Tuesday, November 27, 2018

EDiscovery Consulting And Why You Need It

By Edward Nelson


Due to the pervasiveness of technology, they often wound their way into the minutiae of our day to day lives. Even in the least unlikely places, like courtrooms. That is not to be wondered at, though. Since technology is everywhere at once, they often end up as important pieces of evidence. Images, videos, and audios are regarded as hard facts and concrete pieces of information. If you find yourself in some legal imbroglio with all the technological hodgepodge to worry about, you might want to think about hiring Ediscovery Consulting.

It is more or less axiomatic to say that digital evidence is the most reliable form of testimony. Videos and voicemails, for example, seem like a clincher. If you see or hear defendants do or say compromising things in these digital forums, judgment is on an instant roll because, after all, digital data do not lie.

Wrong. Digital data get discounted by courts everyday for a number of reasons. They can be tampered, twisted, and misapprehended by the jury. Adversely, irrelevant details may get blown out of proportion. Or on the other hand, the absence of certain data and documents can lead to mistrials and other liabilities that could have otherwise been avoided.

The retrieval of electronically stored evidence to be used in a legal case is the cornerstone of electronic discovery. EDiscovery usually has to do with what is referred to as electronically stored information, called ESI, which are the information generated, received, and stored by electronic means or somesuch. ESI subsumes images, videos, voicemails, emails, social media, websites, computer apps and programs, and many more others.

This process is unique from every other process of finding evidence. For instance, data extraction can be a pain in the neck because data usually come in large volumes, to the point that they have to be painstakingly skimmed off. Moreover, they have to be organized and stored thoroughly, to ensure they will not be interfered with or altered.

There are custodians that authenticate the information retrieved. They audit the particularities of the data, like when they were created and handled. Irrelevant data are filtered off, and the necessary ones are collated into one accessible format, such as a PDF. After which, they are placed in a legal hold status so that they cannot be modified, deleted, or destroyed.

Complex technology applies a unique code to the metadata to determine that they have not at all been modified and accessed by persons who are not authorized. Custodians are in a tiptoe venture in making sure that the records are not in any way lost or corrupted. The whole process ranges all the way from the identification, to the collection, the processing, and the production of data.

The location of important evidence, and accordingly optimizing or expunging them depending on the interests of your client, is very much the mainstay of litigation. An effective approach can cut back legal budgets and speed up processes. Partnered with the right service provider, eDiscovery can make all the difference to strengthen your case.

eDiscovery is not just another software or technology. It is a whole progression of systems and techniques. Scratch that, it is more of a science, and with enough practice and learning, its methodology can be understood. The operative words here are leverage and optimization, and both of which can help clients achieve the best legal outcomes.




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