E-Discovery Primer: Finding Your Way Through Discovery by Data Mapping

As contract attorneys find e-discovery becoming more sophisticated (and more complex) we find we are fielding more and more questions about it.  We usually refer our members to the best sources we know: Gabes Guide (click here) and Ralph Losey’s e-Discovery Team (click here) but we’d like to highlight today’s issue of Corporate Counselor which has a great article on data mapping, the key “buzz word” in e-discovery.

A data map is a visual reproduction of the ways that electronically stored information (ESI) moves throughout companies, from the point it is created to its ultimate destruction as part of the organization’s document retention program. At its heart, data maps address how people within the organization communicate with one another and with others outside the organization.

A comprehensive data map provides legal and IT departments with a guide to the employees, processes, technology, types of data, and business areas, along with physical and virtual locations of data throughout a company. It includes information about data retention policies and enterprise content management programs, as well as identifies servers that contain data for various departments or functional areas within the organization. This highly effective form of information organization also takes into account high-risk issues such as the type of litigation a company is facing or is likely to encounter in the future.

When lawsuits arise, many in-house counsel find themselves scrambling to identify potential custodians and potentially relevant ESI. But with a data map, it becomes easier to navigate through discovery. With the means to quickly zero in on the right custodians and the right data, in-house counsel have more time to focus on developing strategies for litigation that can further the company’s business goals.

For the full article click here.