Please Share Your Thoughts on the Certification Training, How Long It Took You to Prepare for the Exam, Thoughts on the Exam and How It Has Benefited You- Both the Knowledge Gained from Training and Certification and Being Part of the ACEDS Community as a Whole. (Whole Experience)
The preparation for the exam took me about 4 months. The ACEDS eDiscovery Essentials was a great first step in the preparation and the On-demand Prep Seminar was very useful. The CEDS Certification Exam Preparation Manual (fourth edition) is sufficient as an additional reference, but is limited as a true eDiscovery resource. For my preparation I purchased two books on eDiscovery.
In our jurisdiction (Netherlands/Europe) there are no explicit legal rules on eDiscovery and we are not used to working with the American rules (like the FRCP), so I have had to put in extra time to understand these rules. My recommendation to ACEDS is to try and create an International version of the course material like the ACFE have done in the past. Although is still very much based on the American jurisdiction, it makes the study material and certification a bit more accessible to non-American. The ACEDS have indicated to take my recommendation in to consideration.
The exam was very hard, because of the large amount of questions and the fact that some questions were quite extensive.
Being a member of the ACEDS offers me the chance to interact with other members and to access different kind of interesting webinars. I would also recommend to all new ACEDS members to join one of the many local chapters.
Why Did You Decide to Get Certified? Do You Have Any Other Certifications?
Many eDiscovery professionals are only certified by a specific vendor on the software they use, but I was looking for a more generic certification which covers the whole process of eDiscovery. This certification is a great addition to my Forensic certification with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).
Please Share Your Background of eDiscovery Experience:
I have worked in the major insolvency cases in the Netherlands of the last 8 years. I was the main contact for the liquidators if they had questions regarding specific information out of these cases. Thanks to the international network of Grant Thornton, I have been involved in a few American eDiscovery cases and we had to deal with the specific FRCP rules.
Beside those cases I have also been working in dozens of fraud, bribery and anti-corruption cases. These forensic jobs were also very interesting. Thanks to our partnership with AccessData were we always very capable in handling all those different cases.
As of October 1st, I have started at Deloitte Netherlands as a manager eDiscovery. Deloitte is one of the major players in the world of eDiscovery so I am very proud to further develop my eDiscovery experience and skills.
Would You Recommend Our CEDS Training/Certification to Other?
Yes, I would recommend the CEDS training/certification to others. The ACEDS organization is a very involved and committed to the eDiscovery community.
Advice to Others Looking to Take the Exam?
Take your time for your preparation and try to read as much on eDiscovery as possible and take some extra time to understand the essence of the significant eDiscovery court cases.
It’s difficult to prepare for an exam of 4 hours, but at the exam you must try to keep track of your progress and skip questions if you’re not completely sure on the answer so you can tag it for later review at the end of your exam if you still have some time left.
