Extract from Cat Casey’s article “What Is eDiscovery? The Modern Lawyer’s Guide to Discovery”
Discovery has always been a part of the legal process. It’s how both sides in a dispute exchange information—reviewing documents, asking questions, and surfacing the facts needed to argue their case.
But as the world went digital, so did the evidence.
Now, instead of flipping through paper files and folders, legal teams are digging through emails, texts, Slack messages, cloud docs, and data that lives on dozens of devices and platforms. That shift is what gave rise to electronic discovery—better known as eDiscovery.
Gone are the days of paper cuts and highlighters. The evidence now lives in the cloud, syncs across devices, and vanishes (or tries to) with a well-timed “clear chat history.” eDiscovery is how legal teams keep up—and ideally, get ahead. eDiscovery has one aim whether you are a vendor, law firm or corporate counsel… find relevant data fast.
Let’s cut through the noise: eDiscovery is digital detective work—equal parts chaos management, strategy, and legally sanctioned snooping. It’s how lawyers surface the digital receipts: the Slack thread someone swears didn’t exist, the email chain that should’ve stopped three replies ago, the metadata that doesn’t lie even when people do.
