The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/116777
fact, at the root of any e-discovery project or process is the ability to identify, collect, index and analyze big data. As many legal IT professionals are discovering, new analytics tools and big data technology innovations are making e-discovery software smarter, which can only help law firms and their clients better manage risks associated with failing to produce all relevant documents in a lawsuit or investigation. However, big data not only bring improved tools to manage large quantities of information, there are also new challenges to identify the most relevant data in e-discovery. The process involves gathering information from a diverse range of sources, storing that content and then developing systems so the information can be mined, analyzed and produced. Big data require an IT environment that can easily scale to handle high electronic data discovery processing without experiencing technical problems. For law firms of all sizes, there are four key "best practices" for conducting e-discovery more efficiently while controlling costs in the big data environment. 1. Develop a Strategy for Information Governance It's important to start out by creating and putting into place a comprehensive data management program for compliance with regulations, statutes and best practices. This should involve the development of customized guidelines and procedures for the creation, storage and disposition of any and all types of data. Also create email policies, litigation hold procedures and disaster recovery plans. Many organizations find that one way to improve efficiency and reduce costs is by performing an inventory of enterprise data — developing a data classification process and creating a data retention policy. You can then develop organizational management policies and procedures for electronically stored information (ESI) that include electronic email policies and develop workflows to deal with the potential for large amounts of nonsearchable data, including hard copy documents. Finally, turn your attention to security issues as part of your information governance strategy. Stay current on regulatory and legal data security obligations so you can create a data security approach based on repeatable and defensible best practices. Be sure to develop a data breach response plan that is unique to your organization. When the information governance strategy is in place, it should look something like this: 2. Establish Rules for Data Extraction and Collection While there are numerous methods used for data collection in e-discovery, they can be narrowed down to two general categories: automated and manual. With the explosion of big data, we have seen a proliferation of automated ESI collection tools on the market. While these tools have helped manage an enterprise's data and provided more streamlined methods for the collection of ESI, many firms still opt to go the manual custodian, "self-collection," route. Peer to Peer 15