Extract from Jim Gill’s article “5 Ediscovery Challenges For Slack Data and How Technology Can Help”
When collecting electronically stored information (ESI) for ediscovery during litigation, it’s essential to realize that each data source carries unique challenges. So the first step in any ediscovery process, especially when dealing with a new data source, is understanding these challenges to choose the right solution.
With the rise of collaboration applications in the past few years, capturing data from Slack and other enterprise messaging platforms has moved to the forefront for many in-house legal teams.
Below are five challenges when collecting Slack data during ediscovery that legal teams should consider, and what they should look for in a technology solution.
1. Context is Crucial
One of the biggest challenges when preserving and collecting collaboration data, such as Slack, for ediscovery is viewing and searching that data in context. Unlike traditional email, capturing the unstructured, ongoing, and multifaceted elements of collaboration data (and related metadata) presents a significant challenge to corporate legal teams. No subject lines, no dates, no threads + emoji, gifs, attachments, share drives = ediscovery nightmare.
This complexity is why it’s crucial to be able to view Slack data as it appears within the ongoing conversation. Yes, the raw data can be preserved and exported, but it is all but useless to legal teams in that form. Presentation is everything.
