ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY CONSULTANT – Improves efficiency and reduces cost

August 28, 2009 — 585

The discoveries of electronic data have played an increasingly critical role in most business and commercial litigation cases. Every individual has faced the frustration of standing in a wrong queue. So, the electronic queuing systems have been developed to save time of an individual and also it helps managers to maintain systematic information with proper plans. Electronic queuing system can be used in banks, pharmacies, post offices, hospitals, shopping malls, police stations, employment services, etc. Electronic fax services convert the data into faxes and transmit them. It also receives fax calls and the data received is either stored or transferred to the user. India classifieds site has a separate category called electronics where one can find the various products related to electronic discovery solutions. So the individual can get the best suitable product for themselves on http://www.india-classifieds.in.

The principal objective of Electronic Discovery Consultant is to prepare relevant files for efficient and expedient review, production and subsequent use and also deliver assistance, planning and implementation services which improves efficiencies and reduce costs. Rising levels of electronic document storage, expensive lawsuits and strict laws, are some of the reasons for the increasing use of electronic discovery. Information gathered from electronic sources can be used in litigation that can make or break companies.

In the process of electronic data discovery, data of all types can serve as evidence. This includes text, images, calendar files, databases, spreadsheets, audio files, animation, Web sites and computer programs. Even malware such as viruses, Trojans and spyware can be secured and investigated. Electronic email discovery and electronic fax service can be an especially valuable source of evidence in civil or criminal litigation, because people are often less careful in these exchanges than in hard copy correspondence such as written memos and postal letters.

Electronic discovery services includes products such as Mobile Phone, Music Systems, TV/Handy Cam, VCD/DVD Players, Speakers/Mic, CCTV cameras (Dome, C Type -Day & Night, Short/ Long distance) Digital Video recorder (DVR), DVR cards, Time Attendance System, Pen/ Button Camera, Camera detector, Mobile Signal booster, Mobile signal jammer etc. It is like a huge catalog with a user-friendly index. To get any electronic services just post your requirement to Electronic Classifieds ads category.

Through this overview of electronic discovery solutions, the hope is that you will have enough information to ask the right questions and to evaluate the presented process tasks so as to ensure that the techniques and processes used in your specific electronic discovery matters are defensible with respect to clients’ legal obligations as well as appropriately cost-effective/expedient in the context of the matter.

India Classifieds offers free online ads posting for r electronics classifieds ads of electronic discovery consultant, electronic queuing system, electronic fax services, electronic fax, electronic discovery litigation, electronic discovery solution, electronic data discovery, electronic discovery services, Mobile Phone, Music Systems, TV/Handy Cam, VCD/DVD Players, Speakers/Mic, Cameras and several other products & services in India.

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Computer Forensics Vs. Electronic Discovery

August 28, 2009 — 585

Computer Forensics

The field of computer forensics was developed primarily by law enforcement personnel for investigating drug and financial crimes. It employs strict protocols to gather information contained on a wide variety of electronic devices, using forensic procedures to locate deleted files and hidden information.

Computer forensics tasks include capturing all the information contained on a specific electronic device by using either a forensic copy technique or by making an image of all or a portion of the device. A forensic copy provides an exact duplicate of the hard drive or storage device. None of the metadata, including the last accessed date,is changed from the original. However, the copy is a liveversion, so accessing the data on the copy, even only to see what is there,can change this sensitive metadata.

By contrast, making a forensic image of the required information puts a protective electronic wrapper around the entire collection. The collection can be viewed with special software, and the documents can be opened, extracted from the collection, and examined without changing the files or their metadata.

Other forensic tasks include locating and accessing deleted files, finding partial files, tracking Internet history, cracking passwords, and detecting information located in the slack or unallocated space. Slack space is the area at the end of a specific cluster on a hard drive that contains no data; unallocated space contains the remnants of files that have been deleted but not erased from the device, as deleting simply removes the pointer to the location of a specific file on a hard drive, not the file itself.

Electronic Discovery

Electronic discovery has its roots in the field of civil litigation support and deals with organizing electronic files using their attached metadata. Because of the large volume encountered, these files are usually incorporated into a litigation retrieval system to allow review and production in an easy methodology. Legal data management principles are used, including redaction rules and production methodologies.

Electronic discovery tasks usually begin after the files are captured. File metadata is used to organize and cull the collections. Documents can be examined in their native file format or converted to TIF or PDF images to allow for redaction and easy production.

Common Capabilities, Different Philosophies

Computer forensics and electronic discovery methodologies share some common capabilities. One is the ability to produce an inventory of the collection, allowing reviewers to quickly see what is present. Another is the ability to determine a common time zone to standardize date and time stamps across a collection. Without this standardization, an e-mail response may appear to have been created before the original e-mail.

Karen Unger founded American Document Management in 1989. Specialized in litigation support

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Electronic Discovery 2.0

August 28, 2009 — 585

Electronic Discovery, or ?e-discovery? refers to the discovery of data from electronic storage and other electronic media for example e-mails, Hard Disk Drives, Databases, CAD/CAM files, websites and any other electronically-stored information which can be used as an evidence in a law suit.

Electronic Discovery 2.0, or ?e-discovery 2.0? refers to the next generation of processes, technologies, and services that streamline and modernize the traditional e-discovery process as well as allows businesses to manage huge volumes of data, lower costs, and meet tight deadlines. In this Electronic Discovery process civil litigants seek to acquire information from both parties and from third parties.

In the early days Electronic Data & Evidence Recovery meant just handling over a few boxes of paper, but in today?s rapidly growing world where it involves terabytes of electronic data & valuable time, it is a different story. To deal with the increasing volume & complexity of e-discovery issues, companies have to adopt new technologies and processes.

If technology has created problem, then it can also solve it. In recent years lot of new technologies have emerged which enables organizations to store and search through their data to fulfill electronic discovery obligations.

As the cost of disk storage is reducing, people are moving from tapes to disks. This enables them to keep their data online and readily available for e-discovery from basic keyword search to sophisticated analysis tools. That mines all meta data from e-mails and groups them together for relevance and allow users to search thousands of mails and logs in minutes to identify and export the data.

From the company?s perspective Electronic Data Discovery has become a core competency and a part of doing business.

Kevin Cohen Kevin Cohen is an international computer forensics consultant. He is president of Data Triage Technologies, LLC.(http://www.datatriage.com), a Computer forensics and Electronic discovery firm based in Los Angeles, California .

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The Human Factor of Electronic Discovery

August 28, 2009 — 585

The fact that Electronic Discovery is essential and prevalent in the Legal Practice has now become almost a cliché. Attorneys and their clients, in large firms, and small, have gone through several whirlwind years in regards to E-Discovery and have no doubt been bombarded with unending admonitions regarding the discoverability of electronic information, spoliation, and the importance of metadata as a whole. Zubulake v. UBS Warburg, 220 F.R.D. 212 (S.D.N.Y. 2003), United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc., 327 F.Supp.2d 21 (D.D.C.2004), Columbia Valley Reg’l Med. Ctr. v. Bannert, 112 S.W. 3d 193 (Tex. App. 2003).
 
The rapid invasion of technology within the corporate world has forced a steady (and speedy) change to the legal landscape. That E-Discovery is now a part of an attorney?s life and requires focus is no longer resisted (and certainly, can no longer be ignored). E-Discovery is here to stay, that will not change ? what has to change (and should change) over the years is our approach.
 
A short 5 years ago, the abilities of Electronic Discovery and Forensics vendors were closely watched and compared, ensuring that each had the tools and knowledge to handle the complicated ethereal world of computer bits and bytes. Yet, fast forward to the present day and the capabilities of these vendors are no longer under the microscope. The general legal population has heard more than enough regarding the importance of metadata and the need to ensure the forensic integrity of computer files. There have been enough ups and downs throughout these past few years, for most of the existing vendors to have the E-Discovery process down to a routine (albeit a continually evolving routine). So, with all these vendors, new and old, big and small, all sharing essentially the same abilities, the deciding focus has been shifted to something else. It is no longer technological know-how, but people know-how.
 
Just as the importance and strengths of the Knowledge Worker has been routinely touted by the late, great, Peter Drucker, the need for ?people-consideration? was an inevitable evolution within the legal tech community. It is no longer a question of which vendor can process native electronic files for review, but a question of which vendor would stay around on a holiday to process those files. And the emphasis is no longer on whether or not a vendor has the capacity to handle multiple hard drives, but rather which vendor has implemented project management methodologies to streamline their workload.
 
Thus comes, the ?H-Factor?, the Human Factor. The process of E-discovery has now essentially evolved to a point where a true gain in the edge over the opposing side can only be made with increased team building skills ? not server building. A strategy planned by a group of competent and willing individuals will add much more efficiency to the various tasks of e-discovery than the latest and greatest on the bleeding edge of technology. From data gathering, to processing, and on through review and production, the most important asset for an electronic evidence-ntensive case is not the hardware, but the members that form your team, both your in-house staff and your chosen vendors.
 
The Project Manager
A project is often defined as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. And the process of E-Discovery fits that description to a tee. Rarely, if ever, would the electronic evidence component of two cases match exactly ? but the best practice procedures and strategies for analyzing them will be similar. And your Project Manager, be she in-house or a vendor, should be well versed in those procedures. For the duration of the case, the Project Manager will need to become your very best friend. She must be the able to



Understand and predict potential pitfalls or delays that may occur within the E-Discovery Process, such as potentially running into password protected files, encountering legacy hardware or software, receiving large amounts of duplicated information, delay in shipping or receiving, inaccessibility of data custodians, and much more,

Be proactive in keeping you up-to-date on progress and scheduling while you are trying to handle the legal aspects of the case

Ensure that adequate resources are available to handle any fluctuations of workflow,

Ensure that proper training procedures are in place to provide efficiency in review,

Address any side technical issues which may be slowing down the review or production process, such as network bandwidth, computer availability, and user account maintenance.

The Sales Representative
Keep the number of your vendor Sales Rep as close to you as that of the project manager. She is the extra boost in speed that you may have to call upon every so often. While the Project Manager coordinates the work, your Sales Rep will know where to cut the red tape within the vendor’s organization which might be slowing the process down. Individuals in sales are trained to put your needs first since they want your continual business. Where the Project Manager may need to adhere to certain protocols and rules, the Sales Rep is given leverage to bypass those same rules to keep the client, meaning you, happy. It is not something to be abused, but the extra push she would be able to generate within the company could mean the difference between a Friday or a Monday production deadline.
 
The Technology Department/The Lit Support Personnel
For the larger firms, e-discovery consultation should begin with the Technology or Litigation Support department. Allow them to give you a bird?s eye view of the impending project. They are the ones who will be able to help you narrow down the net you need to cast. They are there to aid you in answering questions such as:



What is needed for your firm to access the vendor’s processed data? Firewall port openings? Local installs of special applications?

How much of the data just received from the client are simply computer operations files unrelated to your case?

What are the potential file types, system types that you will have to deal with?

Though your technology help desk staff may not be qualified to operate as forensics experts, they will at the very least be able to provide to you an assessment of the tasks ahead. And knowing what you are up against will allow you to formulate a better plan. While the vendor may know their platform and electronic discovery in general, your Technology Department knows your firm’s infrastructure.

The Reviewers
The E-Discovery process obviously does not stop when all data has been safely collected and processed for review. And one of the most glossed over steps tends to be the review process and the reviewers themselves. Remember that the reviewers will likely know less about electronic data than you do, and may require training in not only in the content they are searching, but also how to make use of the review software. This is especially true for larger cases which often involve an army of temp attorneys, individuals who likely have had little or no experience with the review platform chosen for your case. When dealing with reviewers, try to consider the following:



Have they been provided with sufficient hands-on training for the software?

Do they have quick reference guides easily accessible? ? a training manual is fine, but during a tight review schedule their time would be better spent on the actual review rather than flipping through the thick tomes of software instructions.

Are they keyboard or mouse oriented users, and can the software be adapted to either types? The savings of a few mouse or keyboard clicks can translate into hours of review time.

Are the reviewers stacked in shifts to allow for a continuous review? ? not only will this maximize the number of review hours you may have, but also lighten the strain that your technical equipment may experience in a large review.

No doubt the hardware and software components of an E-Discovery matter is important. But hard drives and processors can be purchased, servers can be built, and software can be programmed. The human touch, on the other hand, can mean the difference between smooth sailing and being caught in a storm. A simple and effective strategy by a group of knowledgeable and hardworking individuals will ensure the efficiency that your best computers can not. The technical factor is important, but the human factor gives you the true edge.

Article by Andrew P. Li


Mr. Li is a Litigation Support and E-Discovery trainer and consultant with over a decade of experience. He is the owner of APLCS, LLC (http://www.aplcs.com) and can be reached at requests@aplcs.com

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Electronic Discovery: Basic Framework

August 28, 2009 — 585

Although the details of each E-Discovery effort will vary from case to case, there are certain similarities that exists between them. Basic data formats have evolved over the past few years into de facto standards used for the collection, review, and production of electronic documents. The steps taken? to ensure quality are also generally applicable to most cases.? Proper handling of ESI processing should begin with the following basic framework:

ANALYSIS & PRESERVATION:
Technology has created an incredibly mobile society. Aside from the normal desktop or notebook computers, data and evidence can now also be found on PDAs, iPods, Voice-mail, the Internet, flash thumb drives, and much. Keep in mind that data can spread around the globe and are not necessarily tied to business property.

COLLECTION:
Data should always be forensically duplicated wherever possible. Should the metadata, or deleted files of a potential witness ever come into question, a simple copy job would not stand up in court.

REVIEW & PRODUCTION PLATFORMS:
One of the main questions which should be decided prior to proceeding with the review, is the format in which the Review and Production should be made. The current “standard” is to provide TIFF files for production. Depending on the situations surrounding the case (amount of data, cost, and? timing), various other formats may serve better for the review process. Below are some quick pros and cons:

TIFFs: These are the industry formats, and are generally the preferred format for all litigation related software and systems. TIFFs can easily be? reviewed electronically, and bates schemes, along with redactions can be electronically applied with speed and accuracy.? TIFFs’ main drawback is? the lack of visual appeal and color. All files are viewed in black and white or grayscaled format.

PDFs: Adobe’s PDF format is fast becoming a popular favorite as images. Its key draw is its visual look. It comes in color and is a true representation of what the native document looks like. However,, it is still far from being a simple file to work with. PDF documents, unless used within specific hosting systems, lacks the ability to quickly apply bates numbers and redactions.

NATIVE: Document reviews done in native format can be a great time and cost saver. With no need to wait for processing or cost to convert the images, native format review presents a very attractive solution. And while the process is indeed perfect as an initial culling, it lacks many of the litigation review tools that are necessary for production. Native document reviews are at the mercy of the file type, meaning a lack of redaction and bates numbering tools. Generally, native formats are used for a first review to quickly remove irrelevant documents, prior to a conversion of the remaining documents for a more in-depth production review (though native productions are fast becoming favorites as new technology come into play.

CRITERIA/ISSUES:
Many review issues should be considered prior to the commencement of the review. Among them is clarity on unitization, legal issues, and folder paths:

UNITIZATION: Unitization refers to document break distinction – the start and end page which defines a document. For most electronic files, the document breaks are fairly straight forward – 1 MS Word file equals 1 Document. However, what if the Word document was attached to an e-mail? Would 1 Document = the email and Word document? or would that be considered 2 separate documents? And if one is privileged would both items automatically be privileged? Deciding on unitization ahead of time will give the reviewers and the processors a better understanding of the desired end result.

FOLDER PATHS: The world of paper litigation is familiar with the phrase “in the ordinary course of doing business”. The equivalent of a review/production in the electronic world, is the file path. The directory and folder paths of each file should be maintained so that the review and eventual production can be conducted properly, where all documents can be identified as they would in the course of doing business.

LEGAL ISSUES: Another important part of a smooth review is a mutual team understanding of the issues involved in the case. Issues, folders, or tags, should be specified ahead of time and conveyed to all reviewers and data processors. Is the focus on fraud? related to a specific product? a specific date? a specific witness? By clarifying these issues, confusion and delay can be greatly avoided.

FILTERING & CONVERSION PROCESS:
Not all data collected need to be review. Most computer files contain generic system files which can be eliminated from the review process completely as it will have no relevance to the case at hand. Using specific key word or date filters prior to the conversion process will help to eliminate expense and time on the review of irrelevant material. System operation files, internet temp files, spam and personal e-mail can be cut from the review without fear of missing anything important.

ORGANIZATION & REVIEW:
The review process is the bulk of the work during electronic discovery. Make sure your reviewers have been sufficiently trained, have a thorough understanding of the issues at hand, and have a steady stream of documents for them to look at. When organizing documents for review, keep in mind that it is more efficient to assign reviewers similar groups of documents or documents from a single individual. Conversation threads should be kept together if possible, and document groups should be based on subject. This will ensure maximum understanding of the issues, as well as a smooth judgment process. Depending on the skill level of the reviewers, generally a second level privilege review should be in place to do a quick quality check of all reviewed documents.

PRIVILEGE & REDACTION LOGS:
The review databases are not only for flipping through relevant documents. Most systems also help track redaction and privilege information. Consult with your service provider on how to make use of the system information to quickly export a redaction
or privilege log. With a large database of documents, this simple feature can be a real time and money saver.

PRODUCTION & ARCHIVAL:
Keep in mind that production with electronic documents is not a simple process. Lead time and quality checks should be built into the production process. This is especially true if the production is being done by a service provider offsite, processing and mailing time should be factored into all productions.

?

Article by Andrew P. Li
Mr. Li is a Litigation Support and E-Discovery trainer and consultant with over a decade of experience. He is the owner of APLCS, LLC (http://www.aplcs.com) and can be reached at requests@aplcs.com
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Fixed Cost Ediscovery Delivers Competitive Advantage in Legal Risk

August 27, 2009 — 585

Early case assessment and fixed cost eDiscovery are two areas in legal risk management that require specific attention. Fixed cost eDiscovery is designed to address the financial risk associated with large legal cases. For additional information on eDiscovery go to www.estorian.com. The outcome of fixed cost eDiscovery is reduced exposure to the cost and time spent reviewing and analyzing the data after a legal case is underway. Early case assessment is a process that can reduce legal risk exposure by offering a necessary view into the case information, i.e. custodians, context, third-parties, etc. The latter is a legal risk competitive advantage; the former is simply cost containment.

Early case assessment is done by an organization to manage the organizations legal risk exposure. Early case assessment (ECA) can be considered the artillery in the armory that legal counsel takes to their meet-confer meetings. ECA includes information about custodians, context and concepts and will help legal counsel manage the outcome of the meet-and-confer meetings. However, it is not supposed to be this way.

According to The Honorable Judge Peter Flynn of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division, Illinois, Meet-and-confer meeting’s are supposed Read the rest of this entry »

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Ediscovery for Pictures in an Email Archive, by Thumbnail

August 27, 2009 — 585

eMail archiving systems have been in use for many years. In the United States, the primary purpose for archiving has been compliance, civil and criminal eDiscovery, as well as internal policy violations. For more information on eMail archiving see www.estorian.com/blog.php. Rest-of-world (ROW) drivers include eDiscovery for civil and criminal cases, but storage management and operational efficiency have been the primary buying motivation. In all cases, search is a critical part of the story, including full-text searching. However, full-text search can’t find words for images and, as the anecdote goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Since full-text search can only find words or associate concepts with image files, users still need to review the images. The ability to review images as it relates to emails has been overlooked in the major systems, such as Autonomy/Zantaz, Symantec Enterprise Vault, etc. The scenario is simple: your human resources or legal group has a need to do an early case assessment, but some of the critical email data-points are pictures attached to the messages. In most cases, the pictures have obtuse names like DSC30012.JPG or IMG_1459.PNG, telling you absolutely nothing about the file. Read the rest of this entry »

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Spherical Indexing and Ediscovery: a Primer for Early Case Assessment

August 27, 2009 — 585

I. The Challenge.

Early case assessment and pre-discovery differ in their commitment to chain of custody and legal review of data. Early case assessment and pre-discovery activity overlap in the collection phase of electronic discovery reference model (EDRM); the difference is what you do with the data. Pre-discovery has more gray area as it relates to the impact on legal review and production. Early case assessment offers more definition because it may help you avoid going to trial or suffering a full disclosure discovery. Using early case assessment tools or solutions enables an organization become defensive before the meet and confer meeting.

Being prepared before a meet and confer meeting can be challenging, but the rewards are less discoverable data, therefore less reviewed data. Electronic discovery interview series responses suggest that the rise in electronic discovery cost is directly related to the rise in data being reviewed. Therefore, preparation ahead of a meet and confer meeting can reduce your electronic discovery review requirements, subsequently reducing your total discovery budget. For more information on eDiscovery go to www.estorian.com.

For example, Electronic mail early case assessment will expose Read the rest of this entry »

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Four in 10 Company Networks in the US are not Secure

August 27, 2009 — 585

In a poll of 455 IT executives in US SMBs, 42% said their networks were not secure even though 96% and 93% of respondents respectively said they had anti-virus and a firewall installed. 80% said they also used spam filtering. This may indicate that small and medium sized businesses are starting to doubt the effectiveness of traditional perimeter security products in protecting them from other security threats, including data leakage and network breaches.

Conducted by eMediaUSA on behalf of GFI Software, an international developer of network security, content security and messaging software, 39% of respondents to the survey said email viruses are the greatest risk to network security, followed by internet downloads (22%) and hacker attempts (10%). Only 7% considered insider attacks and the threat of portable storage devices – such as USB sticks, CDs, floppies, smartphones, MP3 players, handhelds, iPods, digital cameras – to be the greatest risk.

The survey also reveals that 32% of the US companies surveyed had suffered a breach over the past 12 months mainly due to a virus attack (69%), followed by infected internet downloads (30%) and loss of hardware, such as laptops (24%). Only 2% reported a breach involving some Read the rest of this entry »

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Email Management Policies and Why Businesses Need One

August 27, 2009 — 585

Email management could be a company’s saving grace in today’s world of litigation and information overload. Email is now one of the most used communication systems around, over which important business decisions are often made, therefore an adequate email management system is vital to any business.

Managing one’s emails effectively could result in a much more productive work environment in terms of organization and timeliness, as well as helping with audit purposes. Furthermore, recent legislation has made it mandatory that all businesses and organizations need to be able to produce any documentation requested by the courts if legal issues arise.

Email Archiving as part of email management

Email archiving is one of the first steps to a successful email management program. Administrators can maintain an archive of all the company’s email correspondence which will be easily searchable and recoverable, and therefore reduce the dependence on PST files that can easily get corrupted and are not secure backups of email data.

Moreover, in order to comply with eDiscovery requests, email archiving is a must, whilst being able to access archived emails and corporate data in a matter of seconds can help realize a return on Read the rest of this entry »

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