreadsheets, CAD, and other complex data
              sources. However, these sources can’t be Bates stamped in
              the traditional manner. Quasi-native forms can also work well
              for sources such as e-mail and databases.

              Understand current downstream processes and vendors and
              leverage tools behind the firewall to feed downstream pro-
              cessing in a format that suits the purpose.



     Native Format versus Images
              A native file usually means a file that is saved in a format
              that only certain programs can recognize. For example, a
              Microsoft Word document is automatically saved with a .doc
              extension. Data saved in a program’s native file format will
              store everything that you have created with the program.

              When it comes to leveraging technology in eDiscovery, a
              major mistake is to convert native ESI (with all its metadata,
              text, and other information that you can leverage) into an
              image format such as PDF or TIFF, which is basically just a
              picture of how the document looks. Frequently, this conver-
              sion is done because lawyers are more comfortable with
              images that can eventually be printed out onto paper. Other
              times, images are used solely so that the electronic equiva-
              lent of a Bates stamp number can be affixed to the document.
              Maintaining data natively, for as long as possible, is the best
              way to preserve metadata, search for information, and keep
              your production options open!




     These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
     dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 5

    Ten Ways to Prepare
  Your Legal Department for
         eDiscovery
In This Chapter
▶ Getting to know everyone
▶ Being flexible




         T  hink of this section as a tip sheet you can use to refresh
            your memory. These are important points to keep in
         mind, so check early and check often.

           ✓ Embrace the technology: eDiscovery means you have to
             be familiar with all kinds of technology. You don’t have
             to be an expert, but be conversant with the technology
             and know the terms and concepts. We promise it won’t
             hurt you.
           ✓ Introduce yourself early: Way before eDiscovery
             becomes a necessity, go down and meet the IT team. Let
             them know how you want to work together and what
             kind of goals you want to achieve. A little proactive work
             goes a long way.
           ✓ Filter it down: Dumping a ton of information on any eDis-
             covery process bogs down the process and frustrates
             everybody involved. Diligent de-duplication and filter-
             ing makes sure you only get the information you (and
             others) might need.




These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law for Dummies

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The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law for Dummies

  • 1. Compliments of The Technologist’s Guide to eD iscovery Law Learn to: • Work well with the legal team • Understand common legal terms and processes • Understand your impact on the process Jim Shook, Esq. Heidi Maher, Esq. William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq.
  • 2. Addressing Today’s eDiscovery and GRC Challenges Governance, Risk, and Compliance regulations surrounding discovery of electronically stored information have changed corporate business practices. With expanding rules and regulations, the legal department must defend the corporate interest, meet governance challenges, and ensure regulatory compliance, while balancing risks and expense. To meet today’s challenges, corporate attorneys need legal knowledge and experience, as well as an increased understanding of corporate IT capabilities, policies, and technologies. At the same time, corporate IT needs to understand the significant risk and cost implications of implementing technologies that do not address legal, compliance, or regulatory requirements. The authors of this book are a part of the EMC Information Governance, Risk, and Compliance Practice, which is a specialty practice within EMC Corporation, consisting of seasoned attorneys who also have backgrounds in business law, eDiscovery, information technology, records management, security, and compliance. The team helps organizations understand their legal and regulatory obligations, best practices to meet those obligations, and how EMC solutions can be leveraged as a part of a GRC or information governance strategy and process. For more information about the EMC capabilities and solutions, visit www.emc.com/informationgovernance or contact us at goodgovernance@emc.com.
  • 3. The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Jim Shook, Esq., Heidi Maher, Esq., and William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 4. The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trade- marks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WAR- RANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN REN- DERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSIS- TANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARIS- ING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZA- TION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Business Development Department in the U.S. at 317-572-3205. For details on how to create a custom For Dummies book for your business or organization, contact info@dummies.biz. For information about licensing the For Dummies brand for products or services, contact BrandedRights&Licenses@Wiley.com. ISBN: 978-1-118-07338-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Publisher’s Acknowledgments Development Editor: Ryan Williams Project Editor: Jennifer Bingham Editorial Manager: Rev Mengle Business Development Representative: Sue Blessing Custom Publishing Project Specialist: Michael Sullivan Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees Layout and Graphics: Erin Zeltner Proofreader: Jessica Kramer These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 5. Introduction T he world continues to create and store data at incredible rates. In 2009, the IDC corporation says the total amount of the world’s digital information grew to 800,000 petabytes, equivalent to a stack of DVDs reaching from the earth to the moon and back. The number is expected to grow to 1.2 million petabytes, or 1.2 zettabytes by the end of 2010, and then to 1.8 million zettabytes by 2011. A petabyte is a thousand terabytes or a million gigabytes. The bad news for companies like yours is that IDC also says that enterprises are liable for about 80 percent of that data — and that data falls into your custody. It’s an enormous task further complicated by the fact that an amazing web of compliance and privacy laws and requirements demand that chunks of that data be retained, deleted, stored, or secured, often in a conflicting manner. And you’re not a lawyer — you work in IT. Your job is to corral and store all of that data, right? True, but it also involves producing that data whenever required, and that includes legal proceedings. You have to furnish everything, from the actual information to logs and metadata regarding that information. In the civil litigation system in the United States, companies must frequently locate and preserve data that is relevant to a specific case. It can be a daunting task given the volume of information and number of repositories that may hold rel- evant information. Companies unprepared for this process frequently face a difficult choice: Spend a lot of money to fully and properly respond to this challenge; or just wing it and hope for the best. If things don’t go well, your company can face serious sanc- tions from a court and comparable losses in the stock market and the court of public opinion. You may not have to deal with that directly, but your executives will, and that means you’ll deal with it by proxy. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 6. 2 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies Because of the high cost and risk, many companies have undertaken initiatives to improve their eDiscovery processes. Even then, it can be difficult work because it requires smooth communication and coordination between two groups that frequently just do not seem to speak the same language: legal and IT. In fact, without personnel who can understand both legal and IT issues, initiatives frequently falter or fail. About This Book This book is written to help personnel in both the legal and IT departments to understand those parts of the eDiscovery process that may not come naturally to them. Hopefully, what you read here will help to bring the two sides together in blissful eDiscovery harmony. The side you’re reading right now assists IT professionals understand the legal pitfalls and requirements of the eDis- covery process. The other side of the book helps lawyers try to grasp the technology involved in the eDiscovery process. They may still call you with questions just because that’s what they do, but we try to explain stuff the best we can. On the off-chance that these two groups are fighting over a copy of this book, please either tear it in half or call EMC for another complimentary copy. Icons Used in This Book This book uses a couple of icons to draw your attention to special information. You’ll gain some good knowledge if you stop and take notice. This icon denotes information that will save you time or money. This icon points out common traps and pitfalls you might run into. Pay attention to these bad boys — it’s better to be warned now that run into trouble later. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 7. Chapter 1 Understanding the Litigation Process In This Chapter ▶ Understanding what kinds of litigation require electronically stored information ▶ Learning about the rules and regulations governing this process ▶ Discovering your role in the process F or many raised on lawyer television shows (from Petrocelli to LA Law and more recently, The Practice), it comes as a shock that there’s a lot more to the civil litigation process than heading immediately to a trial. In fact, only a very small percentage of cases (around 1 percent in Federal Court) actually wind up in trial. Cases frequently settle, or they’re won or lost on motions well before a trial begins. Knowing the basics and having some understanding of the full litigation pro- cess is a significant asset in working in eDiscovery. A Civil Lawsuit A lawsuit is a complex process that we break down into a few basic components. The Complaint: Starting the lawsuit The Complaint is the first document in the litigation process, and it contains the basic allegations upon which the plaintiff (the party starting the process) is making a claim against the These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 8. 4 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies defendant (the party against whom the suit is filed). The com- plaint is actually one of several pleadings (formal statements filed with the court) that ensure everyone is aware of the claims being made. Responding to the lawsuit The defendant usually has less than a month to file an Answer (another pleading), which is a formal document that responds to the allegations in the complaint. In general, the Answer responds to the claims and factual statements made by the plaintiff and sets up any defenses. In some cases, the answer may contain counterclaims, or claims against the plaintiff. For example, the defendant sued for breach of contract might say that it is the plaintiff who actually breached the contract. Crossclaims are filed when parties have claims against each other, such as when one of several defendants claims that another defendant is obligated to reimburse it for any dam- ages. New parties can even be brought into a case if needed to administer justice. Discovery: Getting to the truth During discovery, the parties must provide each other with information in their possession related to the claims in the lawsuit. They may request other information from each other, and they may even ask third parties for information that is relevant. They have many tools to do this, including the fol- lowing: ✓ Depositions: Lawyers have witnesses respond orally to questioning, under oath, with everything spoken being recorded by a court reporter. ✓ Interrogatories: Lawyers ask written questions that must be responded to, in writing, and under oath. ✓ Requests for production of documents and things: Lawyers file written requests from one party to the other asking for documents (including electronic information) and other physical objects that may be relevant to a case. For example, the defendant in a contract case might ask for all copies, including draft copies, of the contract at issue. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 9. Chapter 1: Understanding the Litigation Process 5 Although electronically stored information (ESI) was never excluded from the discovery process, it was not until December 2006 (when the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended), that actual rules were clearly established for incorporating ESI as part of the discovery process. Understanding the 30(b)(6) Deposition The 30(b)(6) deposition is a special kind of request. Most depositions require a party to specify the person that it wishes to depose. A 30(b)(6) deposition enables a party to instead specify certain topics that it wants to discuss. The responding party must then designate and supply the people within its organization that can provide that information. Many have used this tool effectively in cases involving eDis- covery issues, where one party might compel the other to provide detailed information about its IT systems. This infor- mation can include backup and retention policies, data infra- structure, and e-mail accounts. These depositions can be very damaging if an IT deponent is unprepared or provides infor- mation about systems that don’t work as legal had assumed. Subpoenas Parties that are not named in a lawsuit may also have infor- mation relevant to the case. For example, a party may want a copy of bank information or medical records important to their case. The rules of discovery provide a mechanism to obtain this information directly from that party through a document called a subpoena. Subpoenas have an important role in eDiscovery because information can be obtained directly from a source that may have information the other party hadn’t considered, such as text messages. Today, this can even include social networks like Facebook and Twitter. If you’re responding to a subpoena, you may be able to recover costs incurred in responding. So make sure that you track your costs and give this information to the lawyers on the team. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 10. 6 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies Motion practice: Narrowing the issues The parties also have the opportunity throughout most of the litigation process to ask the court to decide certain issues of law related to the case. If granted, some of these motions can end the case. In other situations, the motions narrow or limit the issues (or the potential damages) so that a settlement can be more easily achieved. Motion practice is also the point when a party might claim that the other party hasn’t met its eDiscovery obligations in some way. Generally, a motion alleging spoliation (intention- ally or unintentionally withholding or damaging evidence) by the other party will also request some type of sanction, rang- ing from a monetary fine all the way to a terminating sanction, which ends the case in the other party’s favor. Trial: Letting someone else decide the outcome If motions don’t resolve a case and a settlement can’t be agreed on, the matter will be tried to a judge or jury. Getting all the way to a trial is one of the most exciting aspects of liti- gation. However, the time and expense of reaching trial makes it extremely impractical for many litigants. In addition, a trial presents certain risks that many companies aren’t willing to take. For example, while a party may believe that a case is only worth a maximum of $500,000 under any circumstances, a jury could view the case very differently. The result could be an award of nothing or $10,000,000 — or any amount between. The uncertainty of trial causes many companies to avoid trying cases except as a last resort. Appeal: When you don’t like the outcome After a final verdict, a party may believe that mistakes were made by the judge, jury, or both during the litigation process and file a formal appeal listing its concerns. The other side will respond, and typically the parties will argue the appeal These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 11. Chapter 1: Understanding the Litigation Process 7 before a court that is higher than the trial court. There are even a few levels of appeals (all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court) if a party doesn’t like the answer it receives on appeal. The appellate process doesn’t typically permit the introduc- tion of any new facts or documents; instead, the higher courts review the legal decisions made in the case. A long haul The entire litigation process can take years; large cases may not be resolved for five years or more. As you think about your eDiscovery work, remember that the other side may have the right to ask you exactly what work you did — three or four years later! The Rules People working with the eDiscovery process often hear that something is required by “The Rules.” But what does that mean? Where do these rules come from? There are actually many different types of rules within each court system, and the rules can even vary among different courts. Make sure you have been given information on the rules that will apply to your case. Even courts within the same state can have different requirements. Federal Courts Only certain types of cases can be tried in Federal District Courts. They must involve federal concerns or include par- ties who are citizens from different states. The U.S. Court of Appeals (Districts 1 through 11 plus the DC and Federal Circuit) will hear appeals from these courts. The U.S. Supreme Court, which only takes cases that it wishes to hear, is the final appellate court. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (or FRCP) govern the pro- cess for civil cases that are tried in the Federal Courts. These rules typically govern the administrative process and are nor- mally what are referred to in the eDiscovery process. There are many other rules, such as the Federal Rules of Evidence, that may also apply. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 12. 8 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies State courts Most civil cases are litigated in state courts. Decisions ren- dered at the trial court level are generally appealable to a court of appeals, and then (potentially) to a state supreme court. Some decisions are even appealable from there to the U.S. Supreme Court. Each state has its own rules of civil procedure, which are usu- ally modeled after the FRCP but can vary in important ways. Caselaw Whenever an important new ruling is made that affects the eDiscovery process, many people will hear about it, write about it, and talk about it. But what does such a caselaw deci- sion really mean? Typically, cases on eDiscovery issues are handed down by the various courts of appeals, and technically they’re effec- tive only in the jurisdiction in which they were decided. These cases then form precedent that should be followed in that jurisdiction unless overturned by a higher court or in a later case. Every jurisdiction is free to adopt, reject, or ignore deci- sions from parallel jurisdictions (such as other states or even Federal Courts in other states), but they must follow decisions from higher courts in their jurisdiction. For example, the early eDiscovery case of Zubulake v. UBS Warburg, LLC is frequently cited as jump-starting the aware- ness of eDiscovery issues. Technically, Zubulake is control- ling only in the Second Circuit, where the Court that decided the case is based. However, because it was well-reasoned and many states had similar rules and/or laws to those that Zubulake depended on, the case was largely accepted or fol- lowed in many other jurisdictions. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 13. Chapter 2 Starting an eDiscovery Process In This Chapter ▶ Understanding how to map data sources ▶ Anticipating litigation involving ESI ▶ Learning what triggers the eDiscovery process G ood eDiscovery requires a blend of both legal and IT skills and knowledge. However, the IT knowledge and information required tends to be focused on different issues than what an IT professional uses in regular day-to-day activi- ties. In this chapter, we look at how IT can support legal in better understanding systems that contain ESI. We also explore how you should identify the appropriate starting point for the eDiscovery process. The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) is an excellent tool for analyzing and working on eDiscovery requirements. Both legal and IT teams must understand the EDRM model, but there’s only so much space we have to dis- cuss these issues. Refer to Chapter 1 on the flip side of this book to familiarize yourself with EDRM. Data Mapping A great starting point for eDiscovery (and to get legal and IT working together) is to create a data map. Before you pull out your network diagram, understand that a data map is just a useful listing of data (ESI) that is created, used, or stored and that is likely to be needed in litigation. The eDiscovery team These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 14. 10 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies uses the data map to determine, at the outset of a matter, which repositories of ESI are likely to be important in a case and figure out how to hold and collect data from those repositories. A data map has no fixed form — it just needs to be useful to the people that are using it. Table 2-1 illustrates a portion of a sample data map to provide a general idea. Table 2-1 A Sample Data Map Repository Custodians Types of Data Other Size (Who to Information Notify) Laptops Individual Productivity Data is 2-4 employees, documents, backed up GBs contractors e-mail, notes, weekly over per misc data the network user E-mail Messaging E-mail E-mails can 10-12 server team, messages be deleted TBs employees and by users; attachments rolling deletion will delete after six months Salesforce Third party Sales and Deleted ten 7 TBs (Salesforce. customer years after com) information – last entry/ contact info, modification meetings, appointments, forecasts Update your data map regularly to make sure it remains useful. The map doesn’t need to be (and probably shouldn’t be) too detailed from an IT perspective. For example, it would be a rare case where IP addresses, network segments, and even application versions would be necessary. Keeping that kind of detail makes it less likely that the map will be kept updated! These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 15. Chapter 2: Starting an eDiscovery Process 11 Litigation Holds Begin before the Lawsuit! Although smart companies prepare for eDiscovery pro- actively, an actual eDiscovery process is never done in a vacuum. It is always done in response to a triggering event. However, that trigger is frequently misunderstood. The actual trigger that begins an eDiscovery process is usu- ally not the filing of a lawsuit, but frequently something that is known about much earlier. When a party can reasonably anticipate that litigation will commence, the process officially begins and a party must begin to hold, or preserve, ESI that is relevant to that matter. The legal department should be made aware of potential liti- gation at the earliest opportunity, so that it can make a deci- sion on whether it’s time to preserve data. Basically, reasonable anticipation means that an event has taken place that leads to a reasonable conclusion that a law- suit will commence. When that event occurs, lawyers have the immediate duty to preserve ESI that is reasonably accessible, if it is potentially relevant. If they don’t preserve, then they and/or their company could be subject to sanctions. That’s why the legal team frequently asks IT to drop everything in order to immediately work on preserving and/or collecting that information. Here are a few scenarios where the reasonably likely require- ment might be triggered: ✓ An employee files a harassment complaint with the HR department that merits an investigation. ✓ A company decides to pursue litigation against one of its competitors for violating its patents. ✓ A malfunctioning product has caused a serious accident. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 16. 12 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 17. Chapter 3 Understanding the Scope of ESI to Hold In This Chapter ▶ Discovering what ESI is included in the scope of an investigation ▶ Understanding the legal concept of proportionality ▶ Preserving and collecting ESI O nce the eDiscovery process has been triggered, certain information and storage media (ESI, physical docu- ments, and other objects) must be preserved so that they can be reviewed during the litigation. In today’s digital explosion, it’s fortunate that not all data belonging to a company must be preserved. In this chapter, we look more specifically at what must be preserved and the best way to save relevant ESI. Determining What Is within Scope Unfortunately, there’s no literal, clear-cut definition of what ESI must be preserved for a case. Instead, you must rely on a flexible rule that’s roughly equivalent to: Preserve anything that might be used as evidence or anything that might reason- ably lead to the discovery of such evidence. Because most litigation holds should begin before or very early in a lawsuit, the process can get complicated. For exam- ple, there’s a common misconception that selecting ESI for preservation can be done by using keywords to identify data. Although keywords frequently have a place in the eDiscovery These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 18. 14 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies process, they generally can’t be used for preservation. The issues involved in a lawsuit can be broad and complex, and narrowing those issues down to a set of keywords can be very difficult. In addition, if a lawsuit hasn’t yet been filed, there is nobody on the other side to agree upon the keywords. Determining a proper scope requires the legal team and IT to work together to understand the systems and data custodians that likely have data relevant to a case. For example, in a con- tract case, you may know the employees who worked on the contract. You may also have a date range that is important to the case. That information creates a good starting point from which you can begin to determine ESI that is important to preserve. Proportionality Another potential limit to the scope of ESI is the idea of pro- portionality. In short, proportionality means that the effort and expense of eDiscovery should bear some reasonable relation- ship to the “value” of a case. Your lawyers will need your help in making proportionality assessments. Although they should understand the “value” of a case, they may not understand how much certain eDiscov- ery work will cost. So before you take forensic images of 1,000 desktops or order 50 new backup tapes every week to hold data for litigation, make sure that you provide an estimate of how much the work may cost. Proportionality is a quickly evolving concept with a lot of nuances. For example, don’t assume that you will not have to spend $500,000 in a case that you think is worth just $50,000. The other party may have a very different opinion of both the value of the case and the cost of eDiscovery. Preserving and Collecting ESI Once ESI is identified as being within scope for a case, it must be preserved. Nothing in the FRCP (or elsewhere) mandates that preservation should be done in a specific way, so the These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 19. Chapter 3: Understanding the Scope of ESI to Hold 15 actual method for preserving ESI will vary. Weigh the risk and expense involved in each type of preservation method so that you and your attorneys choose the right one for your case. You can review several common collection method in Table 3-1. Table 3-1 Comparison of Common Preservation Methods Method Pros Cons Hold in place Simple, quick to Works well only in systems implement, saves designed with holds; risk on storage of physical loss or user intervention Forensic Complete preservation Expensive across even imaging of all data; generally moderate numbers of good for authenticity custodians; substantial and admissibility overcollection of ESI concerns Custodian or Easy, simple, fast Substantial risk that manual hold custodians will not pay attention, not understand, or will intentionally miss data Automated Requires tools and Safe, fast, enables quick collection incremental storage and easy early case/data assessment ESI Collection and Metadata At some point after being preserved, ESI must be collected or copied to another location in a legally sound manner. Collection enables further processing, such as de-duplication, normaliza- tion of data, analysis of the data (such as concepts and e-mail threading), and even the review and production phases. The collection process should be carefully designed so that important metadata isn’t lost or changed while ESI is being col- lected. Although metadata will not be important in all cases, it can be difficult to know beforehand whether it will be required in a specific case. So create a process that preserves metadata. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 20. 16 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 21. Chapter 4 What Does Legal Do with This Stuff? In This Chapter ▶ Reviewing and analyzing the data with the legal team ▶ Assessing the case early in the process ▶ Choosing the right production format (or formats) for the case T he eDiscovery process can be so difficult and techni- cal that people often lose sight of its purpose. The real reason for worrying about all this ESI is that there is a poten- tial lawsuit or investigation, and the lawyers need to under- stand what happened so that they can put together their legal case. Although much of a case involves testimony from witnesses and physical objects, ESI is extremely important in understanding what happened in a case. Legal Review and Analysis The legal team will review and analyze the ESI to see how it supports or contradicts other information about what has transpired. In addition, the legal team will deploy different methods to review data to determine whether it meets the following conditions: ✓ The data is relevant to the case and should be produced to the other side. ✓ The data is irrelevant. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 22. 18 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies ✓ The data is confidential or subject to privilege and should not be produced, produced separately from other information so that it can be protected, or redacted to remove confidential information. With the large volumes of data present in most cases, the review process will normally need to take a phased approach. Data that is clearly irrelevant, such as spam e-mails and infor- mation well outside of the relevant date range for the case, can be eliminated. Other information may require “eyes-on” review, where a person with legal training must actually review the data and determine its relevance. Early Case and Data Assessment Early case assessment (ECA) is the process of making deter- minations about a case while it is still in its early stages. This typically involves a high-level understanding of the facts of the case, the status of any legal issues, whether the organiza- tion has insurance to cover liability and/or attorney’s fees, and other important information. An important part of ECA is the ability to have a basic under- standing of the company’s ESI that is relevant to the case, sometimes known as early data assessment (EDA). In most cases, this requires knowing how much data is going to be collected and how expensive or burdensome that process will be, as well as the ability to review information maintained by the key players. Some methods of preservation and collection will allow early EDA/ECA, while others may hinder it by precluding an early review of the data. For example, forensic images can take a while to create and then process, as does restoring backup tapes. Even custodian preservation provides little assistance for EDA. On the other hand, processes that enable legal inves- tigators to have early access to view the data will significantly enhance early assessment processes. Better ECA/EDA is important for many reasons. For instance, a better understanding of the actual position in a case will lead to a better settlement position. Also, making determinations without data can lead to taking positions in a case that are expensive or difficult to defend. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 23. Chapter 4: What Does Legal Do with This Stuff? 19 Analyzing and Producing ESI Eventually, ESI must be produced to the other side in a case. Production of data can take many forms, and we look at a few here. Remember that you should have an agreement with the other side about the format in which you are producing the data. You will also have the opportunity to specify the format in which you would like data from the other side. Help your lawyers to understand which format is best for the specific requirements of each case. Paper Lawyers love paper! It may be difficult to believe, but many litigants (or at least their attorneys) still prefer to deal with paper and just want to print everything. Bates stamping (a process where documents are stamped with a unique string of letters and numbers) is also frequently a part of this process so that documents can be more readily identified. Still, print- ing ESI to paper has drawbacks, including the loss of most metadata and an inability to electronically search. But many parties may still request this format. Images Some parties don’t want to deal with boxes (or truckloads) of paper, but still want image files or pictures of all documents. In these cases, the ESI is converted into image files such as TIF, GIF, or PDF formats. Note that once again, metadata is lost, and in straight image files, there is little ability to elec- tronically search through text. Native A default format is to produce the data in its native format. This tends to work reasonably well for most ESI, such as e-mail and productivity files (word processing, spreadsheets). It is more difficult when you’re producing structured data, such as information from databases. But if you’re prepared to produce in native format and you have properly preserved metadata, you should be able to meet almost any request. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 24. 20 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies Proprietary formats A frequent compromise format is to generate information in certain proprietary formats, sometimes called load files. These files combine images with text so that metadata can be preserved and text can still be searched. Some of these formats are specific to the products or platforms on which they’re loaded, such as the Concordance and Summation platforms. This can be a good compromise format because lawyers can see the images and the metadata is still available, if needed. However, you must have a license to use one of these products (or your own solution must have the ability to access these formats). Other standards (EDRM XML) The promise of an open standard (a Rosetta stone for eDiscovery formats) is always an intriguing proposition. EDRM is currently continuing its work on such a standard (known as EDRM XML), which is gaining traction in the industry. Because the standard is meant to be common and open to all, it holds great promise for ending many of the current issues with varying formats. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 25. Chapter 5 Ten Ways to Prepare Your IT Department for eDiscovery In This Chapter ▶ Pinpointing your data ▶ Working together T his chapter gives you a quick reference to important steps in the eDiscovery process and what you need to do to be prepared for them. ✓ Know where your data lives: A clear and efficient data map makes it obvious where your important data is located and how you can efficiently retrieve it. Be sure to take into account all possible locations — your servers, your computers, your mobile devices, and even social media accounts. ✓ Learn the rules: It’s easier to play the game when you know exactly how to play it. Learn what regulations apply to your data (especially in the extremely regulated fields of health care and finance) and make sure you’re compliant with each and every one. ✓ Don’t be too literal: Remember that Legal and IT stan- dards have almost nothing in common. Where IT is binary, Legal works in gray areas like “reasonableness.” Make sure that you don’t apply the wrong standard. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 26. 22 The Technologist’s Guide to eDiscovery Law For Dummies ✓ Keep a trail: Legal proceedings can carry on for many months or even years. Make sure that you have a record of what your team did in finding and collecting informa- tion, so that someone can talk about it later — even if that means four or five years later. ✓ Work as a team: You’re not in this alone. The legal team needs to work with you to provide speedy, compliant answers to requests and subpoenas. Keep the overarching goals of your efforts in mind when making decisions. ✓ Data isn’t the only data: No computer file exists in a vacuum (unless you accidentally swept up a USB drive, but that’s a different case). Be sure to preserve all applicable metadata for your files and make it available when necessary. ✓ Choose the right media: You already know a ton of storage media used to share data with others, from .CSV files to flash memory drives to (shudder) paper. Be sure you know which one is appropriate for the situation and use it correctly. ✓ Know when (and where) to hold ’em: Data retention policies demonstrate a clear and approved method of retaining and destroying records. Create a valid policy and stick with it, so you can better furnish data and not be burdened with excessive data storage requirements. ✓ Do it as early as possible: There’s no time like the pres- ent. The earlier you prepare your systems for eDiscovery requirements, the less trouble you’ll encounter down the line. ✓ Know the standards: Whether they’re open or proprietary, standards are still standards. Find out which data storage standards your system uses and the best way to extract them in case the legal team requests them. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 27. Compliments of The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology Learn to: • Work well with the IT team • Understand common IT terms and processes • Understand your impact on the process Jim Shook, Esq. Heidi Maher, Esq. William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq.
  • 28. Addressing Today’s eDiscovery and GRC Challenges Governance, Risk, and Compliance regulations surrounding discovery of electronically stored information have changed corporate business practices. With expanding rules and regulations, the legal department must defend the corporate interest, meet governance challenges, and ensure regulatory compliance, while balancing risks and expense. To meet today’s challenges, corporate attorneys need legal knowledge and experience, as well as an increased understanding of corporate IT capabilities, policies, and technologies. At the same time, corporate IT needs to understand the significant risk and cost implications of implementing technologies that do not address legal, compliance, or regulatory requirements. The authors of this book are a part of the EMC Information Governance, Risk, and Compliance Practice, which is a specialty practice within EMC Corporation, consisting of seasoned attorneys who also have backgrounds in business law, eDiscovery, information technology, records management, security, and compliance. The team helps organizations understand their legal and regulatory obligations, best practices to meet those obligations, and how EMC solutions can be leveraged as a part of a GRC or information governance strategy and process. For more information about the EMC capabilities and solutions, visit www.emc.com/informationgovernance or contact us at goodgovernance@emc.com.
  • 29. The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Jim Shook, Esq., Heidi Maher, Esq., and William “Ted” O’Neil, Esq. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 30. The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trade- marks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WAR- RANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN REN- DERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSIS- TANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARIS- ING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZA- TION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Business Development Department in the U.S. at 317-572-3205. For details on how to create a custom For Dummies book for your business or organization, contact info@dummies.biz. For information about licensing the For Dummies brand for products or services, contact BrandedRights&Licenses@Wiley.com. ISBN: 978-1-118-07338-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Publisher’s Acknowledgments Development Editor: Ryan Williams Project Editor: Jennifer Bingham Editorial Manager: Rev Mengle Business Development Representative: Sue Blessing Custom Publishing Project Specialist: Michael Sullivan Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees Layout and Graphics: Erin Zeltner Proofreader: Jessica Kramer These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 31. Introduction T he world creates and stores data at incredible rates. In 2009, the Digital Universe — all of the world’s digital infor- mation — grew to 800,000 petabytes, equivalent to a stack of DVDs reaching from the earth to the moon and back, or one million times the amount of information in the Library of Congress. The IDC Corporation forecasts growth reaching 1.2 million petabytes, or 1.2 zettabytes by the end of 2010, and then to 1.8 million zettabytes by 2011. A petabyte is a thousand terabytes or a million gigabytes. The bad news for companies like yours is that IDC also says that enterprises are liable for about 80 percent of that data. It’s a huge task made even more complicated because of the amazing web of compliance and privacy laws and require- ments that require chunks of that data to be retained, deleted, stored, or secured at different rates. Even if you’re not particularly tech-oriented, you’re a lawyer. That means having to deal with both that stored data and the laws that concern it. You work with companies to locate and preserve data that is relevant to a specific lawsuit, which can be a daunting task if you think about the massive amount of information and all the different repositories that may hold that information. If you do this work poorly, you and your company can face serious court sanctions, ranging from small money penalties to outright legal judgments being entered. The bad press that comes along with the sanction can be even worse! Because of this, many companies implement initiatives to improve their eDiscovery processes. Even then, it can be a difficult process that requires a lot of communication and coordination between two departments that just don’t seem to speak the same language: Legal and IT. In fact, without personnel who can understand both legal and IT issues, initiatives frequently falter or fail. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 32. 2 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies About This Book This book is written to help personnel in both the legal and IT departments better understand those parts of the eDiscovery process that may not come naturally to them. Hopefully, what you read here will bring the two sides together in blissful eDiscovery harmony. The side you’re reading right now assists lawyers in under- standing more of the IT-specific requirements of the eDiscov- ery process. The other side of the book will help people with strong IT skills to better understand the legal parts of the eDiscovery process. On the off-chance that these two groups are fighting over a copy of this book, please either tear it in half or call EMC for another complimentary copy. Icons Used in This Book This book uses a couple of icons to draw your attention to special information. You’ll gain some good knowledge if you stop and take notice. This icon denotes information that will save you time or money. This icon points out common traps and pitfalls you might run into. Pay attention to these bad boys — it’s better to be warned now than run into trouble later. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 33. Chapter 1 Preparing for and Initiating eDiscovery In This Chapter ▶ Learning what eDiscovery means ▶ Examining the Electronic Discovery Reference Model ▶ Managing your information prior to eDiscovery e Discovery is necessarily a reactive process, as you only perform eDiscovery in response to certain events. That shouldn’t stop you from preparing in advance and reaping the benefits of your foresight. In this chapter, we look at the various forms of eDiscovery and how companies can prepare for the eDiscovery process. Defining eDiscovery The term eDiscovery normally conjures the specter of litiga- tion for most lawyers. But in today’s compliance environment, the process of eDiscovery takes many forms. When you define eDiscovery as the process of identifying, collecting, and evalu- ating information as part of a legal inquiry, it becomes very similar to several other activities. Take a look at Table 1-1 to see those similarities. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 34. 4 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies Table 1-1 eDiscovery Similarities Process Description Litigation Providing ESI as part of a lawsuit, whether you’re a plaintiff or a defendant. Regulatory inquiries Providing ESI to a regulator investigating you or checking on compliance requirements. Internal audit Implementing internal audit processes to ensure that certain policies and procedures are being followed — because most informa- tion is now electronic, these auditors must request or find ESI on their own. Freedom of Processing requests from citizens for Information government-held information. Act/Open Records Requests Third-party Processing requests for information for subpoenas entities not involved in litigation as a named party. Although non-party obligations are usually less onerous and costs can often be recouped, the process of finding and produc- ing this information is virtually identical to the litigation process. Although these processes have a lot in common, the starting points can vary greatly for each, as can the time available to respond and the penalty for failing to get it right. The eDiscovery Process Think of the eDiscovery process as an enormous funnel. You shovel electronically stored information, or ESI, into the top of the funnel and run it through a series of filtering processes that cut down the amount of information (mostly to eliminate duplicates and irrelevant or privileged data). Once all the fil- ters have done their jobs, the final data set comes out as the product of the process. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 35. Chapter 1: Preparing for and Initiating eDiscovery 5 The keys to an efficient process are: ✓ Restricting the amount of information shoveled into the top of the filter, because it’s expensive to push data through the process. ✓ Making sure that potentially relevant data is fed into the filter — if you miss relevant data, you may face sanctions. ✓ Making the filtering process as fast and inexpensive as possible. Understand your current legal and regulatory profile as the starting point. You need to know what type of lawsuits are common, what data is involved in those suits, which regula- tors actively seek data, and any other relevant information. Sounds simple, right? Introducing the EDRM eDiscovery is a complex and ever-changing process, so it’s helpful to have a useful framework with which to analyze the process. Take a look at the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, or EDRM, in Figure 1-1. Processing Preservation Information Review Identification Production Presentation Management Collection Analysis VOLUME RELEVANCE Electronic Discovery Reference Model / © 2009 / v2.0 / edrm.net Figure 1-1: The Electronic Discovery Reference Model. Although the EDRM process moves from left to right, you’ll note arrows going in every direction. The process can loop back and forth depending on new information about the case, adding or reducing ESI, and changing legal claims and theories. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 36. 6 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies We use the EDRM model throughout this book; the model itself can be broken down into three basic parts. Information management This node refers to things that happen “outside” of the eDis- covery process, but still have a significant impact on the pro- cess itself. For more on this see the section “Understanding Information Management” later in this chapter. Identification, preservation and collection The left side of the model includes steps that are focused on IT issues: identification, preservation, and collection. ESI within the infrastructure that is relevant to a case must be identified; then it must be preserved (so that it’s not deleted) and eventually collected (for further work). Processing, review, analysis and production The right side of the model includes tasks that are more legal in nature: processing, review, analysis and production. In these steps, ESI is processed so that it can be reviewed and analyzed for its impact on a case. Ultimately, relevant, non- privileged information must be produced to the other side in the case. (The last step, presentation, refers to how data is presented at trial, which is rare). When Do We Start? The duty to preserve data actually can begin long before a party is sued or files suit. The Sedona Conference Commentary on Legal Holds says Reasonable anticipation of litigation arises when an organization is on notice of a credible threat it will These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 37. Chapter 1: Preparing for and Initiating eDiscovery 7 become involved in litigation or anticipates taking action to initiate litigation. In other words the threat must be a credible probability — and not just possibility. Waiting to preserve ESI until after receiving a summons and complaint could result in spoliation claims and sanctions. When you can reasonably anticipate litigation, you must take some critical steps quickly: 1. Suspend any records management or other policy that allows the destruction of potentially relevant information (both ESI and physical data). 2. Send a written litigation hold notice to all custodians of data that may have discoverable information. Don’t rely on the notice and the custodians as the only method of preserving ESI. Depending completely on custodians to preserve relevant ESI has been heavily criticized in many recent cases. 3. Follow up with custodians that have questions or concerns. You have a duty and an obligation to stay current and involved with the process. 4. Ask each custodian to acknowledge receiving the notice. Send reminders on a regular basis. 5. Understand where the relevant ESI is likely to be located and take steps to actively preserve that data. Find more information on preservation in Chapter 3. Understanding Information Management Technically, information management isn’t part of the eDis- covery process. However, getting your information “house” in order has a significant impact on the quality and risk level of your eDiscovery process. Keeping your information organized (and documenting how that information is organized and archived) helps set the stage for your eDiscovery efforts. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 38. 8 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies Consider reviewing your policies and technologies in the fol- lowing areas when you are looking to improve on information management: ✓ E-mail management and archiving ✓ Records management systems ✓ Backup strategy and retention ✓ File visibility, classification, and clean-up ✓ Retention policies The better an organization governs its information prior to the triggering event of an eDiscovery matter, the more effi- cient and painless eDiscovery will be! These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 39. Chapter 2 Understanding ESI and IT Systems In This Chapter ▶ Learning about e-mail systems and preservation ▶ Examining other potential sources of electronic data ▶ Accounting for all your electronic data A lthough the next step in the process is to preserve and collect relevant information, it’s difficult because most lawyers don’t understand the basics of information technol- ogy. In this chapter, we look at a high-level overview of a few basic IT issues that are important to the eDiscovery process. E-mail Systems Most companies use e-mail — it’s by far the most common IT system. Beyond mere communication, e-mail can be used as: ✓ A workflow mechanism to route approvals ✓ A filing system and de facto records management system ✓ An electronic replacement for approvals of contracts, understandings, and requisitions ✓ A host of other things for which it is not really built For these reasons, e-mail is a treasure trove of information and is one type of data that is almost always requested. The basics of an e-mail system are actually fairly simple and can be compared to the U.S. Postal system: These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 40. 10 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies ✓ An e-mail user creates a message that is addressed to another user (much like writing a letter). ✓ The user sends this message through their company e-mail server (much like putting outgoing mail into a mailbox). ✓ The e-mail traverses a network until it reaches its desti- nation (much like a letter goes through the postal system until it reaches the destination mailbox). ✓ Once in the destination mailbox, the message remains there until the intended recipient opens it (much like a real letter). Of course, important differences exist. Among others — e-mail travels almost instantaneously, and you can send an e-mail to 200 people as easily as you can to one person. Multiple copies of e-mails can be created all along the way to the recipient, and additional copies can be kept even after receipt. Most users interact with the corporate e-mail system through a client, an e-mail program (such as Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes) that provides access to messages within the larger corporate e-mail system. Many of these e-mail systems allow users to copy or move e-mails from the main corpo- rate server (where space may be limited) to their local hard drives. Once there, end-users can maintain messages in local e-mail containers (typically PST or NSF files) that are com- pletely under their control. These local containers can be copied, moved, backed up, written to CD/DVD, or copied onto USB drives. This makes them very difficult to find for eDiscov- ery purposes. Laptops, Desktops, and Fileshares Almost everyone uses a laptop or desktop computer in their daily work. With applications such as Microsoft Office, employees can create enormous volumes of data. In addition, computers frequently create some of their own data, storing cookies from Internet sites that have been visited, generating journal logs of activities by the user and by the system, and so on. All this information is preserved and maintained on a hard drive that stores data until it is deleted by the end-user. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 41. Chapter 2: Understanding ESI and IT Systems 11 Many workers also have access to a fileshare, which they may know as a home share, a department directory, or a logi- cal name like the X drive. These repositories appear as local drives on a computer, but actually reside on the company net- work and are used by groups, departments, or even the entire company. The IT department generally manages these shares. Even if there is just one physical system, it may appear as many different systems to end-users. Document Management and Records Management Systems A document management or records management system puts some formality into the process of creating, retaining, sharing, and destroying electronic documents. Most lawyers know these systems as collaboration tools. In these systems, users must gen- erally use a check-in and check-out process to track who created and made changes to documents, as well as how long the docu- ment is supposed to be retained. Better systems even enable litigation holds and prevent anyone from deleting the document (accidentally or intentionally) until the hold has been released. SharePoint SharePoint is a Microsoft family of products designed to enable collaboration, file sharing, and Web publishing. Its ease of use has taken end-users by storm. However, the dif- ficulty in tracking and managing SharePoint data has created headaches for IT (and soon for legal). SharePoint sites, or collections of data, frequently spring up to support a project, and users tend to be free to collaborate and share informa- tion. After the project has been completed, the site is often left behind — it’s no longer in use, but still contains important information that can be difficult to locate for eDiscovery. Database Management Systems Databases are used to maintain vast amounts of data shared among many people and in critical systems, such as for finan- cial accounting, human resources, and manufacturing data. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 42. 12 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies These systems maintain data in a very formal, structured manner that makes storage, searching, and sharing the data extremely efficient. It also makes the data inaccessible with- out the proper tools. You can’t just “print out” or “give” someone your database. There are enormous amounts of information in a database that the other side has no right to view, and specialized, expensive software is usually necessary to operate and access the information. Yet it can be difficult to extract the specific data that is relevant to a case, and someone may have to gen- erate a new report or query to extract that information in a usable format. Social Media and Cloud Computing It’s impossible to predict new technologies that will be invented in the next several years, but if businesses use them, they will be important to lawyers. We close this chapter with a quick look at two rapidly developing technologies that hold great promise: social media and cloud computing. Social media is data that is shared among groups of people, mostly for social purposes but increasingly for both social and business uses. Current examples of social media include services like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Because social media usually resides outside of the company’s control, it can be difficult to collect and hold — if a company is even able to identify that it is relevant to a case. In addition, its mixed business and personal usage makes corporate policies and relevance difficult to determine in many cases. Cloud computing refers to delivering computing and data stor- age in a “power plant” model. In a cloud model, a third party is responsible for maintaining and provisioning computing services on an as-needed basis to end-users. The cloud can create compliance and eDiscovery issues because although the data is created and owned by the company, a third party is now contractually responsible for operating the infrastruc- ture and thus may have actual control over the data. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 43. Chapter 3 Finding, Preserving, and Collecting ESI In This Chapter ▶ Creating your data map ▶ Getting everybody involved in the preservation and collection process ▶ Choosing the right preservation and collection methods N ow that you know a little bit more about the systems where your ESI may be stored, we cover how to actually find, preserve, and collect that data. Finding Your Data Before starting on any journey, it is always nice to have a map to guide you where to go. Many people embrace this concept in eDiscovery by creating a high-level data map of ESI reposi- tories. Creating a useful data map requires perspective from both IT and legal. A good data map isn’t the same as an IT infrastructure dia- gram. Instead, a data map is more of a checklist that contains high-level information about the repositories of data in your environment that are likely to have data subject to eDiscovery requirements. Look for systems outside your company that may have important information, such as customer and sales tracking systems and human resource and payroll information. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 44. 14 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies When creating a data map, begin with ESI repositories con- taining content that has been needed in your recent cases and add the systems that your key players access. You can even flip this idea around — ask which systems, applications, and data stores don’t contain responsive data based on your typi- cal legal claims and regulatory requests. Get the Right People Involved Many companies performing eDiscovery today still maintain that identifying, preserving, and collecting data is a job that belongs to IT. That thinking is outdated for the following reasons: ✓ More courts mandate that legal counsel (both in-house and law firm counsel) take an active and informed role in the eDiscovery process. Failing to do so can lead to spo- liation claims and sanctions against both the company and counsel individually. ✓ IT can’t effectively preserve and collect ESI without important input from legal on what needs to be found. Without legal input, the result is typically an over- collection, because IT preserves everything possible. ✓ If this step goes wrong and data isn’t preserved, the rest of the process can’t fix the initial problems. Choosing the Right Method of Preservation and Collection Based on your data mapping and your early case assessment, you should have a good understanding of the important data for your case. At this point, you must decide how to preserve and collect the data. These choices vary depending on your assessment of risk, the availability of resources and tools to assist you, and the timeframe for completing the work. There are many ways to preserve and collect ESI. Table 3-1 provides a brief description of some of the most popular methods. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 45. Chapter 3: Finding, Preserving, and Collecting ESI 15 Table 3-1 ESI Collection Methods Method Pros Cons Bottom Line Backup tapes Easy and simple; Overcollection of Use only as a low risk of data resulting in last resort spoliation huge costs; risk can actually be increased due to potential loss of restoration; can’t analyze data Forensic images Complete; Tricky and Use when preserves expensive to do needed: criminal authenticity/ right; significant cases, FCPA, admissibility; over-collection allegations of retains deleted/ of data; no deletion slack space access to data Archives Great for infor- Takes time to Great for one mation manage- be of value; no specific ment purposes value outside repository that repository Custodian-based Easy to do, Can’t be relied Risky, use only in hold inexpensive, can on; heavily criti- very limited cir- appear valid cized in cases cumstances (or as an additional layer) Custodian-based Easy, simple, Easy to chal- Use only for lim- collection can appear valid lenge, metadata ited sources (for changes, can be instance, USB incomplete drives, paper) In-place index- Fast, efficient, Initial purchase Best practice ing and/or complete required; ongo- for repetitive collection ing maintenance litigants and expertise; infrastructure overhead These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 46. 16 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies Most litigants preserve data by holding it in place or making a copy and storing it someplace safe. Holding data in place can be fast and efficient and save money on storage. However, most systems don’t enable a real “hold-in-place” capability, or they use a system that can be easily worked around by end-users. Affecting a hold by making a copy of data works well for those who believe that collection will eventually need to be done. In addition, this method ensures that data will be preserved and maintained under a watchful eye. Using cheap sources to preserve ESI (for example, backup tapes) can cost a lot more over the entire life of the case and substantially increase your overall risk. Collect What You Need Lawyers tend to be risk-averse, and in eDiscovery, they tend to want to collect everything. This may have worked back in the good old days of paper, but when one gigabyte is the equivalent of 77,000 pages, it just isn’t a financially feasible process. Get your outside counsel on board! Make them read this book. Get them comfortable with your new process and make them as eDiscovery savvy as you. CDs, server backup tapes, e-mail archives, and other data sources can contain a massive amount of information that needs to be examined, retained, or tossed out. Take a look at Table 3-2 for some common sizes. Table 3-2 Sizes of ESI Repositories ESI Repository Common Size Physical Equivalent CD 650 MB 50,000 pages E-mail PST 400 MB 3,500 e-mails (1.5 pages per e-mail) USB drive 1 GB 77,000 pages Laptop drive 40 GB 3 million pages Backup tape (Super DLT) 60 / 120 GB 4 to 9 million pages Source: Ralph Losey, e-discoveryteam.com. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 47. Chapter 4 Reviewing, Analyzing and Producing ESI In This Chapter ▶ Reviewing all electronic information ▶ Reducing your data and your costs ▶ Understanding available production formats A fter ESI has been collected, the next step is to analyze the data in the context of how it affects the case. You might also mark or tag documents that may be privileged, confidential, non-responsive, or responsive to particular issues in a case or even specific Requests for Production. In this chapter we show you how that work is currently being done, and some best practices for improvement. Reviewing the Review Process In the ancient days of litigation, when lawyers dealt almost exclusively with actual paper documents, each document was reviewed by someone and tagged, boxed, or stacked accord- ing to that process. With the cost of legal review at about $18,000 to $35,000 per GB of ESI, it’s clear that handling the review in the same way as paper is incredibly expensive! These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 48. 18 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies Reducing Your Data Sets Reducing the amount of data that requires review can save a lot of money. There are many ways to cut back on data — starting with not collecting unnecessary data. Another common method is to eliminate duplicate files and e-mails. A great tool for identifying duplicate information is known as a hash algorithm. A hash algorithm takes an electronic file as input and returns a unique sequence of data as an output. Identical files will always return the same value — but if even a single bit is different, the algorithm will return a completely different value. You can leverage this information to ensure that duplicate documents are tagged the same way and that the document is reviewed only one time. Because it is a unique identifier, the hash value can even replace the old-fashioned and outdated Bates stamp! Privilege review – an ounce of prevention Another area undergoing rapid change is in reviewing infor- mation for attorney-client or work product privilege, which typically is not produced. Mistakenly producing privileged documents can result in a waiver, so parties frequently spend a lot of money and effort reviewing all their documents to determine which are privileged. In fact, having a diligent pro- cess is a significant factor in protecting against a waiver. To protect privilege, use special agreements, or clawbacks, with the other side and review the protections under Fed. R. Evid. 502. New technologies and processes can cut costs and save time in privilege review, including: ✓ Objective privilege: Documents are marked as initially privileged based on an objective basis (such as date range or author/sender), a privilege log is generated, and the presumption can be challenged. ✓ Machine review: An initial batch of privileged docu- ments is marked and then similar documents are identi- fied through computational methods. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 49. Chapter 4: Reviewing, Analyzing and Producing ESI 19 Leverage technology to tag and manage privileged information, then produce an appropriate privilege log of those documents. Even if mistakes are made, the combination of diligence and clawback agreements can help to protect the privilege. Analysis – Remembering Why We Are Doing This Work In the midst of an eDiscovery process, there is frequently so much concern about locating, preserving, and collecting data (and preventing spoliation) that people forget the work is being undertaken for a specific purpose — to help to prove or defend against allegations made by another party. Analysis represents the stage at which you see how the data impacts a case. Ensure that your eDiscovery process will permit you to begin analysis at the earliest possible time! Producing Your Information Production is something that you should think about from the very beginning of the case. Take a quick look at some of the most common formats in Table 4-1. Table 4-1 Common Production Formats Production Type Description Native File preserved in its original format such as text files, spreadsheets, and word processing. Quasi-native CSV or tab-delimited files Image PDF and TIFF files Load files Generally consist of an image file along with associated information containing the text rep- resented by that image and metadata from the original, native version Hosted Online with a third party Paper Sometimes the paper is the original format. Other times, paper format is the result of printing ESI These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 50. 20 The Lawyer’s Guide to eDiscovery Technology For Dummies In general, don’t use a single form of production for all items. Instead, tailor the form to the data. With well-established tools requiring TIFF and/or load files, those formats may be needed, and they’re good for content with simple text like e-mails or Microsoft Word documents. Native forms are gen- erally best for spreadsheets, CAD, and other complex data sources. However, these sources can’t be Bates stamped in the traditional manner. Quasi-native forms can also work well for sources such as e-mail and databases. Understand current downstream processes and vendors and leverage tools behind the firewall to feed downstream pro- cessing in a format that suits the purpose. Native Format versus Images A native file usually means a file that is saved in a format that only certain programs can recognize. For example, a Microsoft Word document is automatically saved with a .doc extension. Data saved in a program’s native file format will store everything that you have created with the program. When it comes to leveraging technology in eDiscovery, a major mistake is to convert native ESI (with all its metadata, text, and other information that you can leverage) into an image format such as PDF or TIFF, which is basically just a picture of how the document looks. Frequently, this conver- sion is done because lawyers are more comfortable with images that can eventually be printed out onto paper. Other times, images are used solely so that the electronic equiva- lent of a Bates stamp number can be affixed to the document. Maintaining data natively, for as long as possible, is the best way to preserve metadata, search for information, and keep your production options open! These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
  • 51. Chapter 5 Ten Ways to Prepare Your Legal Department for eDiscovery In This Chapter ▶ Getting to know everyone ▶ Being flexible T hink of this section as a tip sheet you can use to refresh your memory. These are important points to keep in mind, so check early and check often. ✓ Embrace the technology: eDiscovery means you have to be familiar with all kinds of technology. You don’t have to be an expert, but be conversant with the technology and know the terms and concepts. We promise it won’t hurt you. ✓ Introduce yourself early: Way before eDiscovery becomes a necessity, go down and meet the IT team. Let them know how you want to work together and what kind of goals you want to achieve. A little proactive work goes a long way. ✓ Filter it down: Dumping a ton of information on any eDis- covery process bogs down the process and frustrates everybody involved. Diligent de-duplication and filter- ing makes sure you only get the information you (and others) might need. These materials are the copyright of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.