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Explaining e-Discovery

By David Stanton and Jeff Fehrman
March 29, 2011

Due to the broad scope of legal relevance, virtually every bit and byte within a company's IT infrastructure could be subject to an enforceable discovery request in civil litigation. Evidentiary demands have evolved, along with the tools we use to measure and record our activities. The process of identifying and producing electronically stored information (“ESI”) ' e-discovery ' has grown so expansive and specialized that its costs have begun outpacing traditional attorney's fees in large corporate disputes.

The e-discovery process takes place at an intersection between increasingly complex information technology and rapidly maturing information law. Doing this well ' achieving cost-effective, defensible and useful results ' requires coordination between IT professionals and lawyers. Poor communication by the participants turns e-discovery into crisis management ' driving up costs and causing unpleasant surprises. To help avoid such pitfalls, this article dispels some common
e-discovery misconceptions.

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