electronic discovery   consulting     >  discovery plans >  FRCP compliance >  litigation readiness >  litigation response strategies >  lit support dept. audits >  ED Educational Programs   DocHunter   project management   forensics   paper discovery	FRCP Compliance Counseling The much discussed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that specifically address the management of electronically stored information are now a reality. Your reality. Long before the Rules were amended, Zubulake v. UBS Warburg, LLC, 229 F.R.D. 422 (S.D.N.Y. 2004) told us that in-house and outside counsel share the responsibilities related to data preservation and production. As outside counsel you are expected to coordinate your client’s discovery efforts through active supervision. When you first meet and confer with opposing counsel, you will be expected to leverage your understanding of how your client is meeting these obligations to their strategic advantage. Corporations and governmental entities need to know that the information they provide counsel at these very early stages of the litigation is critical for planning each subsequent step related to the downstream production of documents. Daegis consultants have carefully followed the evolution of the changes to the Rules. We know not only what they say, but also the heated debates that underly their passage. We know that your strategy will hinge on not just the Rules themselves, but the Advisory Committee notes that provide context for their application. Your strategy will be a snythesis of what the Rules explicity state and what they have left open for interpreation. Our consultants work collaboratively with counsel, in-house and outside, to ensure you understand the hard facts and the strategic options. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f)(3) directs a party to include a discussion of “any issues relating to disclosureusre or discovery of electonically stored information” during the meet and confer session. We can work with you to identify the issues critical to the success of your matter and recommend negotiating strategies that minimize your risk and save you money. We can also help you articulate the technical details regarding ESI as required in your Form 35 report. Call a Daegis consultant for assistance in preparing to discuss the following issues: Computer Systems Attorneys are trained in law, not Information Technology. IT personnel know their infrastructure, but not the legal consequences of swapping out a server the day after a litigation hold goes into effect. Daegis consultants can serve as the communication bridge between these two realms because we know both sides of this fence. Have a Daegis consultant work with you to develop a comprehensive understanding of the system your opponent will be scrutinizing in a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition. Data Mapping ESI is ubiquitous in today’s business world. It resides on the familiar employee workstation and on network servers, but it may also be found on your digital copier, your voicemail system and on the Bernoulli disks gathering dust in the IT secure storage area. Daegis consultants work with outside counsel and in-house personnel to identify data sources that may store potentially relevant evidence. We recognize the need to ask an IT director to look in their drawers for hard drives and to identify third party contractors using company purchased computers. Our consultants will know what else to ask when you may have thought your due diligence effort was complete. When you make your Rule 16 disclosures, your list will be comprehensive. Electronic Discovery Scope Analysis You have performed your obligation to identify potentially relevant sources of ESI in good faith, but how do you determine which of it must be produced? What are the factors that go into determining whether a source of ESI is reasonably accessible? How do you prove undue burden and cost? The days when parties could solicit high ball estimates from vendors to prove that data restoration and conversion costs were so excessive that discovery from the source was unwarranted are passing. Indeed, with time expect these costs to decrease. That does not mean you cannot make the argument. It does mean that your argument needs to be more refined. When you need more than just the obvious to make your case, a Daegis consultant is available to assist in providing the subtlety that will make the difference. Form of Production Knowing the difference between a TIFF, a PDF and the native file format is different than knowing which production format will be optimal for the variety of ESI you plan to review and produce. Before you make any agreements about how to produce your ESI, you need to consider the data source, file format, how to track your records and your review strategy all in the context of your overall case strategy. Bates numbers are routinely applied to scanned paper, but not to databases. Producing a database is different than generating reports for production from the database. Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and mp3 files are distinct data types. Instant messaging enables rapid communication but results in yet another data store. What are the costs related to reviewing in one format versus another? Are there review time constraints that need to be taken into consideration in choosing a production format? This decision made early in the discovery life cycle will have downstream impacts. Daegis consultants provide insight about the trade-offs of using one form of production over another. Let’s go forward.