eDiscovery (electronic discovery) is the process of identifying, collecting and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to legal discovery requests. It usually covers business email, file servers, cloud platforms and collaboration tools, and runs from preserving the data through processing, review and production.
What Counts as Electronically Stored Information
ESI is the business data a matter may turn on. In practice it most often comes from:
- Email systems and file servers
- Enterprise cloud platforms such as M365, Google and Dropbox, plus OneDrive and SharePoint
- Collaboration tools used in normal business operations
- Social media accounts
- Paper records, once they are scanned and coded into electronic form
The eDiscovery Process, Step by Step
Each matter is scoped on its own, but the work follows the same path:
- Preserve: identify the relevant data and keep it intact under legal hold, with preservation requirements in mind
- Collect: gather the data from physical devices, cloud platforms and social media accounts, handling authentication challenges and data formats
- Process: cull, de-duplicate and identify near-duplicates so review time and cost go down
- Host and review: load the data into a secure review platform with advanced search, and review it with technology-assisted review (TAR) and, where needed, a managed review team
- Produce: format and produce responsive documents, with privilege review support
See eDiscovery collections and hosting and managed document review for how CKC handles each stage.
eDiscovery Versus Digital Forensics
While digital forensics focuses on detailed technical analysis of digital evidence, eDiscovery typically involves broader collection and review of business documents and communications. The goal is to identify and produce documents and communications that may be responsive to discovery requests or litigation holds.
Forensics goes deeper on fewer sources: recovering deleted files, analyzing system artifacts, investigating security incidents. Many matters need both, which is why CKC Consulting provides both. See What Is Digital Forensics?
Handling Large Data Volumes
Large volumes of ESI are where process pays for itself. Data culling, de-duplication, near-duplicate identification and technology-assisted review prioritize and streamline review, which reduces review time and cost and improves the accuracy of document identification. Our scalable infrastructure accommodates terabytes of data, with 24/7 access and technical support on the hosting platform.
When Paper Is Part of Discovery
Not every record starts out electronic. Our document scanning and coding service handles physical document scanning, OCR, metadata extraction and production formatting, so paper records can be searched, reviewed and produced alongside the rest of the ESI.
