By Brad Harris
The detailed "content mapping" process has become
a crucial component of discovery preparedness and can often mean the
difference between obtaining a favorable scope of discovery or, on the
negative side, increasing risk of inadvertent data spoliation and
expensive, negative outcomes.
There has been a lot of hype over the past year about "preparing for electronic discovery"
as a result of the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) -
and with good reason. The likelihood that organizations will be
required to respond to complex electronic discovery requests, coupled
with the dramatically shortened timeframes available to prepare for a
Rule 26(F) discovery conference, means counsel must become familiar
with the organization's IT infrastructure - now!
As prescribed
in the FRCP and clearly articulated in recent case rulings, such high
profile cases as Intel vs. AMD, Qualcomm v. Broadcom, and Coleman v.
Morgan Stanley, becoming "familiar with a client's computer systems"
goes beyond obtaining a traditional network topology diagram that shows
how servers and databases are interconnected. It means counsel needs to
understand what type of electronically stored information (ESI) exists;
how the ESI is stored; the relevant file types that comprise the data
set; who has created the files; how the ESI has been preserved; and,
when required, how the ESI will be collected in the event of a
discovery obligation. This detailed "content mapping" process has
become a crucial component of discovery preparedness and can often mean
the difference between obtaining a favorable scope of discovery or, on
the negative side, increasing risk of inadvertent data spoliation and
expensive, negative outcomes.
Developing a living ESI content
map that can grow and change with an organization requires capturing
details about how potentially relevant ESI is used, stored, preserved
and accessed for a specific matter or, more commonly, across the
organization's entire litigation portfolio. While this might seem
overwhelming for organizations faced with hundreds or thousands of
cases annually, it's a very doable process that needs to start now.
Following are 10 practical steps to make this happen
Complete article here...
awesome article. if only this could be applicable to Indian laws. our law grads would have an entirely new stream of career open to them.
