Electronic Discovery

Electronic Discovery is the identification, collection, preservation, review, analysis and production of documents that are stored in electronic format, for example emails and their attachments, spreadsheets, presentations, memos, reports etc.  It converts electronic documents into data, text and images for use during the Disclosure process.

According to a recent Gartner Report, 97% of all documents are created, stored and viewed electronically.  CPR 31 clearly states that these documents, along with their secondary “hidden” IT information (metadata) MUST be disclosed.  With the changes in the Civil Procedure Rules, the volume and variety of electronic records that may be subject to discovery are huge and will continue to increase significantly year-on-year.

Challenges with Electronic Discovery

Can you remember when a Gigabyte seemed like a large amount of data?  Nowadays even mobile phones can store much more than this.  The electronic measurements of the not to distant future are Petabytes, Exabytes and Zettabytes.  An Exabyte of data is 1 billion GB. It is estimated that all words ever spoken by human beings could be stored on 5 Exabytes of data.

To put the above statement into some sort of context, studies by the International Data Corporation suggest that in 2006 there was 180 Exabytes of data globally.  This is predicted to grow to 1800 Exabytes by 2010.  It would appear the growth of electronic data in our world is inexorable.

Are you prepared to handle these vast masses of electronic data?

The LDM Global Electronic Discovery Process

LDM Global can help simplify and give you the confidence and control you need for the daunting task of handling electronic data.  Our experts provide a logical step by step approach providing the best options for every stage of your case.

• IDENTIFICATION
  
  An initial consultation with an LDM Global expert at the beginning of your case ensures that all possible sources of data are identified.

• COLLECTION
  
  Our forensic experts are experienced in international collections, and can go onsite anywhere to collect, preserve and restore potentially relevant data.

• PROCESSING
  
  LDM Global can process your electronic data to quickly isolate the relevant custodians, file types, date ranges and keywords.

• HOSTED REVIEW
  
  LDM Global can host your data to be securely reviewed online from anywhere.  Foreign language documents including Unicode characters can be reviewed along side English documents.  Searching, sorting and tagging can all be done at the click of a button.