Companies and individuals today are producing unfathomable amounts of data. And this will only increase as more and more connected devices and applications come to market. In fact, it’s estimated that more than 150 zettabytes—or 150 trillion gigabytes—of data will require analysis by 2025.
Data management can be very challenging for legal departments and law firms. After all, they need to collect and prepare data for use in court. And big data has forever changed the way that legal teams handle electronically stored information (ESI).
As such, a growing number of organizations are using eDiscovery strategies to streamline ESI management. Keep reading this eDiscovery analysis to learn all about how it works and the critical role that it’s playing in today’s court system.
What Is eDiscovery?
As a matter of fact, raw data and analytics assets need to be transformed before they can be used as legal evidence in a court case. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, the eDiscovery process entails collecting, reviewing, and preparing ESI.
This process applies to many different types of ESI including text, email, video, audio, messages, and mobile data. What’s more, there is also an abundance of ESI today from connected devices through IoT. For example, a manufacturing company may use connected sensors in its production lines, or a power plant may use sensors on its substations or towers. IoT devices produce vast amounts of data that could be useful in court.
Add it all up, and ESI is constantly evolving as new technologies come to market. As such, legal teams need to consider this and remain up to date with the latest digital developments.
Why Use eDiscovery?
At the end of the day, there are a few different reasons why companies use eDiscovery, which we will briefly examine next.
Securing Data
Legal data leaks can have catastrophic consequences for law firms and their clients. Consider the infamous Panama Papers data leak from 2016, where 11.5 million financial documents were made public. Part of eDiscovery involves securing and preserving data to protect against nefarious activity while it’s stored or shared.
Discovering Valuable Information
Legal teams are often faced with a barrage of information during a case. In turn, they need to sort and analyze the information to discover evidence that could have an impact on the case. Oftentimes, legal teams need to sort through data and process it to discover key trends.
Handling Discovery Requests
At various points throughout a case, opposing legal teams may request electronic data. When this happens, attorneys have a limited time to determine whether to comply or object. The eDiscovery process makes it easier for legal teams to understand the information they have on file.
Expediting Settlements
Going to court isn’t always the best outcome. For example, it can increase risk and cost a significant amount of money—especially for a case that drags on for a long time. As such, legal teams almost always prefer to settle instead of duking it out in court. However, this requires both sides to be highly organized and have easy access to ESI.
When executed properly, eDiscovery can expedite legal processes. And it can also lead to faster out-of-court settlements.
Reducing Risk
Nothing is more damaging during a case than missing or hidden information. Attorneys need to have all the facts ahead of time to build a bulletproof case and reduce risk. The eDiscovery process uncovers information before attorneys file a case so that no surprising questions arise during court.
How Long Do Companies Have for eDiscovery?
With eDiscovery, time is of the essence. And so legal teams need to move quickly during the process. In fact, corporations and firms only have 99 days to respond to eDiscovery requests following a lawsuit’s filing date.
Organizations that delay or avoid eDiscovery requests risk court losses as well as fines and penalties.
The EDRM Model
Today, legal teams must follow the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM). The following eDiscovery analysis breaks the process down into several steps.
1. Information Governance
First, teams need to outline information governance policies to mitigate risk and control costs throughout the case.
2. Identification
Second, during the identification process, teams need to outline and compile all potential sources for ESI into a centralized location.
3. Preservation
After that, teams need to ensure that all ESI is properly protected from fraud or damage.
4. Collection
At this stage, all ESI goes to a secure location for processing and analysis.
5. Review
After a firm has collected all data for a case, the team reviews it. Only the necessary information stays for use in court.
That said, it’s important to keep all information in storage in case it’s requested by the other party’s legal team. Discarding or intentionally omitting certain information could carry serious penalties and possibly impact a case.
6. Analysis
Next, teams enter the eDiscovery analysis stage. This is where they inspect ESI for content and context.
7. Production
After that, teams enter the production stage, which involves transmitting ESI to all necessary stakeholders.
8. Presentation
The last step is to present ESI upon request during depositions or trials.
Why eDiscovery Is a Great Career Option
The eDiscovery field is an exciting path for young professionals who are entering the legal industry. This field is in high demand because of the abundance of data in existence. And, looking forward, demand is going to increase as IoT and 5G technologies both accelerate, generating more ESI along the way.
Companies are actively looking for specialists who understand the nine-step eDiscovery process. Qualified professionals can make a huge difference in winning a court case. As such, eDiscovery skills provide a great way to bring value to a legal team and earn a great salary in the process.
How to Start With eDiscovery
Generally, in order to launch a career in eDiscovery, candidates should have a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in legal studies or a related field. Most colleges aren’t offering an eDiscovery certification currently. But aspiring professionals can obtain certification through third-party groups like the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS).
It’s also possible to receive product-specific certification through programs like the three-day VenioOne eDiscovery Certification course.
What Is Venio?
Venio is a leading eDiscovery software provider that is the driving force behind VenioOne, a platform developed by experts with decades of experience in legal technology and eDiscovery. This platform provides end-to-end eDiscovery management over an agile, cloud-based system that’s easy to use and highly scalable.
How Venio Helps with eDiscovery
With Venio, eDiscovery is easy. Here are some of the top benefits of using it for eDiscovery.
1. Smoother Workflows
Unfortunately, the eDiscovery process can be highly resource-intensive when you do it manually. However, since the Venio platform streamlines all aspects of eDiscovery, it’s much easier for team members to focus on other pressing litigation matters.
2. Smaller Data Sets
Oftentimes, data sets are far too large to use in court. As such, companies need to cull their data sets and get them down to acceptable sizes. This may require choosing sample data sets or omitting certain ESI that’s extraneous or potentially unnecessary for use in court.
By storing data for easy access, Venio saves the day. As a result, litigation teams can handle their data effectively during trials.
3. Multiproject Management
In reality, legal teams often have many different cases happening simultaneously. This makes it hard to stay organized and on track. All in all, Venio is capable of handling multiple projects at any given time, allowing for simpler project management.
Want to Dominate eDiscovery? Take Venio’s Approach
At this point, law firms and legal departments today have little choice but to master ESI management and eDiscovery. This is an integral part of the modern court system any way you slice it.
In conclusion, are you ready to take your eDiscovery strategy to the next level? If so, get started with Venio by requesting a demo today.
This post was written by Justin Reynolds. Justin is a freelance writer who enjoys telling stories about how technology, science, and creativity can help workers be more productive. In his spare time, he likes seeing or playing live music, hiking, and traveling.
