Organizations traditionally outsourced the review and analysis phases of e-discovery to external legal counsel, which also made it costly, but increasingly powerful e-discovery software has made it feasible for in-house teams to handle the task. This is also the phase when files are assessed for attorney-client privilege, which excludes them from being admissible in court. Review and Analysis: The review of ESI for legal relevance is a detailed and complex process.Organizations often use software for this phase, which includes the deletion of unnecessary files and conversion of electronically stored information to universal formats like PDF, to ensure it is processed efficiently and accurately before review. Processing: Processing involves the cleaning up and preparation of ESI for review by legal counsel.Contents and key attributes need to remain unaltered during the collection phase, so that the data remains legally defensible (i.e., holds up in court). Collection: Next, the company must collect and centralize all potentially relevant ESI for processing.If one party does spoil data on legal hold and compromises the case, it may face significant fines or sanctions. This ensures that neither party destroys ESI during the e-discovery process. Preservation: Once the potentially relevant data has been identified and any challenges have been addressed, it is placed under a legal hold.This is also the moment when organizations can challenge requests for ESI that they feel lies outside the scope of a legal case. Identification: In this initial phase, attorneys or regulators identify the electronic information they need and make the appropriate e-discovery requests.Legal and IT teams work together on the process, which usually involves the following six steps: The E-Discovery ProcessĮ-discovery is a multi-stage process that begins as your organization is facing a regulatory investigation or legal case and ends once the electronic evidence you’ve shared is presented in a trial, hearing, or arbitration. Today, email and information shared over collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack have become a prime target in legal proceedings, since these communications are often less formal than written documents and therefore more revelatory. ESI includes emails, audio and video files, SMS and instant messages, employee device data, website data, social media posts, Excel spreadsheets, database records, and any other electronic data source that legal counsel could deem relevant. It is implemented in the early stages of litigation, when businesses are required to provide all data and records that could be relevant to their case and potentially used as evidence.Į-discovery software is used to find all forms of electronically stored information (ESI). What Is E-Discovery?Įlectronic discovery, or e-discovery, is the process of finding, reviewing, and exchanging digital information to be used as evidence in legal procedures. Advances in e-discovery software from companies like Mimecast have made these solutions accessible to businesses of all sizes, helping them gain control over their email archives and data from cloud collaboration platforms. That’s where electronic discovery (e-discovery) comes in. Companies face a major challenge in tracking, monitoring, and formally archiving the messages, shared files, recordings, and other components of these communications. At the same time, a rise in workplace litigation has made rapid access to corporate data a necessity as companies could face legal action at any moment.Īnd then there’s the deluge of data businesses must manage, especially with more employees working remotely via email and collaboration platforms. Consumer privacy laws like California’s Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) mandate that companies properly store customers’ personal data and delete it upon request, or risk stiff penalties. Businesses today have no choice but to formalize their data management.
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