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Winning Strategies

Winning Strategies . for Meet & Confer . Craig Ball. Richard Best. Steve Brower. David Draper. Proposed New Federal Rules. Meet and Confer Proposed Rule 26(f):

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Winning Strategies

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  1. Winning Strategies for Meet & Confer Craig Ball Richard Best Steve Brower David Draper

  2. Proposed New Federal Rules • Meet and Confer • Proposed Rule 26(f): • The parties shall confer…to discuss any issues relating to preservation, disclosure or discovery of electronically stored information including the form in which it should be produced

  3. Preservation Letter Meet & Confer Motion for Sanctions The New Trinity of EDD Strategy The EDD conference is no mere formality

  4. Would you go to a mediation unprepared? Meet & confer merits preparation

  5. Before the Conference • At the Conference • After the Conference

  6. Before the conference: Requesting Party Examine what you already know about the e-evidence Headers, dates and circulation of key e-mail Path data on key documents (e.g., M://mission/marketing/) Know what formats you can manage E-mail: paper-like production Databases, spreadsheets, voice mail: native production What about application and system metadata?

  7. Before the conference: Requesting Party Communicate issues to be addressed What must your opponent know about systems? Locations Operating systems and applications Back up methods and schedules Native data formats Data volumes Who should be at the conference or available by phone? Know your client’s system Anticipate boomerang discovery Do you need EDD expert with you or available by phone? Consider use of special master or neutral

  8. Before the conference: Producing Party Know your client’s systems Back up systems, unit inventory and location, data volumes, e-mail clients, operating systems, retention policies Know what formats you can preserve/produce Can you preserve application and system metadata? Voice mail? IM? Mobile devices? Communicate issues to be addressed at conference What must your opponent know about their systems? Locations Operating systems and applications Back up methods and schedules Native data formats Data volumes Have an EDD expert with you or available via phone Respond to preservation letter

  9. At the conference: Requesting Party Setting the agenda requires preparation Must know client’s systems, need to research target systems (little knowledge goes long way in insuring candor) What are your goals? What do you need? Can you tier or stagger? Address preservation needs and limits Follow up on preservation letter Must back up tape rotation be suspended? Is there a genuine going forward preservation need? Will periodic (i.e., month end) retention suffice? What are needs with respect to mobile systems, personal systems? What about VM, IM, PDA, phone?

  10. At the conference: Requesting Party Designate production formats File formats Production media Establish deadlines As reviewed vs. all-at-once Seek certification of compliance Forensics Is forensics an issue? No second chances! Who are key players? Which systems (home? mobile? assistants’?) Who will do acquisition? Be sure everyone agrees on process Who will act as custodian? Use shared hashes to insure integrity Cost allocation by agreement?

  11. At the conference: Producing Party Know your capabilities Can you deliver on everything promised? Know compliance costs and man hours Clearly establish what need NOT be preserved Must back up tape rotation be suspended? Is there a genuine going forward preservation need? What are needs with respect to mobile systems, personal systems? What about VM, IM, PDA, phone? Memorialize what’s offered, rejected and agreed upon Make clear what you’ve offered to preserve Make clear what you declined to preserve and shift burden to ReqP Forensics Know key players for forensic imaging Be wary of forensic preservation Lay the groundwork for cost sharing Put on notice re: costs and seek cost sharing agreements (opportune time, as RP anxious for discovery)

  12. After the conference: Requesting Party Memorialize requested, rejected and agreed upon Report Outcome to the court Submit Agreed Preservation Order

  13. After the conference: Producing Party Memorialize what’s offered, rejected and agreed upon Make clear what need not be preserved Make clear what you declined to preserve and shift burden to ReqP Resist preservation order Serious sanctions typically follow violation of court’s orders

  14. Tips: Both Sides Consider a worksheet Remember, it’s still all about the paper trail Consider sampling Glossary Are both sides using terms with same meanings?: E.g., copy, clone, image, Ghost, bitstream Memorialize. Memorialize, Memorialize Put it in writing: every agreement plus declined proposals

  15. Questions?

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