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16 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S P R I N G 2 0 2 1 cloud. They should also be well-versed in the structure of the data itself — including the types of metadata that data might contain and what information can be gleaned from it. The ESI expert will work with an organization's managers, employees, and in-house and outside counsel to identify, map, preserve and collect all the data relevant to the case at hand. A critical first step is to identify potential custodians (such as employees, contract workers and third parties) who might have relevant information to be preserved and collected. Usually, this also involves sending out litigation hold notices to those custodians. Some companies opt to send out a broad litigation hold without knowing specifics about where the data is, allowing for a more targeted, less expensive collection and eDiscovery process to follow. Others might choose to do identification early on to ensure the litigation hold is targeted, too. An ESI expert can help target those holds to prevent unnecessary business disruption and costs incurred by an overly broad approach, while still ensuring defensibility of the process overall. Additionally, custodian questionnaires and follow-up interviews ensure that all potential data resources are identified and fully considered. From there, the expert helps internal and external resources and legal teams navigate the rest of the eDiscovery process, keeping the entire workflow efficient, effective and defensible. Organizations that are not often involved in litigation may not be familiar with the broad outline of the process. The ESI expert will be especially helpful in developing a strategy and providing case law examples. Indeed, a small spend on an ESI expert's assistance at the outset of your case will pay dividends in saved costs, increased efficiency and the avoidance of wasted efforts and even potential sanctions. Forensic expert While many routine data collection tasks today can be handled with specialized eDiscovery and computer forensics software solutions, forensic experts bring skills and knowledge that you can't get from those solutions alone. These experts can play a key role in many legal event-related data collections and investigations. For example, if an employee is suspected of stealing data, the forensic professional can look for signs of misconduct, for example: • Unusual device usage after hours, during weekends or on holidays • A sudden increase in outbound emails or atypical webmail usage • Recent deletion or addition of software, especially file-transferring or wiping software • Unusual transferring of files or confidential documents to another device or the cloud • Company-owned files suddenly copied locally, like customer lists from CRM systems • Inappropriate browsing history or chat activity In data theft or harassment matters, a forensic expert will oversee advanced server, computer, smartphone or laptop imaging and do a subsequent review tailored to the issues at hand. In many legal situations, a forensic expert will work with the team's ESI expert to help vet and establish a plan for the entire data collection process to be done securely and defensibly. This includes deciding which collections can be done remotely and which may require on-site work. A forensic expert can also address approaches to newer data sources such as fitness trackers, vehicle data, the Internet of Things and personal assistants such as Alexa, Google Home and others. Involving a computer forensics professional in initial conversations helps ensure that a company's IT personnel, for example, don't inadvertently mishandle data by looking for evidence on their own. (Doing this could lead to changing metadata such as created, modified or access dates or inadvertently altering documents in a way that impacts the case. This spoliation of evidence, even if unintentional, could result in sanctions from the court.) A forensic expert can help determine the proper scope and design of the project from the outset to avoid extra costs appearing in the middle of the project, or worse, missed opportunities to find that ever-elusive smoking gun critical to the case at hand. Review and Analytics Expert Document review has changed significantly throughout eDiscovery's lifespan, from a linear, document-by-document, eyes-on review to an in-depth, multilayered process that incorporates advanced analytics to facilitate a quicker, more 2 3 F E A T U R E S

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