Calculate data makeup early to create a stable foundation for the future.
If you build a house with a weak foundation, the building is sure to fall
apart. The same holds true for e-discovery—if you don’t pay attention to the
early stages and properly calculate from the beginning, you’re in for a world of
pain down the line.
From information management to identification, preservation and collection,
the left side of the industry standard Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) is truly the
foundation of the electronic discovery process. Corporations face this challenge
in litigation on a regular basis, and if the house falls down, the
finger-pointing will begin.
Picture the EDRM turned 90 degrees to the left, so it stacks up vertically.
From that angle, the data makeup of a legal matter’s possibly relevant
Electronically Stored Information (ESI) forms the bedrock for successful data
preservation, collection, analysis and review strategy. At this nascent stage,
Early Data Assessment becomes important.
What is Early Data Assessment?
Early Data Assessment (EDA) has evolved recently as an integral part of the
EDRM far-left side workflow. EDA involves preliminary evaluations of data early
in the life of a matter. It can include examining the technology and data
sources possibly involved in the specific legal matter, not to mention the
metadata about that ESI.
The idea behind EDA is to determine the types of data to be potentially
preserved, gathered and analyzed, maybe to identify gaps or overlaps in the
data, and to begin developing a variety of lists that can be used to help scope
the project. EDA also can entail working with the ESI to better understand its
substantive content, construct and evaluate potential story lines, craft
discovery strategies, and develop e-discovery cost estimates and litigation
budgets.
The EDA process is not to be confused with Early Case Assessment which
typically relates to assessing legal liability. By contrast, Early Case
Assessment usually happens at the onset of a matter as inside or outside counsel
assess the viability of a matter, compare it against similar past matters,
determine whether insurance coverage may come into play, make decisions about
what counsel to retain, and engage in other similar activities focusing on
evaluating the entire case early.
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Source: Inside Counsel
By: George Socha and Alon Israely
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