eDiscovery Processes – Part 1

As people rely more consistently on computers and digital devices for communicating and storing information, Electronic Discovery (eDiscovery) assumes greater importance for legal proceedings.  In this context, eDiscovery is the specifically electronic process of isolating, classifying, and generating for litigation electronically formatted data (EFD).

Its proliferation reflects the increasingly plugged-in world of enterprise, social media, email and online commerce.  Similar sites of EFD with forensic or evidentiary relevance to legal discovery are instant messages, corporate databases, CAM/CAD files, word processing documents, and other electronically-stored information,.  These standards similarly exist for non-written formats, such as voicemail and visual files, generating an extensive range of vehicles for investigation by eDiscovery techniques.

Electronic Discovery Processes  

Enacting eDiscovery processes requires appropriate professional training.  Uncovering evidence specific to a particular case is seldom simple.  For one thing, the very volume of digital data available necessitates deep inquiry, involving often considerable scrutiny and evaluation to determine the information’s relevance to the legal issues pertinent to the case. Electronic evidence also typically contains such material as file properties, author/recipient data, and time-stamps, metadata not found with hard copies.  Forensic investigation of these elements of EFD must be located and preserved as an integral component of the discovery process.

Look for additional information in eDiscovery Processes – Part 2. If you would like more information about eDiscovery or how TERIS solutions can assist you, please contact us!