E-Discovery Processing Software

Discovery Assistant is a software program designed to process email, electronic documents and image files to produce TIFF, metadata, and extracted text. Processed data can then be imported into Legal Case Management tools for review, and/or produced as bates stamped TIFF files for use in Discovery.

Processing: To the extent needed, convert electronically stored information from the form in which you found it to one that allows to you conduct a more effective and efficient review. Read more

Products We Work With

Case Management:

	Dataflight Software simplifies the way the world manages litigation documents. Working in unison Concordance, Opticon and FYI help legal teams transform their document overload into competitive trial stragegies.
	CT Summation iBlaze is a litigation support solution. This software helps you efficiently manage case information such as transcripts and documents with the benefits of full-text imaging/PDF support, OCR on-the-fly, electronic evidence support and comprehensive production tools.
	Ringtail Legal provides document management assistance and electronic evidence discovery capabilities to help corporate legal departments anticipate needs and prepare for multiple cases quickly and accurately. The web-based solution is reliable at any scale and features a suite of advanced features – from paper review to native file processing – that facilitate document review and coordination between in-house and outside counsel.
	Zantaz Introspect is a discovery review solution for complex litigation and compliance projects. A feature-rich, online review application, Introspect provides image and native file review, multi-level foldering and full-production capabilities in a highly scalable solution. ZANTAZ Introspect manages all types of documents, including native electronic files, scanned paper documents, transcripts, as well as documents from opposing counsel. It is a comprehensive solution that streamlines the entire litigation process, from inbound data through outbound production.

Embedded Libraries:

dtSearch The Smart Choice for Text Retrieval since 1991, the dtSearch product line instantly searches terabytes of text. Along with enterprise and developer text retrieval, the company has its own document filters, offering parsing, extraction, conversion and searching of a broad range of data formats. Supported data types encompass databases, website data, popular Office formats, compression formats, and emails with attachments. dtSearch products meet some of the largest-capacity text retrieval needs in the world.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Many organizations now store some, if not all, of their files on computers, use email as a significant, if not primary, means of communication, and leave messages on electronic voicemail systems. When one of these organizations becomes a party in a lawsuit, often the opposing party seeks access to this electronically-stored information. Standard discovery procedures allow a party to request all relevant materials from an opposing party. However, it is not clear that discovery of digital information is similar enough to traditional discovery to warrant a wholesale application of existing discovery rules. Read more

e-Discovery Documentation

Provided below is a list of web sites with articles on electronic discovery:

DiscoveryResources.org: Given the rapidly increasing importance of electronic evidence in litigation, DiscoveryResources.org offers much needed resources for legal professionals who seek to understand the many new technological and legal challenges associated with electronic discovery.

Electronic Discovery White Papers: Electronic discovery (also called e-discovery or ediscovery) refers to any process in which electronic data is sought, located, secured, and searched with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil or criminal legal case. E-discovery can be carried out offline on a particular computer or it can be… 

Ad Litem Consulting, Inc.: This document was initially designed to eliminate any discrepancy between firm technical needs and how the vendor created the technical aspect of their products. Litigation Support spends needless hours changing the vendor delivery. The firm pays for product that litigation support will have to modify. Today, the document covers as many technical requirements as possible for as many types of discovery and software as possible.

Law Tech News: The profession's largest tech publication for legal professionals.

TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter written by lawyer and legal technology expert Dennis Kennedy.

Industry Consultants

George Socha: Links to sites of selected electronic discovery and automated litigation support services and software vendors.

Randall Consulting offers consulting services to help you decide which is the best 3rd Party Electronic Discovery Solution for you, as well as training in all software programs that are included in the 2006 Report.

e-Discovery Trends

Court systems around the world are rapidly transitioning from paper based document discovery to a digital or electronic based discovery. The main reason for this is the growing volume of documents in lawsuits - sometimes equivalent to many times the total amount of information stored in the U.S. Library of Congress.

Electronic documents can be easily transported, viewed, copied, shared, annotated, but not altered. TIFF and PDF file formats represent the two standard file types preferred by the courts.

Below is a sample list of articles and web pages that describe how the process of discovery is changing.

Electronic Data Is Pervasive
Excerpt from Joint Administrative Office/Department of Justice Working Group on Electronic Technology in the Criminal Justice System:
Computers have become so commonplace that many cases now involve discovery of some computer- stored information. In fact, in a growing number of cases, relevant data exists only in electronic form. From the largest investigative and prosecutorial offices to the smallest criminal defense firms and solo practitioners, computers are used to cut costs, improve efficiency, enhance communication, store data, and improve capabilities in every aspect of practice. Indeed, the Government Paperwork Elimination Act4 requires that as much government business as possible be conducted by computer by October 21, 2003. Current initiatives to implement electronic case filing provide evidence of the federal judiciary’s commitment to using computer-based technologies to improve the judicial process. Given the proliferation of computers, the use and involvement of computers and electronic data will only increase. Kenneth J. Withers, a Research Associate at the Federal Judicial Center who participated in a number of the Working Group’s meetings, has noted that:

• According to a University of California study, 93% of all information generated during 1999 was generated in digital form, on computers. Only 7% of information originated in other media, such as paper.
• Nearly all conventional documents are word-processed.
• Nearly all business activities are now computerized.
• E-mail traffic has surpassed telephone and postal communications.
• Just as legitimate activities are conducted on computers, so are illegitimate activities. Securities fraud, drug dealing, pornography distribution, illicit firearms sales - a whole panoply of bad acts - are conducted using computers and computer-mediated communications. Read more

Litigation Support:
Litigation support may be described as the management of litigation cases through technology, primarily the organization of paper based documents into a searchable database for review and production. For purposes of this discussion, we include in our definition both in-house litigation support specialists and outside vendors of litigation support services. Litigation support specialists tend not to be directly responsible for the physical collection of documents, but rather focus on managing those documents once they have been collected.
It follows, then, that the current rush to convert electronic files to image (TIFF or PDF) finds a natural home in the litigation support field. Originally developed to avoid the backwards process of first printing electronic data to paper then scanning and OCR processing it, conversion of all electronic documents to image has become a panacea for the management of electronic data in litigation. So much so, in fact, that this very narrow task has taken on the mantle of “electronic discovery” itself—a misconception reinforced by litigation support service providers.

Where Litigation Support Ends and Electronic Discovery Begins:
Deborah H. Juhnke (Computer Forensics Inc.) Unlike litigation support, electronic discovery was in its infancy in the early 1990’s. Only a handful of people actively participated in the identification, collection and analysis of computer data in litigation. Although they had skills in common with litigation support specialists, the emerging electronic discovery/computer discovery expert brought new sets of skills, experience and technologies to the discovery arena. What emerged was a profession that was an amalgam of legal and discovery skills, investigative experience, and specialized forensic tools and training. What, then, distinguishes a computer discovery expert from a litigation support specialist? In general, computer discovery experts focus on the acquisition and technical manipulation of data in discovery, while litigation support specialists focus on the processing and delivery aspects. The mutual and ideal goal is the delivery of just the right amount of information to the attorneys for use in litigation.

Electronic Discovery and Litigation Support Skill Sets
The computer discovery expert can help formulate discovery strategy, provide expert testimony and motion support, ensure a defensible chain-of-custody, locate evidence caches, and identify portions of data collections to load into litigation support databases. Effective collection and review of computer-based evidence requires a degree of strategic involvement beyond the skills of the average litigation support specialist. It is during this prediscovery phase where decisions should be made regarding what type of data to look for, where to find it, and what to do with it once it’s found. As a discipline, litigation support has historically been focused on the implementation side of discovery, i.e., cataloging the paper-based document collection and making it easier to search and review for purposes of production and trial preparation. Analytical and investigative experience plays a key role in today’s electronic discovery, as does the ability to represent an un-biased chain-of-custody. Additionally, active participation by an electronic discovery expert in otherwise more mundane physical collections can have important benefits—including the ability to adjust strategies as needed and facilitate future review. Although the fields of electronic discovery and litigation support share some common procedural tasks—such as gathering and organizing evidentiary information—computer discovery experts have the increased responsibility for advising, evaluating, recommending and authenticating evidence collection.