Outline of Topics Introduction CPR, law and expectations IT issues Disclosure process
Disclosure – what is it? A requirement to provide copies of all non-privileged relevant documents that relate to an issue in dispute
Disclosure Process
Introduction – Why eDisclosure? Increasing Data Volumes 1.Documents generally created electronically 2.Evidence – best original source 3.Cost
Introduction – Why eDisclosure? Data volumes 90% of the data in the world created in the last two years hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute “Cost of creation” is now effectively nil and volumes are increasing accordingly…
Introduction – Why eDisclosure? Cost – getting to grips with material: 30 lever arch files of paper
Introduction – Why eDisclosure? Cost – getting to grips with material: 30 lever arch files of paper –Full review – say, £10,000?
Introduction – Why eDisclosure? Cost – getting to grips with material: 30 lever arch files of paper –Full review – say, £10,000? –Make searchable – say £4,000?
Introduction – Why eDisclosure? Cost – getting to grips with material: 30 lever arch files of paper –Full review – say, £10,000? –Make searchable – say £4,000? –Search, filter, sort and manage “native” electronic files - £200
Introduction – Why eDisclosure? Cost – getting to grips with material: 30 lever arch files of paper –Full review – say, £10,000? –Make searchable – say £4,000? –Search, filter, sort and manage “native” electronic files - £200 –6 miles(!) of lever arch file…
Outline of Topics Introduction Civil Procedure Rules IT issues Disclosure process
CPR Survival Guide To the first Case Management Conference (“CMC”)… 1.At the outset 2.CMC – 28 days 3.CMC – 21 days 4.CMC – 14 days 5.CMC – 7 days 6.CMC
At the outset 1/6 Getting a “feel” for what is there Preserve and seek sources of material Witness of Fact Questions… IT Team Questions Factual and Legal analysis – what are the live issues?
CMC - 28 days 2/6 Refining your understanding Review Questionnaires Talk to IT Team – number of documents?* Understanding the live issues in dispute “Proportionality” What about the other Parties? * 1GB = circa 7,000 documents = 60 lever arch files
CMC - 21 days 3/6 Drafting Prepare N263 Report - outlining issues, volumes, options and cost range (N.B. Statement of Truth!) Complete EDQ (not compulsory, but a good insurance policy)
CMC - 14 days 4/6 Going public File and serve Report (plus EDQ?) Arrange to meet other Parties - see E2.5 (c) of the Commercial Courts Guide for an Agenda commercial-courts-guide.pdf commercial-courts-guide.pdf
CMC - 7 days 5/6 File and serve a Budget Precedent H Costs Budget if required Otherwise, at least, a Disclosure Costs Budget
CMC 6/6 Be ready to discuss: Issues in dispute Proportionality Scope Tools and techniques Costs
Disclosure “Menu” CPR 31.5(7) Bearing in mind the issue of “Proportionality”: None… Specified documents Issue by issue Standard – relates to a “live” issue Full Anything else? Paper… Keys to the warehouse…
Pitfalls Issues if there is a failure to engage Early investigation… Co-operation – discuss with other Parties… “DIY” investigations…
Outline of Topics Introduction Civil Procedure Rules IT issues Metadata and file collection File types Keywords Disclosure process
IT Issues Metadata – “data about data” With Metadata – precious and fragile - you can: 1.De-duplicate – MD5# values.. 2.Filter 3.Group 4.Sort 5.Search and generally gain control
Outline of Topics Introduction Civil Procedure Rules IT issues Metadata and file collection File types Keywords Disclosure process
File Types IT Issues 2/3 Pieces of paper - hard copy PDF and tiff files - (scanned) images “Native” files – such as.doc,.xls,.msg,.html - with scope to de-dupe, filter, sort share, search (and even print!)
Outline of Topics Introduction Civil Procedure Rules IT issues Metadata and file collection File types Keywords Disclosure process
Keyword Searches IT Issues 3/3 “DIY” searches Windows Explorer Images, encrypted, password protected, inaccessible files MS Outlook Attachments “Professional” searches Pre-processing to extract “machine readable” text Report on files not accessible Defensible audit trail..
Outline of Topics Introduction Civil Procedure Rules IT issues Disclosure process 1.Seeking information 2.Preservation 3.Collection 4.Processing and Review 5.Production
Disclosure Process
Existence and relevance “Legal hold”? Questionnaires Relevance to the issues in dispute Proportionality… Locations Identification
Firewall Backup / Archive Document Server server Intranet server PC Laptop CD DVD USB stick… USB drive SMS Phone Facebook Twitter Home PCWebmailVoic Identification - locations
Issues to consider: “Legal hold”? Identify what may be relevant Decide how to preserve the data.. Preservation
Options to collect evidence: (Robo)Copy individual files (Robo)Copy directories Backup tapes... Forensic collection Imaging Covert collections.. Collection
Early Case Assessment – culling and filtering Approaches to Review Grouping Sorting Sampling Review tools Processing and Review
Review software - “Field Tree” view
Review software - “Document” view
Keyword search Keyword search sucks. It does not work, that is, unless you consider a method that misses 80% of relevant evidence to be a successful method. Keyword search alone only catches 20% of relevant evidence in a large, complex dataset, such as an collection. Yes, it works on Google, it works on Lexis and Westlaw, but it sucks in the legal world of evidence gathering.” Ralph Losey Conceptual Search - Predictive coding Searching
Production and Presentation With electronic data: Capture De-duplication Filtering Sorting Searching Indexing Paginating AND Production and Presentation is EASY!