EDRM: Best practices when preparing for an e-discovery request
For IT organizations looking to better prepare for and respond to data requests during an e-discovery process, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) can help
When a request hits from e-discovery or compliance or any kind of related business process, the better you have your storage infrastructure organized, the faster you're going to be able to serve up the information to the request.
Identification is the next stage. In terms of e-discovery, what that means is being able to identify potentially relevant data that might be involved in a legal matter.
Preservation and collection are the next two stages. They sit on top of each other because you cannot really separate them in terms of timing. What preservation is really refers to the ability to secure data against modification or deletion. And the process is referred to as a legal or litigation hold.
Those four stages in general are referred to as the left-hand side of the EDRM. And that's where IT should be most intensely involved.
The right-hand side of the EDRM is really where the attorneys play, and that is processing. Along with this stage are also the review and analysis stages. This is simply the attorneys being able to either manually or with some software help decide how relevant any given piece of data is to the legal matter at hand. After that, follow the production and presentation stages where relevant data is produced in a form that the opposing counsel or judge can see.
DiscoveryMax Software enables your firm to manage the any request that hits from e-discovery or compliance or any kind of related business process, the better you have your storage infrastructure organized, the faster you're going to be able to serve up the information to the request.
- Information Governance – Getting your electronic house in order to mitigate risk & expenses should e-discovery become an issue, from initial creation of ESI (electronically stored information) through its final disposition.
- Identification – Locating potential sources of ESI & determining its scope, breadth & depth.
- Preservation – Ensuring that ESI is protected against inappropriate alteration or destruction.
- Collection – Gathering ESI for further use in the e-discovery process (processing, review, etc.).
- Processing – Reducing the volume of ESI and converting it, if necessary, to forms more suitable for review & analysis.
- Review – Evaluating ESI for relevance & privilege.
- Analysis – Evaluating ESI for content & context, including key patterns, topics, people & discussion.
- Production – Delivering ESI to others in appropriate forms & using appropriate delivery mechanisms.
- Presentation – Displaying ESI before audiences (at depositions, hearings, trials, etc.), especially in native & near-native forms, to elicit further information, validate existing facts or positions, or persuade an audience.