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Judges’
Guide to Cost-Effective E-Discovery
(c) 2010
eDiscovery Institute, used with permission.
Table of Contents
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Foreword by Hon. James C. Francis IV, United States
Magistrate Judge, Southern District of New York
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i
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Preface
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iii
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Acknowledgements
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v
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Contents
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vii
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1
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Introduction: The
Battle for Cost Effectiveness in E-Discovery
Getting lawyers to conduct e-discovery was the first battle;
the next battle is having them do it cost-effectively.
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1
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2
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Overview Of the
E-Discovery Process for E-mails and Electronic Documents
ESI exists in many places and has attributes that should be
used when preserving, collecting, and reviewing it
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1
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3
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No Single Silver Bullet: The Successive
Reductions Concept
There are a number of reasonably well-established
technologies and processes that, when used in conjunction with each
other, can often lower the costs of e-discovery by 90 percent or more.
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4
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4
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Hashing and DeNISTing
There are published standards for identifying duplicate
records and identifying files that are distributed as part of commercial
software packages.
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5
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5
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Metadata
The term, “metadata,” is used to describe certain attributes
or properties about computer files that can be used in review databases
to help manage those files; it is also used to describe change history
or comments within a file.
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6
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6
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Minimizing Déjà Vu –
Duplicate Consolidation or “Deduping”
The most basic step toward cost-effectiveness in processing
e-discovery is to review the fewest number of duplicate files.
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7
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7
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The Rest of the Story:
E-mail Threading
E-mails can be analyzed in the context of the e-mails
preceding or following them in the conversation or in the threads
created by replying to or forwarding an e-mail. The benefit: faster,
more informed reviews.
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10
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8
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Who Sent That? –
Domain Name Analysis
Analysis of the e-mail domains from which e-mails were sent
can significantly lower the volume of documents to review.
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13
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9
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Getting it Together:
Clustering, Near-Duping, and Grouping
Grouping very similar records for review purposes can speed review
and help ensure consistent treatment of like records—the idea
being that at least one record from each group is reviewed.
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13
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10
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Predictive
Coding/Automated Categorization
Predictive coding is based on reviewing a subset of records
and then making or recommending review decisions on the other documents
that were not reviewed visually. It appears to be less expensive than
traditional review while being more replicable and consistent.
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13
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11
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The Case for Focused
Sampling
Normal assumptions about the value of sampling may not hold
true for collections with a very low percentage of relevant records;
further, “relevance” can be based on any number of factors, not all of
which occur very frequently.
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15
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12
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Special Cases
Some cases present unique opportunities for saving costs:
A. Foreign Language Translation Costs
B. Searching Audio Tapes
C. Searching Tape Backups
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16
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13
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Worst Cases
While the focus of this Guide has been to identify
cost-effective technologies and processes, there are some practices that
are especially inefficient and ought to be actively discouraged:
A. Wholesale printing of ESI to paper for review
B. Wholesale printing to paper, then scanning to TIF or PDF
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17
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14
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Ethics and E-Discovery
A lawyer’s failure to implement cost-effective technologies
can impact the lawyer’s duty to his or her clients, the courts, and to
opposing parties and counsel
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18
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15
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About the Authors
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18
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16
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About the Electronic
Discovery Institute
The eDiscovery Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
research organization dedicated to identifying and promoting
cost-effective ways to process electronic discovery
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19
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Appendix A, E-Discovery Technical Competency
Quiz
This short quiz can be used to assess your knowledge about
cost-effective ways to handle electronic discovery.
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21
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Appendix B, Answers to E-Discovery Competency
Quiz
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23
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Appendix C, Summary of Deduping Survey Report
Duplicate consolidation is the low-hanging fruit of
cost-effectiveness. This summary provides some of the highlights of the
initial duplicate consolidation survey
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24
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Appendix D, Further EDI Resources
This guide just scratches the surface of information about
cost-effectiveness in electronic discovery. These resources provide a
more in-depth look at some of the topics covered in this guide.
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25
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