Electronic Discovery
Today, e-Discovery is one of the most costly components of litigation. The proper areas of digital evidence must be identified, data must be collected in a thorough and defensible manner, steps must be taken to safeguard both the data and authenticity, and a chain of custody must be maintained. This is before a plan is even put in place for analysis.
Next, court documents, keyword searches, and sometimes difficult encounters with the opposition are necessary to determine the scope and reach of what is relevant versus cost effective. This is constantly a struggle especially where time and money is concerned.
With the help of Marmo Technology, we will assist you in the pursuit of a cohesive and reasonable strategy to accomplish your e-Discovery requests and acquisitions. Our services are based on your best interests, not a fee per gigabyte like many others. Our technical guidance will help keep your focus on the case, not the costs.
LCvR 26.2 DISCOVERY OF ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION
A. Duty to Investigate. Prior to a Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) conference, counsel shall:
1. Investigate the client's Electronically Stored Information ("ESI"), such as email, electronic documents, and metadata, and including computer based and other digital systems, in order to understand how such ESI is stored; how it has been or can be preserved, accessed, retrieved, and produced; and any other issues to be discussed at the Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) conference, including the issues in LCvR 26.2.C.
2. Identify a person or persons with knowledge about the client's ESI, with the ability to facilitate, through counsel, preservation and discovery of ESI.
B. Designation of Resource Person. In order to facilitate communication and cooperation between the parties and the Court, each party shall, if deemed necessary by agreement under LCvR 26.2.C.7 or by the Court, designate a single resource person through whom all issues relating to the preservation and production of ESI should be addressed.
C. Duty to Meet and Confer. At the Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) conference, and upon a later request for discovery of ESI, counsel shall meet and confer, and attempt to agree, on the discovery of ESI, including:
1. The steps the parties have taken to preserve ESI;
2. The scope of ESI discovery and an ESI search protocol, including methods to filter the data, such as application of search terms or date ranges;
3. Procedures to deal with inadvertent production of privileged information under LCvR 16.1.D;
4. Accessibility of ESI, including but not limited to the accessibility of back-up, deleted, archival, or historic legacy data;
5. The media, format and procedures for preserving and producing ESI, including the media, format, and procedures for the Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) initial disclosures;
6. Allocation of costs of preservation, production, and restoration (if possible and/or necessary) of any ESI;
7. The need for a designated resource person, as discussed in Section B above; and
8. Any other issues related to ESI.