Peer to Peer Magazine

50 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | SUMMER 2016 FEATURES Evolution of the E-Discovery Project Manager We are entering the era of the "Internet of Things" (IoT). The IoT is networks of physical objects — devices, vehicles, buildings and other items — embedded with electronics, soware, sensors and network connectivity that enable those objects to collect and exchange data. This means we are heading toward exponential growth and diversity in data sets, increased leverage of technology to manage workflows, and greater reliance on metrics to understand where we are and where we are going. E-discovery in the IoT era is bound to present new obstacles. Our reliance on machines will grow at unprecedented rates to handle larger, more dynamic data. In the same vein, our reliance on hyperspecialized e-discovery experts and e-discovery PMs — the Supermen and women everyone knows and loves — will continue to grow. But rather than having just one Superman, we will need a Super Team. As our reliance on technology increases, we will need a specialized team of project managers to oversee e-discovery. IoT Disrupting E-Discovery Workflows When scoping out a new project, one of the first things an e-discovery PM does is prepare a list of custodians: individuals or organizations that have or control information (i.e., paper files, electronic files or other data) that relates to the litigation. The first-pass e-discovery workflow starts with identifying custodians, preserving and collecting their data, and converting it into an easily reviewable form before eventually being put in front of aorneys to determine relevance. If you have ever walked down a street during an earthquake, you can relate to how it feels the first time someone tries to explain the IoT in response to a discovery request. A primary reason is because the IoT complicates the concept of custodial data. In the IoT, identifying the custodian of a data source is difficult and, at times, impossible. What happens when the custodian is a machine? Beer yet, what happens when damages are caused by machines acting on information gathered and communicated by other machines? Ignore legal theory and focus on the logistics of gathering and reviewing information in response to a discovery request of IoT data. The first question to ask is: Where are the data? Most "smart" devices in the IoT era do not keep information housed locally for longer than necessary. Think of your favorite fitness tracker. It captures the number of steps you take over a period of time and then automatically dumps data to your smartphone once it is in range. As soon as your phone connects to the internet, the information is pushed to servers that collect the information just long enough to perform basic calculations, perhaps the number of miles you covered over a 24-hour period. The resulting calculation is sent to a database that converts this information into prey charts released to the social media platform where you keep a running log of your progress. That is a lot of custodians. When it comes time to map our custodians for e-discovery, where do we start? Do we look at where the data originated? The final storage location? Somewhere in between? Suddenly, your team of experts starts staring at each other with blank looks. Thank goodness for the e-discovery PM. The future e-discovery PM will rely heavily on metrics to paint a picture of a project's status, direction, timeliness and cost.

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