FAQ's of E-Discovery

A concise summary of e-Discovery FAQs written by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, S.D.N.Y., arising out of the Federal Rules 2006 e-Discovery Amendments. Judge Scheindlin is the author of the famous Zublake opinions that have provided guidance for many litigants on e-Discovery issues. I am pleased to say that I did have an Internet related case before Judge Scheindlin before she wrote the Zublake opinions. In a motion I argued before Judge Scheindlin regarding whether or not our "dot com" case should be heard in NY or California I acknowledged to her that both Courts were equally sophisticated on Internet and technology related legal issues - boy was I glad I said that. Judge Scheindlin's Zublake opinions have proven that there are more venues than the Northern District of California for groundbreaking technology related legal opinions.

Electronically Stored Information: The December 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Electronically Stored Information: The December 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is a very good, well documented, law review article written by Kenneth J. Withers that summarizes the Federal e-Discovery rule changes. The cite for the law review article is 4 Nw. J. of Tech. & Intell. Prop. 171.

E-Discovery Amendments

The Judicial Conference of the United States approved the following E-Discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on September 20, 2005 addressing a number of electronic discovery issues. This document is a must read for Federal Court litigators.

Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges

Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges is a concise little guide appropriately available in PDF that goes through the basics of electronic discovery in light of the new e-discovery rules. This guide is a must read for any litigator appearing in Federal Court. While the guide is a good summary it does not by its nature attempt to get into some of the more complex electronic discovery issues lawyers, clients, and Judges will face.

Sedona Conference

The Sedona Conference is the premier conference for electronic discovery issues. The Sedona Conference web site is chock full of publications on e-discovery, working groups, and best practices. I am proud to say that I had the opportunity to speak at a Sedona Conference in 2003on Internet law and privacy.

X1 Search

X1 is free search software that indexes a defined storage device, say an external hard drive mirrored from the client site, and allows you to perform rapid keyword searches using boolean type operators. The results are displayed in an attached window as you change the keywords. X1 includes viewers for many file formats, including Outlook, Acrobat, and Word so you can view the contents of a file without having to own or open the underlying application. X1 was licensed by a major search engine and was included in a popular toolbar. But you can get it for free directly from the software developer.

Snagit and Camtasia Studio

Snagit is a great screen snapshot program. You can use it to "rip" entire web pages or a defined area. This tool comes in handy to preserve the look and feel of a particular web page on a particular date - for example for use in a trademark case. The companion program Camtasia Studio from the same company allows you to record the video and audio of what occurs on your PC screen or a defined portion. Camtasia is a great program for capturing a sample of web video for example to show off an alleged copyright infringment, or creating a web demonstration video for the Court or even a video podcast complete with the manifestation of the mouse clicks. Snagit and Camtasia Studio are two must have programs for the electronic evidence tool chest.

Adobe Acrobat Professional 8

This is perhaps the single most important software program a modern litigator should have. It will create the very popular PDF file from your scans and Microsoft Office (and other) applications. To be fair other programs are available to make PDF files at a lower cost. But with Acrobat Professional 8 litigators can apply the very necessary bates stamp and utilize more secure redaction methods. Acrobat also includes a basic but very useful web spider to obtain evidence off the web and convert it to PDF so you can use it at a deposition or in Court. If you have an active litigation practice just buy a copy.

Mailbag Assistant and E-mail Examiner

Mailbag Assistant reads Outlook and other email files in their native format without modifying message files. It reads and processes your client's current and archived e-mails and allows you to perform boolean and soundex keyword searches. This program is helpful in both determining what emails to hand over in document production and in analyzing the opposing side's emails. The more powerful version of Mailbag Assistant is called E-mail Examiner and it includes "forensic" features like recovering deleted e-mails and more robust export of the resultant e-mails.

ABC Amber Outlook Converter

ABC Amber Outlook Converter can help you convert client emails into a PDF for document production. It is a useful tool that converts your emails from MS Outlook to multiple document formats (PDF, DOC, HTML, CHM, RTF, HLP, TXT, DBF, CSV, XML, MDB, etc.). It generates the contents with bookmarks (in PDF, DOC, RTF and HTML), keeping hyperlinks. However, for electronic discovery purposes, you will want to focus on the PDF conversion. In essence you will get the Outlook ".pst" files from your clients, convert them to PDF, remove the PDF pages for the emails that are not part of the document production, possibly redact other emails within the PDF if appropriate, designate the PDF pages in the footer as Confidential where proper under the protective order, bates stamp the PDF, and voila - an email production ready to go.

WebCopier Pro

WebCopier is a software spider that copies a URL or an entire web site and saves a copy on a local PC - in terms of e-discovery this will allow you to preserve evidence of the way web pages looked at a certain date and time. Like any electronic evidence a proper foundation will have to be made and in some rare instances this program may not make an exact mirror - but it sure seems to come close.