Planet Data's eDiscovery "Best Practice" Tips
A Valuable Collection of Tips on how to Initiate, Manage and Utilize Electronic Discovery
13. Benefits of Preparing a Data Gathering Plan in Advance
Preparing a data gathering plan in advance will enable you to act quickly and efficiently when a document request is issued. It will also allow more time for document review.
14. The Importance of Meta Data
Meta data is a critical component of electronic documents and an important source of evidence.
What a paper document says and looks like is visible on its surface, electronic documents can also carry a trail of their history and attachments with them. Meta data reveals the recipients, when they received it and what additions or revisions were made. It also connects attachments to emails.
Meta data is gaining importance in litigation because of its evidentiary value. An email is written more quickly and causally and often contains information that would not be revealed in a letter. Before producing documents, you need to be aware of and prepared to deal with any embedded information that may harm a client’s position.
15. 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Legal Data Support Services Vendor
1. Is pre-project planning included in the price quote?
2. Are all members of the vendor’s team highly experienced?
3. Will the vendor develop a project plan tailored to your needs?
4. Is unlimited support from a dedicated project manager included?
5. Is your data stored on a dedicated server in a secure server environment?
6. Are you paying only for the services you need?
7. Are there no multiple ++ charges?
8. Is the processing / services mix cost effective?
9. Does the vendor offer comprehensive, integrated, flexible services?
10. Does the vendor deliver on schedule with high quality output?
16. 10 Questions to Ask When Preparing for eDiscovery
1. Who are the document custodians of interest?
2. What kinds of electronic documents were created?
3. In what time frames was the responsive data created?
4. Who has the electronic evidence relevant to the issues?
5. Who knows how the electronic documents were created?
6. Where is back up data stored?
7. Where are documents saved on the network?
8. Where do email messages reside?
9. Is there local storage on hard drives or removable media?
10. When does the duty to preserve electronic data begin?
17. 5 Steps for In-House Counsel to Prepare for eDiscovery
1. Allocate sufficient resources within your legal and IT departments.
2. Communicate regularly with employees and IT staff to ensure adherence to document preservation obligations and delivery schedules.
3. Create a data gathering plan that minimizes workflow disruption.
4. Understand outside councils' obligations to the Court and communicate the need for timely compliance to your legal and IT staffs
5. Utilize technology whenever possible to speed and integrate information, plan, update, notate, review and report on project status.
18. Native File Review is an effective method for starting the review process quickly
Native File Review has many advantages:
1. Quicker access to documents - Metadata and text extraction-only processing results in faster turnarounds. Review can start in a shorter period of time, while still providing the tools needed for effective searching.
2. Document Content - Native file review allows review of documents as they were created, not as a printout. This allows the reviewer to see document content properly, not parsed out over multiple pages of images or paper. Reviewers can also see spreadsheet formulas, not just the calculated value, and can find hidden data that may not be normally printed out.
3. Reduced cost - saves money by avoiding tiffing charges for non-responsive documents. Responsive documents can then be tiffed for redactions and productions. Most Litigation Review applications, both repository based and in-house, now provide Native file handling.
19. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 1
This is the first part of a three part series of guidelines for establishing keyword-culling rules for searching.
1. Know the relevant terms for the matter: Make sure that you apply all variations of the terms you are looking for.
2. If you are searching on names, do you need to have all name variations (Thomas, Tom, Tommy, nicknames, initials).
3. If you are searching on a word, do you need to search on similarly defined words?
4. If you are searching on a number, search on all variations (1,000,000 plus 1 million, plus 1000000 plus one million).
5. For product name, make sure you know it's variations (code names, nicknames, technical names (e.g. for drugs, their chemical names and/or composition names)
While keyword culling can be an effective tool, it requires diligence and knowledge to make it effective.
20. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 2
This is the second part of a three part series of guidelines for establishing keyword-culling rules for searching.
1. If a vendor is doing your e-Discovery work, find out what search mechanisms they provide (stem/wildcard, proximity, term searches, Boolean, case sensitive, etc).
2. Ask the vendor how they handle "noise characters" (for example, apostrophes in names like O'Connor).
3. Also ask if they can handle multiple search groupings (Group A terms plus either Group B terms or Group C terms, etc.).
While keyword culling can be an effective tool, it requires diligence and knowledge to make it effective.
21. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 3
This is the third part of a three part series of guidelines for establishing keyword-culling rules for searching.
1. Be willing to re-evaluate the terms, based on culling results.
a. Were the terms too broad or too narrow?
b. Can your system or vendor provide secondary searches and provide not just keyword hits on documents missed in the 1st pass, but also documents that contain keywords on both 1st and 2nd passes.
2. Make use of the result set. Ask your vendor to provide all keyword matches per document in a database field, which allows reviewers to see all relevant terms within a field without having to run the same searches.
22. Carefully Collecting the Data You Send Out to Process, and Clearly Communicating Your Requirements, Will Help You Get The Data You Expect in Return
1. Know all your source locations for data collection.
2. Know what kind of data is to be collected.
3. Make sure you are pulling data from all identified custodian sources (ie: active & archive mailboxes, non-primary computers, all known network shares).
4. Know the date range of requested materials so no unnecessary data is collected.
5. Create a "data manifest" to assure that all data has been collected and sent out for processing. This will allow you and your vendor to verify all data received, processed, culled and delivered.
23. 10 Questions to Ask When the Discovery Project is Complete
1. Did you achieve your discovery project objectives?
2. Did you have a solid, defensible discovery plan?
3. Was your production timeline reasonable and accurate?
4. Was the data produced organized for efficient review?
5. Was your staff effective in collaborating with the vendor discovery team?
6. If production was problematic, were the issues resolved successfully?
7. Were you satisfied with the performance of your vendors?
8. Was the project time and cost-effective?
9. Did you gain new insight into how to save on discovery costs?
10. If you were to begin the same project now, would you use the same discovery plan?
24. Some Pitfalls in the Gathering of Electronic Data
1. Electronic data is not the same as paper documents. Printing out CD's or other electronic files can result in not receiving important information (metadata) and the delivery of a railroad car of paper to your office for review.
2. Know your limitations. Electronic data can be voluminous. Create a discovery plan that is efficient and manageable. Consult with an expert if you are not familiar with this process.
3. If you are not thoroughly experienced in a defensible electronic data collection process, you may end up with useless or damaged data. This could result in legal action against your client or firm. Also, be sure to review your client's data off-line. Online review may unleash a virus or spam in your firm's network.
4. Even a cursory review at your client's office can cause irreparable damage to your case.
If you open a few documents to verify they are the ones you want, and burn a CD to take the data back to your office, the evidence may be called into question because the "create date" is later than the "modified date", altering the metadata and chain of custody.
- 13. Benefits of Preparing a Data Gathering Plan in Advance
- 14. The Importance of Meta Data
- 15. 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Legal Data Support Services Vendor
- 16. 10 Questions to Ask When Preparing for eDiscovery
- 17. 5 Steps for In-House Counsel to Prepare for eDiscovery
- 18. Native File Review is an effective method for starting the review process quickly
- 19. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 1
- 20. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 2
- 21. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 3
- 22. Carefully Collecting the Data You Send Out to Process, and Clearly Communicating Your Requirements, Will Help You Get The Data You Expect in Return
- 23. 10 Questions to Ask When the Discovery Project is Complete
- 24. Some Pitfalls in the Gathering of Electronic Data
13. Benefits of Preparing a Data Gathering Plan in Advance
Preparing a data gathering plan in advance will enable you to act quickly and efficiently when a document request is issued. It will also allow more time for document review.
- Define the scope of the project including custodians and time periods of interest.
- Locate all sources of data required. Check to see if the project includes deleted files or backup tapes which must be restored and require more time to deliver.
- Determine in what form the data is to be produced.
- Call in a legal data support services vendor for assistance with project set-up, cost control, scheduling and processing.
14. The Importance of Meta Data
Meta data is a critical component of electronic documents and an important source of evidence.
What a paper document says and looks like is visible on its surface, electronic documents can also carry a trail of their history and attachments with them. Meta data reveals the recipients, when they received it and what additions or revisions were made. It also connects attachments to emails.
Meta data is gaining importance in litigation because of its evidentiary value. An email is written more quickly and causally and often contains information that would not be revealed in a letter. Before producing documents, you need to be aware of and prepared to deal with any embedded information that may harm a client’s position.
15. 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Legal Data Support Services Vendor
1. Is pre-project planning included in the price quote?
2. Are all members of the vendor’s team highly experienced?
3. Will the vendor develop a project plan tailored to your needs?
4. Is unlimited support from a dedicated project manager included?
5. Is your data stored on a dedicated server in a secure server environment?
6. Are you paying only for the services you need?
7. Are there no multiple ++ charges?
8. Is the processing / services mix cost effective?
9. Does the vendor offer comprehensive, integrated, flexible services?
10. Does the vendor deliver on schedule with high quality output?
16. 10 Questions to Ask When Preparing for eDiscovery
1. Who are the document custodians of interest?
2. What kinds of electronic documents were created?
3. In what time frames was the responsive data created?
4. Who has the electronic evidence relevant to the issues?
5. Who knows how the electronic documents were created?
6. Where is back up data stored?
7. Where are documents saved on the network?
8. Where do email messages reside?
9. Is there local storage on hard drives or removable media?
10. When does the duty to preserve electronic data begin?
17. 5 Steps for In-House Counsel to Prepare for eDiscovery
1. Allocate sufficient resources within your legal and IT departments.
2. Communicate regularly with employees and IT staff to ensure adherence to document preservation obligations and delivery schedules.
3. Create a data gathering plan that minimizes workflow disruption.
4. Understand outside councils' obligations to the Court and communicate the need for timely compliance to your legal and IT staffs
5. Utilize technology whenever possible to speed and integrate information, plan, update, notate, review and report on project status.
18. Native File Review is an effective method for starting the review process quickly
Native File Review has many advantages:
1. Quicker access to documents - Metadata and text extraction-only processing results in faster turnarounds. Review can start in a shorter period of time, while still providing the tools needed for effective searching.
2. Document Content - Native file review allows review of documents as they were created, not as a printout. This allows the reviewer to see document content properly, not parsed out over multiple pages of images or paper. Reviewers can also see spreadsheet formulas, not just the calculated value, and can find hidden data that may not be normally printed out.
3. Reduced cost - saves money by avoiding tiffing charges for non-responsive documents. Responsive documents can then be tiffed for redactions and productions. Most Litigation Review applications, both repository based and in-house, now provide Native file handling.
19. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 1
This is the first part of a three part series of guidelines for establishing keyword-culling rules for searching.
1. Know the relevant terms for the matter: Make sure that you apply all variations of the terms you are looking for.
2. If you are searching on names, do you need to have all name variations (Thomas, Tom, Tommy, nicknames, initials).
3. If you are searching on a word, do you need to search on similarly defined words?
4. If you are searching on a number, search on all variations (1,000,000 plus 1 million, plus 1000000 plus one million).
5. For product name, make sure you know it's variations (code names, nicknames, technical names (e.g. for drugs, their chemical names and/or composition names)
While keyword culling can be an effective tool, it requires diligence and knowledge to make it effective.
20. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 2
This is the second part of a three part series of guidelines for establishing keyword-culling rules for searching.
1. If a vendor is doing your e-Discovery work, find out what search mechanisms they provide (stem/wildcard, proximity, term searches, Boolean, case sensitive, etc).
2. Ask the vendor how they handle "noise characters" (for example, apostrophes in names like O'Connor).
3. Also ask if they can handle multiple search groupings (Group A terms plus either Group B terms or Group C terms, etc.).
While keyword culling can be an effective tool, it requires diligence and knowledge to make it effective.
21. Keyword culling can be an effective way of eliminating non-responsive documents - Part 3
This is the third part of a three part series of guidelines for establishing keyword-culling rules for searching.
1. Be willing to re-evaluate the terms, based on culling results.
a. Were the terms too broad or too narrow?
b. Can your system or vendor provide secondary searches and provide not just keyword hits on documents missed in the 1st pass, but also documents that contain keywords on both 1st and 2nd passes.
2. Make use of the result set. Ask your vendor to provide all keyword matches per document in a database field, which allows reviewers to see all relevant terms within a field without having to run the same searches.
22. Carefully Collecting the Data You Send Out to Process, and Clearly Communicating Your Requirements, Will Help You Get The Data You Expect in Return
1. Know all your source locations for data collection.
2. Know what kind of data is to be collected.
3. Make sure you are pulling data from all identified custodian sources (ie: active & archive mailboxes, non-primary computers, all known network shares).
4. Know the date range of requested materials so no unnecessary data is collected.
5. Create a "data manifest" to assure that all data has been collected and sent out for processing. This will allow you and your vendor to verify all data received, processed, culled and delivered.
23. 10 Questions to Ask When the Discovery Project is Complete
1. Did you achieve your discovery project objectives?
2. Did you have a solid, defensible discovery plan?
3. Was your production timeline reasonable and accurate?
4. Was the data produced organized for efficient review?
5. Was your staff effective in collaborating with the vendor discovery team?
6. If production was problematic, were the issues resolved successfully?
7. Were you satisfied with the performance of your vendors?
8. Was the project time and cost-effective?
9. Did you gain new insight into how to save on discovery costs?
10. If you were to begin the same project now, would you use the same discovery plan?
24. Some Pitfalls in the Gathering of Electronic Data
1. Electronic data is not the same as paper documents. Printing out CD's or other electronic files can result in not receiving important information (metadata) and the delivery of a railroad car of paper to your office for review.
2. Know your limitations. Electronic data can be voluminous. Create a discovery plan that is efficient and manageable. Consult with an expert if you are not familiar with this process.
3. If you are not thoroughly experienced in a defensible electronic data collection process, you may end up with useless or damaged data. This could result in legal action against your client or firm. Also, be sure to review your client's data off-line. Online review may unleash a virus or spam in your firm's network.
4. Even a cursory review at your client's office can cause irreparable damage to your case.
If you open a few documents to verify they are the ones you want, and burn a CD to take the data back to your office, the evidence may be called into question because the "create date" is later than the "modified date", altering the metadata and chain of custody.
Planet Data Solutions, Inc. 555 Taxter Rd Elmsford, NY 10523
1.800.688.2812
