EDiscovery: The most growing law field

EDiscovery is a significant process, which occurs early precisely in the civil litigation matters and involves the exchange of information between the parties which are involved in a lawsuit or some other legal action. eDiscovery has implications including but not limited to several activities like the archival of electronic information, the ability to look at content with relevance, the capability to modify related to content deletion, how to manage storage systems, how corporate policies are developed, and risk management.

Discovery was once a litigation sideshow. Today, it has moved to center stage. E-discovery is complex, expensive, and error-prone.

Meeting the modern e-discovery challenge requires new resources. The legal experts are involved in developing best practices for data collection and review based on experience, new technology, and the accumulating body of case law.

A trend that is popular among leading firms is to create the role of an e-discovery attorney or practice. In some firms, a senior lawyer who specializes in electronic data discovery (EDD or e-discovery) are employed, to assure clients that the e-discovery process is efficient and effective.

Recently, a dramatic increase in ediscovery vendors has been seen. Having more vendor options may seem like a good, however, this drastic increase in vendors often make it difficult to differentiate and to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. Hence, it becomes critical that law firms and legal departments who seek to leverage efficient data for purposes of litigation understand that selecting an e-discovery vendor is way far than an isolated transaction and must be approached with some specific considerations in mind. Enumerated below are a few topics, which could help in choosing the vendors.

· The level of priority of data safety for a vendor.

· If Vendor considers innovation as a priority

· How vendor prioritizes efficiency and automation.

eDiscovery companies, which started with unstructured data in emails, now encompasses diverse devices, data sources, and technologies. Potentially disruptive future change agents in the company’s eDiscovery include:

· Artificial intelligence (AI)

· Blockchain

· Cloud services.

· The Internet of Things

· Crowdsourcing.

The E-Discovery (companies) Reference Model (EDRM) has been very helpful in guiding organizations on discovery process concerning electronically stored documentation that might be required in an investigation or litigation. In some companies, information is retained forever and never deleted or removed. This increases costs and risks in the face of litigation, as more information is caught up in the discovery dragnet and must be collected, analysed, and reviewed.

E-Discovery is just another way to describe the discovery, the process of obtaining and exchanging evidence, or information that might potentially become evidence, in litigation. But since the world has moved exclusively to electronic communications, most of the legal professionals have began adding the “e” to make it clear that electronic records were now involved.

A recent case portrays the danger, which could possibly be inherent in the review process. The Samsung v. Apple litigation opposed two tech giants against each other in a court battle between the world’s major smartphone makers. This case has shown that even the biggest companies can fall in the face of the eDiscovery review.