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Electronic Data Discovery

Crucial evidence may not only lie in hard copy documents, it may be hidden among the thousand of email messages, spreadsheets, or word processing documents generated as part of day-to-day business. This is where electronic discovery becomes a necessity. Attorneys today are faced with a new world of discoverable information - email messages, word processing documents, spreadsheets, and other computer files produced, created and stored electronically. As a result, courts have increasingly recognized the importance of electronic discovery - the collection, processing, review and production of electronic documents - for resolution of important investigations and litigation matters.

The last few years have seen a dramatic explosion in electronic information exchange. Over 99% of all documents are created and stored electronically. E-mail, spreadsheets, word processing documents, voice mail messages, and databases are just a few examples of the types of files that could have bearing on the outcome of a case. These documents may exist on corporate e-mail servers, network servers, backup tapes, home computers, or PDAs. As a result, the discovery and production of such documents poses a huge challenge to legal teams. Electronic-Data Discovery Company has developed cost effective processes to review large volumes of data in their native format, eliminating the expense of converting the irrelevant data.

Today attorneys find themselves deluged with new volumes of discoverable information, all electronically created and stored. Beyond paper files pertinent to a case, now e-mail messages, computer files, spreadsheets, word processing documents and all attachments must be considered when preparing for a case. At times multiple hard drives must be retrieved and searched.
Due to the volume of electronic information, the courts have recognized how critical electronic discovery is to successfully navigating through a case. From collecting and reviewing data through electronic document production, effective management of your electronic information is critical to any Firm's success moving forward. Your goal is to win. Our goal is to help you to do just that.
The discovery of electronic documents is a highly-important, emerging trend in litigation. While the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and parallel state rules have long included electronic files in their definitions of "documents" subject to discovery, discovery of such e-documents has become evermore significant as businesses increasingly utilize e-documents and e-mail in their activities. Several high-profile, headline-grabbing cases have shown that e-documents, and the e-discovery process, can have a significant impact on the course and outcome of litigation.
The process of converting electronic documents (application files) and e-mail into a standard graphical file format (PDF or TIFF), for easy viewing or printing to paper, and extracting all of the text for full-text searching. The images and text data can then be imported into any of the standard litigation support software packages or repositories, for use in discovery.

Our Electronic-Data Discovery is manned by industry experts with backgrounds in database management, electronic discovery, and litigation support. They include Project Managers expert in collection, validation, exception identification, EDD, data hosting, scanning and coding.
If you are looking for an outsource EDD partner or assistance with overflow work Electronic- Data Discovery can assist with your large complex Electronic Data Discovery projects. We can assist in the conversion of emails, attachments and electronic files. Electronic- Data Discovery will provide the images and text along with load files for all the major litigation support applications. Electronic- Data Discovery has developed powerful electronic discovery production tools.

Services

When you work with Electronic-Data Discovery, you benefit from its technological strength and unparalleled service throughout all stages of the e-discovery process. From the initial collection of your electronic data to the final production of your relevant and responsive documents, Electronic-Data Discovery will work directly with you to give you comfort and confidence each step of the way.
Our Electronic-Data Discovery Conversion service provides fast, accurate, affordable file conversion to a common, searchable format. Our process takes electronic files in multiple formats on a variety of media, culls redundant or superfluous records and converts the remaining files into TIFF or native file formats.

Upon receipt of the electronic documents, Electronic-Data Discovery will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the types of documents that are to be processed and liaise closely with you to ensure that the meta data that you receive is in accordance with your requirements.
Compressed Files - Electronic-Data Discovery will process compressed file types such as: ZIP, TAR, JAR, and WAR. Each file within the compressed file is processed and its link to the container file is reported.

De-Duplication - Electronic-Data Discovery can exclude files from processing based on matching meta-data. Duplicate files are reported, and if they are email attachments, embedded or from a compressed file, their association to the parent document is also reported.

E-Mail - Electronic-Data Discovery processes most email types, including Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes. All text and meta-data are retrieved, while maintaining the linkage between emails and attached files. All individual attached files are processed and reported separately while maintaining their link back to the original email. If an electronically numbered paper copy is requested, the corresponding documents will be numbered and printed in their original sequence, with the attached files noted and assembled accordingly. Documents that cannot be printed are detailed in an exception report that identifies the original email.

Embedded Files - Rich Text Files, Microsoft Word Documents, Outlook Messages and other file types may have files embedded within them. Information contained in these files is not made available by simply printing or converting these documents. Embedded files need to be detected and processed, and their link to the container file maintained. In some cases there may be many levels of files inside files that require tracking and conversion. Our document conversion software processes embedded files in a logical manner and maintains the link to the parent or container file.

Meta-Data - Electronic-Data Discovery can provide all meta-data retrieved or only the specific meta-data needed. Text and meta-data are provided in the required format. Electronic-Data Discovery extracts all text from the application files and e-mail, along with the 'meta-data' of each file, and creates a database load file.

Application Files: All files that are created by using a software program. These files contain the actual information formatted for that specific program. Examples include Excel® spreadsheets, Word® or WordPerfect® documents, and Adobe® PDF files.

Meta-data: The information associated with an application file's data elements or attributes. Typically, this includes file name, creation date, user name, file location, etc.

Text Extraction: The process of removing all text from non-graphical application files or e-mail, for use in a full-text search database. E-mail text can be further segregated into fields, such as author, recipient, date, subject, etc.

E-mail: Software programs such as Outlook®, Outlook Express®, Lotus Notes®, cc:mail® and eudora®, store all e-mail in large 'application files'. The e-mail can be converted to an image (PDF or TIFF format) or printed to paper. All of the text can be extracted and imported into a database with fields, such as author, recipient, cc, date, subject, body of e-mail, etc. All attachments are also converted and linked to the original e-mail.

E-mail, application files and graphic files are converted into a single, easy to use image format, and branded with a production number or a confidential designation.

The image files and database load file can be easily imported into any major litigation support software programs, such as Concordance® and Summation®. The images can be printed with slip-sheets between documents, with custom footer information, such as a production number or a confidential designation.

Effective Data Capture- Electronic-Data Discovery captures and index all text and relevant metadata to ensure fast, effective document search and retrieval. We also extract the contents of all ZIP files and email attachments and maintain parent/child relationships between related documents.

Microsoft Excel - Customized excel file processing. Rows and columns expanded to avoid data being obscured.

Error Logs
Upon completion of each project, Electronic-Data Discovery will produce an Error log when necessary which will provide explanations of inconsistencies and files which could not be produced. Common errors include encrypted files, sound or video clips which cannot be converted. Although these files cannot be tiffed, meta-data is extracted and these files can be segregated and provided on their own media in native format by request.

Advantages
Fast turnaround and high quality

Affordable pricing and substantial savings
Support for all common file types and media formats including Lotus Notes, Microsoft® Office including Outlook, Adobe® Acrobat®, text, HTML and ZIP files
Expert project management and consulting
Extracts data from any source
Electronic Data Discovery Process

Electronic-Data Discovery can assist with any of the following Electronic Discovery processes.

File Inventory/Selection -The first step in any e-discovery project should be an accurate inventory of the files contained within the media. Our tools allow you to see what data is relevant to your case and necessary to produce. We can provide inventories to you as digital files.

Culling & De-duplication - The process of reducing the volume of electronically stored data using sorting and filtering of various information such as source, file types, dates, key words and concepts.

Full Text - Electronic-Data Discovery makes the full text of many types of electronic documents available for you to search. Because document text is read directly during processing, full-text output doesn't suffer from the errors of interpretation that characterize OCR output.

Data Fields - Electronic discovery processing can output data to fields that you specify. Available data includes file names, creation dates, email recipients, and "metadata" such as document sensitivity, keywords, title, and author. Electronic-Data Discovery processing can also output hyperlinks for your original files. While electronic discovery processing can't match some aspects of traditional coding, its data fields provide useful information and can help you to identify documents that warrant traditional coding.

Electronic Data Discovery Process

FAQ’s

What is the difference between a hierarchical database and a relational database?
A hierarchical database maintains a one-to-one correspondence between a document and a record of that document. A relational database typically involves multiple tables that relate to one another; in a relational database, multiple records could be "related" to one specific document, depending on the information contained.
What is the difference between the graphic formats PDF and TIFF?
PDF, developed by Adobe Systems, Inc., stands for Portable Document Format. PDF has become a de facto standard for the exchange of electronic documents and forms. It preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source document, regardless of how the original document was created. PDF files can be shared, viewed, and printed with a viewer application, available free from Adobe Systems. Documents also can be converted to PDF using Adobe Systems software products. PDFs are compatible with a wide range of hardware and software platforms, and are fully searchable when scanned as "image and text."
TIFF ("Tagged Image File Format") is an electronic copy of a paper document that contains no embedded fonts, images, and graphics. TIFFs are supported by all major imaging, EDD, and litigation support service providers. The text contents of OCR'd TIFFs are fully searchable, although the accuracy of searches depends upon the condition of the original documents, the quality of the imaging technology used, and other factors.

What is an electronic document?
An electronic document can be delivered in two forms, either the native file in which it was created or an image file created by scanning an original paper document.

Why are electronic documents important?
It is estimated that over 70% of all corporate data exists solely in electronic formats. This is due in large part to the growing custom of e-mailing documents as e-mail attachments. Many of these e-mails and attachments are never printed to paper and thus exist solely in electronic form. In order to conduct comprehensive discovery, this information needs to be reviewed. Otherwise, over 70% of all potential evidence may be left un-examined. No two cases are the same and each case demands its own document management approach.

What is "Electronic Evidence"?
Electronic evidence is any computer-generated data that is relevant to a case. Included are email, text documents, spreadsheets, images, database files and deleted email and file back-ups. The data may be on floppy disk, zip disk, hard drive, CD or DVD.

What is "Electronic Discovery"?
Electronic discovery involves the following steps:

Identify likely sources.
Gather electronic evidence while avoiding spoliation and maintaining the chain-of-custody.
Make the collected data readable and useable.
Filter the data to achieve a relevant, manageable collection of information.

Make the information available in TIFF or PDF format as part of a database accessible from a Web-based repository.

What is Metadata?
Metadata is frequently described as data about data. An image or paper document does not provide you with significant information about its history. The Metadata in an electronic document, however, can provide valuable information about a document's history such as its author, creation date and modification date.

The following are examples of Metadata found in a typical Word document: