In a post this week on Information Week’s Information Management blog, Andrew Conry-Murray provides a case study of why legal departments should work closely with technology professionals from the moment the business or organization is implicated in a lawsuit – even if the entity isn’t even a party to the suit. http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/01/the_6_million_m.html.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) was subpoenaed to provide documents in Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac litigation. An OFHEO lawyer agreed to the plaintiffs’ search terms for eDiscovery of backup tapes. The plaintiffs submitted 400 search terms, which yielded 660,000 documents, 80 percent of the agency’s total e-mails. The OFHEO had to hire 50 lawyers to review the documents – many of which were entirely irrelevant – and in the process missed court-ordered deadlines to produce evidence. The court eventually held the agency in contempt, which it appealed and lost. All this cost the agency an unbudgeted $6 million, 9 percent of its annual operating budget.

This eDiscovery could have been avoided had the agency consulted IT professionals at the outset to help define the search terms.  

What is your eDiscovery headache? Let us know and we’ll come up with a solution.

Duane Morris litigator Eric J. Sinrod elaborates about why opposing counsel should be more collaborative in his article “E-Discovery: Can’t We All Just Get Along?” http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=72826. He cites the ruling of U.S. Judge Paul W. Grimm in Mancia v. Mayflower Textile Services Co., an analysis of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(g) which requires the attorney record to sign every discovery disclosure, request, response or objection.

That signature “certifies that to the best of the person’s knowledge, information, and belief formed after a reasonable inquiry,” the request is reasonable and the disclosure is complete and correct. But, asks Judge Grimm, is every counsel engaging in “reasonable inquiry” before making or responding to discovery requests? He concludes that the answer was “no.”

New Solution Provides eClaris Customers Lower Costs and Faster Results

Los Angeles (PRWEB) November 20, 2008 -- eClaris, Inc., a leading eDiscovery consultancy, today announced that it has selected Index Engines Tape Engine to bring in house the compilation and detection of information on its customers backup tapes. By offering these services eClaris is providing its clients with a safer, quicker method of locating electronically stored information (ESI) found on their back up tapes.

This new service enables eClaris to pinpoint and extract relevant data from massive amounts of offline tapes without needing to install and run the original backup software. As a result, eClaris' clients can rapidly locate the data they require without restoring the entire tape contents, indexing the files found, and then ostensibly starting the search process from scratch. For example, via its Overland 4400 tape library eClaris can index 208 tapes within 8-10 hours, a process that otherwise takes weeks to complete. This practical high speed indexing option lowers risk by furbishing a comprehensive index including all relevant files, file metadata, and user/security indicators for all offline ESI.

In addition, eClaris' clients are now able to have the data located on their directly indexed offline backup tapes instantaneously searchable. This eradicates the need to restore tape contents in order to search them. Index Engines Tape Engine grants eClaris the capability to convert archival tape contents into a searchable database. The back up tape contents are immediately searchable, both the full content and metadata.

"As a dynamic eDiscovery firm, eClaris is always seeking ways to better serve its customers," states Jacques Nack Ngue, Founder and Lead eDiscovery Specialist at eClaris, Inc. "By selecting Index Engines Tape Engine to provide backup tape restoration services, eClaris is enabling its clients to minimize risk, reduce costs, shorten turnaround time and access pertinent case information quicker and more efficiently.

eClaris' customers are bound to be particularly impressed with the streamlined process they will enjoy when restoring their back up takes. This is because eClaris, via Index Engines Tape Engine, is able to simplify the back up tape restoration process by producing query results with file location and tape ID. This allows users to designate the data they wish to restore in a query results window and then have eClaris automatically generate a report and request to do so with of the customer's relevant information.

About eClaris
eClaris is a dynamic eDiscovery consulting firm dedicated to helping law firms and corporations classify, process and review electronically stored data. As a leading provider of eDiscovery services, eClaris combines superior legal expertise with the latest in scalable technology to provide clients with cost effective, accurate and accessible data in a timely fashion. eClaris is a privately held company. For more information, visit www.eclaris.com or call 213.623.1620.