The Sedona Principles

Electronic Discovery refers to the discovery of electronic documents and data…including e-mail, web pages, word processing files, computer databases, and virtually anything that is stored on a computer or device.

Best Practices, Recommendations & Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production The Sedona Principles The Sedona Principles

Why is this important…because greater than 40% of all corporate communications never appear in paper format…and over 97% of all information is electronically created…estimated that within 5 years electronic evidence will replace paper as the primary source of discovery in commercial litigation. eDiscovery

…obtaining information in electronic format allows for the capture of metadata…Metadata is the electronic information that is often hidden in an electronic file…”smoking gun”?...perhaps…but the emails, office memos and other communications can also support the factual basis of your clients case. eDiscovery

…most law firms continue to struggle with the electronic component of discovery…continuing to only deal with the paper side and never seeing emails, etc….as this changes it will be very important for law firms to have the right tools for review and production of electronic information…and it will require the law firm to have a clear understanding as to the technical information flow within their client or opponents data systems… eDiscovery

Unique characteristics of electronic data.. informal nature…email = conversation…mostly unguarded remarks preservation…electronic data is easily changed by simple routine tasks…a “hold” on electronic information requires a corporation to have a plan in place and to anticipate possible action deletion…not necessarily…hitting the delete key only deletes the pointer to the file, not the file itself eDiscovery

Unique characteristics of electronic data.. storage locations…can be stored anywhere in the world..from local drives to mainframes thousands of miles away…to USB drives carried on a key chain disorganized…seldom in specific locations…so over the years one person did it this way and another did it this way, etc volume…10 employees, 30-60 emails per day = 300-600 emails = 60,000-120,000 per year….1,000 employees?…docs? Calendars? Spreadsheets? eDiscovery

Unique characteristics of electronic data.. redundancy…daily, weekly, monthly backup tapes…someone may think they have destroyed something, but it may live forever on backup archives costs…edata is already searchable, sortable, and with the right software…manageable…vs paper? accuracy…no degradation with the 20th file copy alterations…perhaps impossible to detect in docs, pictures or audio eDiscovery

For paper discovery… an attorney would visit their clients office and walk through to determine people, file cabinets, record centers, employee files, off-site storage and any other relevant place documents may be filed…typically , you can be comfortable that you have located all the documents that have been relevant to the discovery request. eDiscovery - the process

For electronic discovery… an attorney will need to walk through the computer infrastructure with their client…understanding where documents are created, stored, printed, backed up, exchanged, etc….in the relevant parties work computers, and personal computers…it will be the clients duty to “know or reasonably know” that the electronic data is preserved and where. Attorneys will need to know technical terms to communicate with their client eDiscovery - the process

For electronic discovery… costs to locate, recover, review, and produce relevant information for a small corporation could be staggering…and it will be your job to find cost effective ways to handle this for your client and defend the results… be proactive, help your clients understand the need for strong document retention policies and encourage the use of them eDiscovery - the process

Computers – hardware storage units of measure…bits and bytes smallest unit of measure on a computer is a bit(0’s and 1’s)…a byte is about 8 bits a Kilobyte(KB) is = to 1024 bytes a megabyte(Mb) is = to 1,048,576 bytes a gigabyte(Gb) is = to 1,073,741,824 bytes a terabyte(Tb) is = to 1,099,511,627,776 bytes a word processed test page is 2K or about 2,000 bytes 1 terabyte = 500,000,000 million pages eDiscovery - electronic structure

Computers - software Application Software – MS Office, databases, etc Internet Software – browsers, listservs, chatrooms Email – corporate, web(Yahoo), InstantMessenger Operating Systems – Windows 95/98, 2000, XP, Linux, Apple OS, etc. Audit Trails, Internet Service Providers eDiscovery - electronic structure

Computers – LANS, WANS and Internet Local Area Network – contained within one office connected by wire or wireless… Wide Area Network – multi office environment within the corporation Off site – redundant disaster recovery system data could be stored anywhere…. eDiscovery - electronic structure

Other pieces… PDA’s – palm OS Laptops USB storage devices Security systems Telephone systems and voice mail Cell phones Digital Cameras Copiers and Faxes…etc, etc, etc…. eDiscovery - electronic structure

Be careful what you ask for… you may get it… And chances are the other side is going to ask for the same thing in many instances… eDiscovery - requests

The Sedona Principles