Extract from Zapproved’s article “What is Ediscovery and Ediscovery Software?”
What is Ediscovery
Whether they work for an in-house corporate legal team or outside counsel, all legal professionals need the ability to obtain relevant information to any potential legal matter. In years past, this process used to entail searching through mountains of physical documents for the right pieces of information. Today, in our digital world, legal professionals must now sort through terabytes worth of data and files, a process that is time-consuming and costly.
This process is known as electronic discovery, also referred to as ediscovery. It is the electronic aspect of identifying, collecting and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to a request for production in a matter, lawsuit or investigation. ESI includes, but is not limited to emails, documents, presentations, databases, voicemail, audio and video files, social media, and websites.
The practice of ediscovery is an ever-evolving one, full of complexities and technical challenges. Unlike physical evidence, electronic documents are more dynamic and often contain metadata such as time-date stamps, author and recipient information, and file properties. Preserving all of this original content and metadata from ESI is required in order to prove defensibility, eliminate claims of spoliation or disprove tampering with evidence in litigation.
