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3
Delving into eDiscovery:
The Benefits of an
ESI Protocol
B Y K E L LY T W I G G E R , E S Q .
T
here is no denying the complexity
and detail driven nature of electronic
discovery. eDiscovery is a world
unto itself, and, for better or worse, one that all
litigators find themselves embroiled in. Whether
your client is an individual, a non-profit, a
government agency or a Fortune 500 company, all
of the facts of a case are now kept in electronically
stored information ("ESI"). And it has become
your job to think about where it might live, how
to find it and what you can do with it once you do.
The task is not an easy one, but there are processes
in ediscovery that can help create a road map
to identify and capture the sources of ESI that
are relevant to your case. One of the tools that
we use to help get our arms around the process
is the planning and creation of an ESI protocol
to govern the data of your case. Drafting an ESI
protocol forces you to consider all of the discovery
issues in your case at an early stage and provides
for the protection of your client's data during the
discovery process.
The goal of an ESI protocol is to set out
the parties' obligations for providing ESI in the
context of the litigation, but the end result is worth
so much more than just the document governing
form of production and metadata fields. The very
process of thinking through the types of data and
issues with the case becomes a discovery plan, one
