Did you know that an enterprise is as much at risk from insiders as from external threats? How so, you may wonder? It is actually quite straightforward - internal threats can include fraud of many kinds, including accounting fraud and manipulation of data. Internal investigations must then uncover the truth in any kind of insider threat or fraud situation. To be truly effective, internal investigations must involve planning and also some amount of sensitivity to ensure that innocent employees are not affected or their reputations wrongfully tarnished. When carried out erroneously, investigations can also inadvertently contaminate evidence. Therefore, care and caution must be sensibly exercised during an internal investigation.
How to Start an Internal Investigation
Select your team of investigators with care, or your investigation could lose its grip before it even starts. Ensure that you have adequate and the necessary tools to collect, identify and cull information for evidence or proof. Having tools that can ease the job of the investigators provides a great advantage.
e Discovery Tools Can Help Internal Investigations
Internal investigations often require tools to help identify, collect, preserve and examine digital information. e-Discovery tools were previously considered useful only in providing assistance for litigation, but that is not the only place they can be helpful. electronic evidence discovery can also be utilized in internal investigations to manage records and handle regulatory compliance issues. e-Discovery tools can ensure:
· Swifter identification and collection of relevant electronically stored information
· Automatic analysis of data
· Accurate evidence collection (owing to e-discovery tools’ inherent intuitive abilities)
· Streamlined internal investigations
With e-discovery tools assisting investigators in combing out relevant data for a particular case, monitoring and reporting of data becomes relatively easy. By assisting with the culling of information, redaction and production, these tools provide end-to-end support in ensuring your internal investigations are made easy and hassle-free. Additionally they also provide support to streamline workflows and help resolve regulatory issues. The right kind of electronic discovery tool can ensure that the costs of culling and reviewing relevant Electronically Stored Information (ESI) are radically reduced.
Internal investigations need not be a pain in the neck for any enterprise. With e-discovery tools, investigations can truly be made easy.
It has certainly been a while since eDiscovery has become an indispensable part of litigation. There are noticeable trends that eDiscovery litigation has brought with its growth. Here are a few of them:
· Owing to advanced eDiscovery capabilties, litigators can now enter into cost benefit analysis early on in the eDiscovery process.
· Electronic documents, including images, placed online on a secured database grant everyone associated with the case access to these files. This reduces the number of copies made of these files/documents, thus ensuring money is saved on every copy.
· With eDiscovery litigation support, determination of documents relevant to the case has become quicker, ensuring that billable hours are considerably reduced.
· Even as the case progresses, eDiscovery helps ensure that all evidence is in a secure and convenient online file. The costs incurred while doing so are generally passed on to the client.
· With the brisk growth rate of electronically stored information, companies wrestle with risks to information from fresh sources like cloud computing, virtualization, etc. It is possible that to test this litigators will need to see if eDiscovery litigation support software can be effective and can ensure that data is efficiently searchable in the cloud.
· With the increase in the use of eDiscovery for litigation, there will be IT evaluations that will review the effect of new technologies on eDiscovery processes.
· Because of the increased usage of eDiscovery IT/Legal, the role of liaison has been considered separate,with budgets allocated for it specifically.
· The ability to mix well with technology yet also be a cost-effective solution will be something most law firms will continue to seek in an eDiscovery tool. This is perhaps an ongoing trend.
· eDiscovery platforms should ensure quality each time. Be it for processing needs or documentation requirements, the onus is on the platform to be defensible.
· Another important aspect that perhaps will be stressed even more is the ability of the tool to preserve data in such a manner that it eventually reduces the amount of documents needing to be reviewed.
· Litigation support professionals would eventually train themselves in IT tools and techniques to maximize their support to their clients.
These are just a few trends that we will continue to see in the field of eDiscovery and its growth .So here’s to greater discovery in the e-discovery process!
email discovery, electronic evidence discovery
Social networking sites are becoming tremendously popular and contain a wealth of information with active messages, tweets, blogs and comments. The repository of these social activities can provide valuable and potent information which can be produced as electronic evidence in court for litigation.
eDiscovery depends largely on electronically stored information which is considered valid legal evidence. Lawyers search for valid information on networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, etc., all of which may potentially provide relevant information. These networking sites are good hunting grounds where important witnesses can be located. Photographs, videos, messages and forum posting are all digital data that could potentially be admissible for e-discovery in legal cases.
How Can Information Be Sourced from Networking Sites?
Enterprises, governments and law firms involved in litigation cases have realized the potential of networking sites in helping them with their cases. This information can be gathered in two ways:
·The first method is by searching the data that is freely available through postings in blogs and on walls, etc., that is publicly available.
·The second method is by identifying the owners of the information and establishing contact through friend requests on the sites.
Information that is sourced from networking sites may appear to be casual, but it cannot be ignored as it can provide a significant angle to legal investigators to aid them in pursuing an effective electronic disclosure process.
Limitations in Acquiring Data through Social Networking Sites
Though social networking sites can provide relevant information necessary for electronic discovery processing, some rules that define the methods of collecting data may be challenging. Those involved in lawsuits may try to invade the privacy of networking site users, which can evoke strong reactions. Moreover the conventional method used by the networking sites to collect and produce information is quite complex for legal investigators to comprehend. Due to this lack of expertise, they are often unable to maximize the use of electronic disclosure software, which results in unsatisfactory results.
What eDiscovery Practices Can Be Implemented on Networking Sites?
The FRCP, or Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which governs civil lawsuits in the U.S., is responsible for stressing ESI in e-discovery processes. The FRCP rules instruct lawyers to employ updated e-discovery practices and strategies. The ECPA, or Electronic Communications Privacy Act, does not permit third parties from acquiring data for electronic disclosure purposes without authorization. Recently the Philadelphia State Bar Association passed a regulation forbidding lawyers from using third parties to collect data from social networking sites. Attorneys had been known to ask third parties to send friend requests to access a user’s profile, which is now considered unethical. So these rules and procedures should be kept in mind before embarking on this route.
The Solution to the Networking Dilemma
In this connected day and age, attorneys have to demonstrate skillful tactics in sourcing the information available on social networking sites to provide the best e-discovery solutions for their clients. The information collected from these sites can be used to testify on various issues like determining the mental condition of the accused or establishing their presence at a specific location which they may have previously denied. Attorneys are generally intimidated by the complexities of e-discovery case management. Legal hassles can be handled with tact using the best of electronic discovery solutions which can help provide required evidence without the fear of treading on illegal territory.
In a bid to reduce litigation costs, there is a need to analyze the most prominent components of the electronic discovery procedure that contribute to higher costs. Most of the budget is drained by the processing and reviewing stages, causing corporations to seek alternatives. Some possible alternative approaches are discussed below.
- Less data retention through information management – This is one method that can assist in the reduction of e discovery costs to a large extent. Companies can institute a policy whereby all unnecessary documents that are not relevant for business prospects, and those that do not have any legal or compliance significance, be deleted and erased after a certain duration. An efficient document retention policy is most effective when it discards all wasteful data collected during the ongoing e-discovery process.
- A thorough assessment of your case and issues – Early case assessments can significantly help to reduce the excessive expenses involved in e disclosure cases. To accelerate early case assessments, legal teams need to have an understanding of the facts that govern the case without investing too much time in the process. Experts who are able to evaluate the case proficiently can execute better and quicker decisions to wrap up the case. A prolonged case incurs added expenditures. Early case assessments are conducted to facilitate identification of data that may have e discovery value, prioritize the relevant portion, collect it, process and analyze it in order to comprehend the case and derive the estimated costs for the eventual process of e discovery.
- Promoting in-house e discovery – In-house e discovery is one of the most useful methods of reducing e discovery costs. Bringing a portion of the process, or even the whole process in-house, can be quite cost-effective compared to the costs charged by outsourcing law firms or service providers. Having an in-house e discovery in operation provides better control and security enforcement. Thus, investing in litigation support software is much less expensive than allocating for service costs that are ever changing.
- Preservation and collection of less data – Preserving and collecting less data at every stage definitively reduces culling and reviewing time while also lowering costs.
- Processing of less data – When less data is preserved and collected, processing also becomes faster.
- Processing and reviewing in native format – The traditional methods of e discovery used converted image formats, such as TIFF, etc., for processing and reviewing documents. However these processes proved to be intensive and expensive. Thus, to avoid pitfalls, many prefer to do the processing and reviewing procedures in native or near native formats.
- Review less data, faster – The culling of data using techniques such as keyword search, concept search, de-duplication, fuzzy search, and others, can make it possible to review smaller amounts of data. This expedites the process and reduces legal investigation costs.
The aforementioned legal disclosure approaches are effective ways to reduce costs, but the extent of each procedure will differ as some may be more effective than others. Each one of these methods has its own advantages and drawbacks, and a combination of various techniques would perhaps yield the positive results that every organization is looking for.
Electronic data discovery services can be quite taxing and expensive. Culling data effectively for litigation cases requires a high amount of expertise and experience. It can involve a lot of manual exporting and uploading which can be quite a frustrating task for the legal and IT departments. The need to eliminate manual processes to save valuable time, along with the need for a simple process that creates no errors, has paved the way for e-discovery connectors.
Legal and IT professionals have the vital responsibility of collecting and reviewing ESI without increasing the costs or risks of the e-discovery process. Symantec’s Enterprise Vault Discovery Accelerator facilitates e-disclosure search and recovery of archived items. It provides integrating solutions for electronic disclosure purposes so that EV customers can use a variety of third party e-discovery software solutions in conjunction with their Enterprise Vault archive. The connectors provide integration with third-party case management, reviewing, analytics, forensics and desktop collection tools.
Key Benefits
- Defense process – The e-discovery connectors help to automatically move archived data from the Enterprise Vault into third-party tools. It discards all manual procedures and sets automatic preservation into action, which handles all processes from collection to production.
- Workflow integration – The solutions provided to legal investigators are integrated, which allows easy extraction of files from the Enterprise Vault archive system onto third-party tools.
- A cost-effective production Tool – The user interfaces are easy and do not require manual labor to transfer the data, thus lowering the total cost of ownership and legal review.
- Reviewing – The items that are bookmarked during the reviewing process in the third-party tools can be restored to the Enterprise Vault Accelerator database to be used in the future. This helps to reduce the cost of new reviews.
- Monitoring and managing internal and external productions – The connectors provide a huge advantage by maintaining a centralized view of internal productions and where they have been sent. It also reports on the progress of both external and internal investigators.
- Desktop collection – The active desktop data that is collected and imported into the Enterprise Vault is possible with the integration of forensic and desktop collection tools that promote cohesive e-discovery services.
- Helps to focus on immediate needs – With automated processes, the time normally spent on manual processes can be used instead for focusing on designing strategies and meeting goals.
The focus of e-discovery tools should be a transparent and quick view into the case so that legal teams can develop effective case strategies. Providing a single application to handle the entire life cycle of the e discovery process, without adding unecessary costs, is what the e-discovery solution is all about. In order to collect, preserve, review and present credible evidence, enterprises have to collaborate with several law firms, internal departments and service providers. Labor, cost and risks are factors that can hinder legal proceedings.
The Enterprise Vault e-discovery connectors help to simplify the process for legal disclosure teams using an integrated method so that EV customers can use a variety of third party e-discovery software solutions in conjunction with their Enterprise Vault archive.
The excessive amount of digital information that is being created and transmitted everyday within organizations has made handling and storage of data for e-discovery purposes a grave challenge . Due to its expensive nature, ediscovery tools has now become a cause of concern for both the affected parties and the federal courts as there is a constant tug-of-war as to which party should bear the electronic disclosure costs.
Per FRCP rules, preservation of ESI for civil litigation is mandatory as it is crucial evidence that can be requested by lawyers to substantiate claims attached to cases. The moment a company is issued a lawsuit notification, it becomes their legal obligation to preserve any kind of data until the outcome of the lawsuit is declared. Any company that is found to be negligent in preserving data or of intentional spoliation of evidence can be subject to legal sanctions that could cause immense damages to their case.
The burden of storing and maintaining massive ESI adds to costs. Thus the parties that perform the electronic evidence discovery are appealing to courts to apply the costs to the requesting parties. However, the courts consider several factors, such as the case requirements, the resources available to the parties, the level of controversy, the questionable issues and the significance of e-discovery proceedings before deciding whom to hold responsible for bearing the costs.
Court Provisions on Cost Issues
The courts have identified some drawbacks that add to e discovery costs:
· Access to Stored Documents - When data is stored in inaccessible formats, it raises costs due to the time invested in culling relevant information from a huge mass. An organization with widespread branches has a complex network of data that is transmitted across various regions, and the core challenge is to find the data’s exact location. Accessibility of documents is significantly diverse in an organization. From a business point of view, the possibility of acquiring valid documents decreases with the age of the record. From a legal prospective, the accessibility period depends upon the period in which the document is expected to be available. Thus the expected period and retention period can vary from two or three years to seven years. Organizations need to develop internal guidelines for the retention and destruction of documents.
· Governing Policies for Document Retention – As document retention policies are reliant on the needs of the business, organizations need to have knowledge of the retention period of each document type so that it is consistent with federal, state and local regulations. The document policies should be developed to down-size the time and effort spent in locating relevant information. They should also provide a framework for storing confidential data.
To avoid being overburdened with the cost of electronic discovery, attorneys can help their clients develop a document retention policy that can help identify document types and their legal retention periods. In case of any potential litigation, attorneys and their clients should know where the documents are and the methods used to store them. Attorneys can actively find out what documents are required from the opposition and keep their clients updated to avoid any accidental destruction of intellectual property. Organizations should employ an effective document retention policy that stores documents in accessible mediums for retrieval in case of any anticipatory litigation software. This can reduce organizational costs by maintaining and destroying documents at the right time.
The review and production module provides legal professionals in corporations, government agencies, and law firms with a wide range of new features which are needed to conduct privileged and responsive reviews. Since the review and production module is integrated within the ediscovery platform, users benefit from one seamless application which supports the entire legal ediscovery lifecycle.
This application supports over 100 concurrent reviewers and even helps in managing the largest cases. It eliminates the need to create load files, and enables users to have a truly iterative ediscovery work flow.
