what is an e discovery attorney

by Mossie Kilback 8 min read

An e-discovery attorney is an expert in legal technology. In this career, you carry out duties related to researching and extracting electronic information to use in legal cases.

What is the job description of an e discovery specialist?

Apr 28, 2008 · E-discovery professionals use technology to facilitate the legal discovery process when it involves electronic documents. Discovery is the process of sending and receiving information from parties in a legal proceeding. E-discovery professionals work in law firms, for e-discovery vendors, for the government, and in academic settings.

What is eDiscovery and how to address it?

An e-discovery attorney is an expert in legal technology. In this career, you carry out duties related to researching and extracting electronic information to use in legal cases. Your responsibilities as an e-discovery attorney are to identify the best process to collect stored information that could aid a legal team in an investigation or courtroom case.

What is discovery in a lawsuit?

An e-discovery attorney is an expert in legal technology. In this career, you carry out duties related to researching and extracting electronic information to use in legal cases. Your responsibilities as an e-discovery attorney are to identify the best process to collect stored information that could aid a legal team in an investigation or courtroom case.

What is the eDiscovery legal process?

E-discovery is a form of digital investigation that attempts to find evidence in email, business communications and other data that could be used in litigation or criminal proceedings. The traditional discovery process is standard during litigation, but …

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What is the eDiscovery process?

eDiscovery (electronic discovery, e-discovery, ediscovery, e-Discovery) is a legal process that involves the identification, preservation, collection and delivery of electronically stored information (ESI) as evidence in lawsuits or investigations.Oct 8, 2019

What is an eDiscovery specialist?

Electronic discovery is a $10 billion industry, and e-discovery specialists are making it work. They are tech-saavy legal professionals who help identify, preserve, and manage electronically stored information.Oct 6, 2017

How do I get into eDiscovery?

The E-Discovery occupation is attracting people with backgrounds as paralegals as well as people with experience in the IT field. IT professionals in the E-Discovery field are usually required to have a bachelor's degree in information science, computer science, or a related field.

What does eDiscovery mean in law?

Electronic discoveryElectronic discovery (sometimes known as e-discovery, ediscovery, eDiscovery, or e-Discovery) is the electronic aspect of identifying, collecting and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to a request for production in a law suit or investigation.

What is an e-discovery paralegal?

eDiscovery, an abbreviation for electronic discovery, is the electronic version of a legal procedure called “discovery.” eDiscovery allows paralegals to collect and process electronically stored information (ESI) to “discover facts relevant to the lawsuit and to identify potential witnesses and evidence,” according to ...Jan 11, 2016

Why is eDiscovery important?

The importance of eDiscovery should not be underestimated: it is among the primary drivers for the deployment of archiving systems and has significant implications for how organizations retain, store and manage their electronic content. A failure to manage eDiscovery properly can carry with it serious ramifications.

Why do we use eDiscovery?

Electronic discovery, or eDiscovery, is the process of identifying and delivering electronic information that can be used as evidence in legal cases. ... You can use Core eDiscovery cases to identify, hold, and export content found in mailboxes and sites.

What type of skills or qualities would a paralegal need to apply for an eDiscovery job?

An indispensable paralegal has an ability to multitask, a strong attention to detail, a willingness to learn, an expertise in organization, and psychic abilities.Ability to multitask. ... Strong attention to detail. ... Willingness to learn. ... Expertise in organization. ... Psychic abilities.Jan 21, 2021

What are some challenges and benefits of eDiscovery?

E-Discovery Challenges and Information Governance SolutionsVolume, Velocity, and Variety. ... Data Risk: Management Issues. ... Data Risk: Data Breaches and Privacy Concerns. ... Data Risk: Inefficiency. ... Addressing the Risks. ... Conclusion.Feb 14, 2019

What is the difference between discovery and eDiscovery?

Discovery refers to the first phase of litigation during which the parties to a dispute must provide each other with all relevant case evidence, including records and information. Electronic discovery, or eDiscovery, refers to discovery in which the information sought is in electronic format.

What are the different types of eDiscovery?

Examples of the types of ESI included are emails, instant messaging chats, documents, accounting databases, CAD/CAM files, Web sites, and any other electronic information that could be relevant evidence in a lawsuit.

What Does an E-Discovery Attorney Do?

An e-discovery attorney is an expert in legal technology. In this career, you carry out duties related to researching and extracting electronic information to use in legal cases.

How to Become an E-Discovery Attorney

To become an e-discovery attorney, you need formal law education qualifications, including a law degree. You also need to pass the bar exam to gain acceptance into the bar for your state. Most positions require previous professional experience in a law office, either through an internship or employment position.

Definition

E-discovery is a form of digital investigation that attempts to find evidence in email, business communications and other data that could be used in litigation or criminal proceedings. The traditional discovery process is standard during litigation, but e-discovery is specific to digital evidence.

How e-Discovery Works

Like any other form of investigation, e-discovery is a process with several stages and techniques. There is no one-size-fits-all methodology. Most e-discovery law firms perform an investigation using their own procedures

Why is E-Discovery Important?

The nine stages of e-discovery seem simple on paper. But the process can take months, and it gets more complex during higher-profile lawsuits.

Why Do Some Organizations Struggle with E-Discovery?

E-discovery is often misunderstood, and often, doesn’t become important until a lawsuit is filed. Whether the organization is the complainant or the defendant, the process of e-discovery is often new territory as they work through each stage. Even with in-house staff, investigating data privacy violations and digital compromise can difficult.

Finding E-Discovery Solutions

E-discovery a decade ago was a manual process. But new software tools give organizations an automated solution. Some of these solutions incorporate artificial intelligence to help with the identification and review stages of e-discovery.

What is electronic discovery?

Electronic discovery (sometimes known as e-discovery, ediscovery, eDiscovery, or e-Discovery) is the electronic aspect of identifying, collecting and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to a request for production in a law suit or investigation. ESI includes, but is not limited to, emails, documents, presentations, ...

What is ESI in e-discovery?

ESI includes, but is not limited to, emails, documents, presentations, databases, voicemail, audio and video files, social media, and web sites. The processes and technologies around e-discovery are often complex because of the sheer volume of electronic data produced and stored. Additionally, unlike hardcopy evidence, ...

Why do lawyers study law?

There is an old joke among lawyers that the reason they started studying law in the first place was simply to avoid math and science. That's probably not universally true, but it's undeniable that e-discovery burdens many legal professionals and tasks for which they aren't particularly knowledgeable or prepared.

What is electronic discovery?

Electronic discovery (also known as e-discovery, e discovery, or eDiscovery) is a procedure by which parties involved in a legal case preserve, collect, review, and exchange information in electronic formats for the purpose of using it as evidence. There are many different electronic formats - or electronically stored information (ESI), ...

How does eDiscovery work?

eDiscovery legal process – As a practice, eDiscovery runs from the time a lawsuit is foreseeable to the time the digital evidence is presented in court. At a high level, the process is as follows: 1 Data is identified as relevant by attorneys and placed on legal hold. 2 Attorneys from both sides determine the scope of discovery, identify the relevant ESI, and make eDiscovery requests and challenges. Search parameters can be negotiated with an opposing counsel or auditor to identify what is being searched and to ensure needed evidence is identified and non-evidence is screened out, thereby reducing the overall effort required to search, review, and produce it. 3 Evidence is then extracted and analyzed using digital forensic procedures and is usually converted into PDF or TIFF form for use in court. It often can be advantageous to use pattern and trend identification and other analytical search techniques here so these tasks can be performed more efficiently and make less use of expensive human resources.

What is the term used for the initial phase of litigation where the parties in a dispute are required to provide each other

Discovery is the term used for the initial phase of litigation where the parties in a dispute are required to provide each other relevant information and records, along with all other evidence related to the case.

What are some examples of ESI?

Examples of the types of ESI included are emails, instant messaging chats, documents, accounting databases, CAD/CAM files, Web sites, and any other electronic information that could be relevant evidence in a lawsuit.

What is classification scheme?

A classification scheme providing an information and records management structure must be implemented for consistency and control. Records that are no longer needed must be destroyed in a systematic and documented way.

What Does Attorney-Client Privilege Mean for eDiscovery? A Lesson from Australia

Attorney-client privilege (sometimes called ‘lawyer-client’ or ‘legal professional’ privilege) can be applied in a range of different scenarios to protect disclosure of information.

A Potential Discovery Risk for Attorney-Client Privilege

What happens if legally privileged communications are accidentally released in a discovery process? Is this a waiver of privilege? In Expense Reduction Analysts Group Pty Ltd v Armstrong Strategic Management and Marketing Pty Limited [2013] HCA 46, the High Court of Australia considered this situation.

Implications for eDiscovery

While this decision did turn on specifics of Australian state legislation, there are some general lessons that could be drawn from it about eDiscovery processes:

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Summary

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Electronic discovery (also known as e-discovery, e discovery, or eDiscovery) is a procedure by which parties involved in a legal case preserve, collect, review, and exchange information in electronic formats for the purpose of using it as evidence.
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Types

  • There are many different electronic formats - or electronically stored information (ESI), as it is known in the e-discovery world - that may be sought in e-discovery, ranging from common data sources, such as basic email and Microsoft documents, to more modern ones, like social media, instant messaging, and smartphone applications, to more arcane ones like files from a compan…
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Introduction

  • We won't go into too much detail here, because we have an entire section devoted to the various e-discovery stages . One thing to know right off the bat is that e-discovery is not a single action like taking a deposition or filing a motion. Rather e-discovery is a process comprised of many linked actions that begins when a lawsuit is reasonably foreseeable and lasts until documents a…
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Impact

  • While not typically the stuff of Hollywood courtroom dramas, e-discovery is a hugely important legal process. A ruling on a billion dollar class-action can hinge on the contents of just a few emails, often described as \"smoking guns.\".
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Significance

  • With e-discovery serving such a vital function to our entire legal justice system, that function has become more formalized over the last decade. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), a set of regulations that specify procedures for civil legal suits within United States federal court system, amended in 2005 to recognize e-discovery's growing importance, and then again in 201…
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Criticism

  • Making matters worse, e-discovery is barely addressed at all in most law schools, so legal professionals are forced to learn it on the fly. Much like learning to ride a bike, there is a lot of frustration and the occasional bruise along the way.
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Quotes

  • We could go on and on and list other common complaints and challenges, but the bottom line is that e-discovery is hard work. And, guess what? It's only getting harder as ESI becomes exponentially more diverse, voluminous, and widespread. But have no fear, we're here to help.
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