eDiscovery is short for Electronic Discovery. It refers to processing, identifying, collecting, preserving, and presenting digital evidence for a litigation or criminal proceeding. Traditional discovery deals with physical evidence such as documents and receipts. eDiscovery services is mainly confined to the digital realm and deals with electronic data. These include emails, instant messages, social media posts, online documents, databases, and other electronic records.

As the world is migrating from physical means of communication and data storage, eDiscovery has become essential. Lawyers are increasingly turning to crucial evidence from a variety of electronic sources. This article explains what an eDiscovery process entails and why Aeren LPO is your ideal eDiscovery partner.

 

The eDiscovery Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Depending on the nature of the litigation organizations pursue, eDiscovery can take several different forms. A large number of eDiscovery procedures follow a near-standard protocol. These protocols design to ensure that all the relevant data filters through. Lawyers world depend on these procedures to aid their legal cause in courts. The protocol must perform on the metrics of trustworthiness.

A typical eDiscovery process can take the following nine steps:

Information Governance (IG): IG is a set of policies that presides over the collection and preservation of data. Its design with data collection that meets legal and regulatory standards. In case of any doubt, legal professionals can refer to the Information Governance Reference Model (IGRM).

 

Identification: As a litigation procedure draws nearer, it becomes critical to identify all the information that pertains to the case. All the data is vetted, and irrelevant information clears out. Subsequently, we preserve data for presentation in court.

 

Preservation: Once all the data is collected, the information requires rest in a secure environment. This is a formal process, and the owners of the data take the necessary steps to maintain the data. All the parties involved in the legal procedure must take similar steps.

 

Collection: Once we require the stored information for presentation in court, it is collected using tamper-free methodologies. It preserves not only the contents of the documents but also associate them with all the meta-data. This includes the time of creation and any audit logs it may have. This is necessary to prove the data’s veracity in court.

 

Processing: The collection of data is often disorganized and lacks any coherence. It is a process for a formal review, where all the documents are collected in a streamlined manner. Today, we can achieve this with the help of a variety of technical software. These can automate much of the processing part.

 

Review: During the eDiscovery document review phase, we carefully analyze the data to separate relevant information. This is a time-consuming procedure and requires the scrutiny of thousands of documents. Increasingly, people are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to accomplish this. At this stage, we identify any documents that pertain to client-attorney privileges.

 

Analysis: At this stage, the data takes an even more organized form. Reviewers identify patterns, key information, and critical details that pertain to the purpose of the litigation procedure. All the information is then turned into a presentation that is used in courts for trial or deposition.

 

Production: Once all the processing of the data is complete, it is turned into physical documentation. It has to meet legal standards for admissibility.

 

Presentation: This is the final stage of the eDiscovery process. At this stage, all the data is presented in court in visual information. This is to make information digestible to all the attorneys, judges, jury members, and other participants in the courtroom. Everything has a summary to ensure the conciseness of statements.

 

Challenges Organizations Face with eDiscovery

eDiscovery has become an indispensable part of any legal procedure today. However, many organizations still face difficulties in implementing the process correctly. There are a variety of roadblocks that slow down the adoption of the complete eDiscovery pipeline.

 

Lack of Preparedness: Since eDiscovery is only required when litigation arises, many organizations are unprepared to meet their specialized demands. This puts the organization on the back foot when it faces a resource-consuming lawsuit.

 

Volume of Data: Modern corporations and organizations produce a vast amount of data that reviewers have to collect, preserve, review, and analyze. In many cases, the organization needs a dedicated team of professionals to collect and review data. This complicates matters even further.

 

Data Tampering: Since the data is crucial as evidence in the courtroom, it must not be tampered with. Doing so would jeopardize the entire litigation process. Reviewers also require information stored on personal devices, which makes the task of data collectors even harder.

 

How Aeren’s eDiscovery Services take care of all your Data Needs

Aeren is a premier LPO service provider operating in legal analytics. We have established a significant market presence in the eDiscovery case management sphere. Our eDiscovery services handle complex litigation requirements with the help of our AI-powered review tools. Aeren has expertise in document review, legal research, and contract management. We can seamlessly handle every phase of the eDiscovery process, ensuring nothing is missed.

  • Near-perfect accuracy rates for grammar, relevance, and information integrity.
  • Strict security measures and audit trails to safeguard proprietary information.
  • Tailored, secure, and efficient solutions for legal proceedings.

Conclusion

For organizations, staying prepared for eDiscovery is crucial. Implementing proper data governance protocols, maintaining clear audit trails, and using automated eDiscovery solutions gives us the best chance of success. Whether working with in-house staff or external vendors, the eDiscovery process must be taken seriously. Costly mistakes can alter the outcome of a case.