When you hear the term “discovery” as a business owner, you are in trouble. This is because the discovery process is part of a lawsuit. The litigation process needs you to present all the relevant information to the opposing side of the lawsuit. Thanks to modern technology, most of today’s information is in electronic form.
One part of the discovery process is called “e-discovery” since it involves gathering electronic data. The problem is that some companies do not have the skills to handle such a job. If you want to avoid issues with e-discovery in the future, here are some tips:
Have a Team
In the past, discovery involved a clerk collecting all the relevant documents. You might even assign many clerks to the job. Now, with e-discovery, your team will be more than clerks. Your main people will be the IT team. They know the company’s IT system, so they can find the needed data most of the time.
Besides IT, you will also need the help of your Human Resources professionals and legal team. They can tell your IT guys what kind of data that needs to be part of the discovery process.
Get the Right Tools
Getting the data can be easy or difficult. This is why you need specific tools. For example, your people can use a web archive plugin in a browser to preserve the websites that you need for the e-discovery process. This is important since social media sites and blog sites can disappear with a single click. With a way to preserve the site, you can have the data archived for later.
Data archiving systems are also a big help when it comes to getting needed info. When you have your old data archived, it is much easier to extract it.
Plan
Most litigation processes have a deadline. Though they are usually reasonable, it is better to submit all the needed info before the deadline. To do this, you need an agreed-upon process of how the e-discovery process will go. This mostly involves notifying all parties involved. This is important since they might need to submit copies of the needed data in the form of files, e-mails, and more.
The data submission is usually done in bulk. The final step of the process involves going through the data. That way, you send only the relevant information to the other party.
Work with Your Attorney
One of the best ways to make things easier is to work closely with your attorney. Your IT workers don’t know the law, so they might miss something. Having a legal professional looking over their shoulder can make it easier for IT in the long run.
In the end, e-discovery sounds intimidating at first glance. But the tips above can help you get the right information. You should remember that companies like yours need to stay informed about how technology affects the various aspects of your operations. You can rest assured that your company is up-to-date with its various requirements.