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Get your house in order with Early Data Assessment: Part I – Inside Counsel

October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you build a house with a weak foundation, the building is sure to fall apart. The same holds true for e-discovery—if you don’t pay attention to the early stages and properly calculate from the beginning, you’re in for a world of pain down the line.

From information management to identification, preservation and collection, the left side of the industry standard Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) is truly the foundation of the electronic discovery process. Corporations face this challenge in litigation on a regular basis, and if the house falls down, the finger-pointing will begin.

Picture the EDRM turned 90 degrees to the left, so it stacks up vertically. From that angle, the data makeup of a legal matter’s possibly relevant Electronically Stored Information (ESI) forms the bedrock for successful data preservation, collection, analysis and review strategy. At this nascent stage, Early Data Assessment becomes important.

What is Early Data Assessment?

Early Data Assessment (EDA) has evolved recently as an integral part of the EDRM far-left side workflow. EDA involves preliminary evaluations of data early in the life of a matter. It can include examining the technology and data sources possibly involved in the specific legal matter, not to mention the metadata about that ESI.

The idea behind EDA is to determine the types of data to be potentially preserved, gathered and analyzed, maybe to identify gaps or overlaps in the data, and to begin developing a variety of lists that can be used to help scope the project. EDA also can entail working with the ESI to better understand its substantive content, construct and evaluate potential story lines, craft discovery strategies, and develop e-discovery cost estimates and litigation budgets.

The EDA process is not to be confused with Early Case Assessment which typically relates to assessing legal liability. By contrast, Early Case Assessment usually happens at the onset of a matter as inside or outside counsel assess the viability of a matter, compare it against similar past matters, determine whether insurance coverage may come into play, make decisions about what counsel to retain, and engage in other similar activities focusing on evaluating the entire case early.

via Get your house in order with Early Data Assessment: Part I.

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Gartner Releases First Magic Quadrant for E-Discovery Industry

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This Magic Quadrant for e-Discovery aims to help CIOs, general counsel, IT professionals, attorneys, compliance staff and legal service providers understand the dynamics and landscape of the market for e-Discovery software.

 

To be included in this Magic Quadrant, a vendor must sell enterprise software licenses, a software appliance, or SaaS conforming to Gartner’s definition of SaaS. As well, vendors must also address at least one of three broad functional areas, relating to the EDRM, that Gartner chose to reflect the overlapping wants and needs of e-Discovery users, including left and right sides of the EDRM model, and information management. Vendors with end-to-end EDRM processes are also included.

Generally speaking, each qualifying vendor was evaluated for a plethora of offerings. From customer experience to sales and pricing to product service and track record, the results are plotted across quadrants, where the x-axis represent the completeness of the vision, while the y-axis represents an ability to execute. In the end, vendors fit into four personas: Challengers, Leaders, Visionaries and Niche Players.

via Gartner Releases First Magic Quadrant for E-Discovery Industry.

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Exterro’s Fusion Zeta Brings Data Management into the EDRM Process

May 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Manage and Execute e-Discovery

With the addition of Fusion Zeta, Exterro’s suite of applications manages the e-discovery process, as well as executes all e-discovery activities. Fusion’s open Integration Hub now connects with common ESI data sources such as Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint while leveraging investments in IT infrastructure and other EDRM tools.

Zeta’s core functionalities include:

In-Place Early Case Assessment (ECA):

Users can scan and analyze data sources prior to collection

Users can develop scenarios with cost estimates for meet-and-confer preparation

Preservation, Culling and Collection:

Includes one-click collections from Exterro Legal Hold, Discovery Workflow, Collection Management or Zeta itself

Offers provision for manual and incremental collections

Users can create chain of custody reports and audit logs for defensibility

Analysis and In-House Review

Users have new search options that can pull relevant documents and cull unrelated or privileged information

Includes user-defined document labels for classification purposes

Users can implement email and social network analysis with powerful visualization tools

Fusion Zeta strikes the right balance between powerful technology and legal efficacy, making it accessible and useful for legal teams, while making it reasonable for IT to implement. The combination of cost estimation, custodian scoping and early evidence review delivers productive tools that organizations need.

 

via Exterro’s Fusion Zeta Brings Data Management into the EDRM Process.

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Establish a comprehensive e-discovery strategy

February 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In December 2006, amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) indicated that e-discovery is no longer an optional process for organizations undergoing a lawsuit, audit or government investigation. All private organizations and government agencies must be able to find, capture, and produce electronically stored information (ESI) and content that may be relevant to a judicial or regulatory request.

In an effort to help customers meet their needs around e-discovery, Microsoft has released the Connected E-Discovery Framework. The Connected E-Discovery Framework consists of a technology architecture, best practices recommendations around proactive information management, and a collection of partner-owned vertical litigation support solutions to help customers overcome technology and process challenges they encounter when performing e-discovery.

The Connected E-Discovery Framework is based on the principles found in the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (ERDM). EDRM includes a process model and a set of published guidelines from industry experts that outline how e-discovery is typically conducted. Some of the primary benefits of the Connected E-Discovery Framework include:

Improve e-discovery execution through enterprise wide proactive information management. By maximizing the retention and disposition capabilities across SharePoint Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office Communication Server 2007 R2, organizations can establish a strong information management plan that maximizes their search capabilities via FAST, which in turn minimizes over-collection during discovery and decreases costs related to collection, preservation, process, review and analysis of ESI. Microsoft client tools such as Office Professional 2007 give users the ability to proactively categorize and metadata tag ESI at creation or edit time, relieving records managers from this burden after records are filed. This creation of content coupled with proactive management of the content reduces the costs associated with ESI collection efforts and increases an organization’s ability to discover and collect what is truly relevant ESI.

Support the entire e-discovery reference model using extensibility and integration features of the Microsoft platform. Microsoft is teaming with industry leading litigation support organizations to provide comprehensive coverage of the detailed needs organizations have when trying to overcome their e-discovery challenges. Whether using SharePoint as a web-based user interface and business process flow engine, using Exchange to search and identify mailboxes and server-based PSTs that have relevant ESI, or Windows Server 2008 R2 file shares where ESI is commonly stored, partner based products are available that cater directly to the individual steps found in the EDRM.

The Connected E-Discovery Framework is the foundation upon which organizations can begin to better create, collect and manage electronically stored information. The Connected E-Discovery Framework can be your foundation for better information management, better litigation preparation, and overall better organizational resource utilization.

via Establish a comprehensive e-discovery strategy.

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EDRM Legal Tech-NY Meet & Greet and Prize Entry « The Electronic Discovery Reference Model

January 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This year EDRM (the Electronic Discovery Reference Model) is holding an informal “Meet & Greet” at the Hilton Lobby Bar on Monday January 31, 2011 from 4:30pm to 6:00pm EST. This event is for those interested in learning more about EDRM as well as all active EDRM members. Feel free to ask about how you may participate in the current EDRM projects:

Data Set

Evergreen

IMRM (the Information Management Reference Model)

Jobs

Metrics

Model Code of Conduct

Search

Testing (new this year)

XML

For more information about EDRM, visit the website at www.edrm.net. Details on the prize drawing and the entry form can be found here on the website and will be available from Tom Gelbmann and George Socha throughout the LegalTech show.

via EDRM Legal Tech-NY Meet & Greet and Prize Entry « The Electronic Discovery Reference Model.

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Sanctions Over e-Discovery Increase, More Oversight Needed

January 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

e-Discovery is Only as Good as its Oversight

Theoretically, e-Discovery should establish a workflow so that data can be searched, collected, reviewed and analyzed in a manner that is both efficient and effective. However, considering that companies have more data than ever to comb through and classify, as well as conflicts between those implementing the e-Discovery infrastructure and those managing the workflows, e-Discovery isn’t always the magic bullet many believe it to be.

According to the study authors, one of the reasons that sanctions may be increasing is that often “more attention is focused on e-discovery than on the merits with a motion for sanctions an increasingly common filing.” Additionally, of the cases in which sanctions were awarded, the most common misconduct was failure to preserve ESI.

While the study doesn’t offer much advice about how e-Discovery solutions can help solve the problem, it does highlight the need for more uniform standards and guidelines to steer counsel through the complex tasks of discovery.

Ultimately, no matter the e-Discovery platform in use, companies need to take more control of how data is managed across the EDRM. Like most tools, e-Discovery is not magic, but if used effectively, it can help to manage risk and limit sanctions.

via Sanctions Over e-Discovery Increase, More Oversight Needed.

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K&L Gates, EDRM Collaborate to Enhance E-Discovery Database : Electronic Discovery Law

January 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As a way of continuing to enhance the value of Electronic Discovery Law, we recently embarked on a project with the e-Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) to classify the more than 1,800 cases in our case database according to the EDRM standards.  These cases will retain their existing searchable tags in addition to the new EDRM classification.  To accomplish this, several EDRM member organizations will soon participate in an “EDRM Coding Challenge” to determine how to most efficiently and accurately identify the EDRM phrases to be associated with each case in the database.  Thanks to George Socha, Tom Gelbmann, and the challenge participants from EDRM for their contributions to this project so far and special thanks to LexisNexis and Applied Discovery for supplying the full text of the first 200 case opinions to be coded.  Please watch our blog for updates on this exciting collaboration.

via K&L Gates, EDRM Collaborate to Enhance E-Discovery Database : Electronic Discovery Law.

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Report: eDiscovery functionality standardization on the horizon | Messaging Architects

December 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

With companies facing an increasing amount of eDiscovery cases, and requiring more assistance to deal with the burden, a recent report from eWeek predicts the advent of functionality standardization for such solutions in 2011.

According to the report, vendors are more conscience of the growing challenges for customers when facing eDiscovery requests. Recognizing this need, more vendor products will begin offering certain email archiving and other capabilities.

This trend will also come as a result of standardized eDiscovery tests. Organizations, such as the eDiscovery Reference Model, will continue efforts to set litigation standards.

According to the eWeek report, the EDRM has a goal to “create and publish peer reviewed testing protocols and create overall testing principals for the unique requirements of the discovery lifecycle.”

A recent Gartner study reflected this report’s predictions. Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving also concluded that companies are putting more of an emphasis on eDiscovery functionality when selecting an email archiving solution. An increase in litigation means most companies are expecting at least basic eDiscovery support features to be included in their solutions.

via Report: eDiscovery functionality standardization on the horizon | Messaging Architects.

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