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What are the advantages and drawbacks of native review?

Native review is less expensive and faster for us to process than image review. If you are producing native files to the other side, there is no reason to expend time and money to generate images. However should you choose to view files in their native form, you will need the appropriate software applications, or an appropriate viewer, on your system. Native files also cannot be redacted nor have Bates ID numbers applied.

Typically firms are called upon to produce images, therefore you have the opportunity to review exactly what you will be producing to the other side. Also, images can be redacted, embossed, and Bates-stamped. However, images take more time and cost more money to generate than native files, and require extra quality control measures.

If you prefer to review files in native format but are required to produce images, the weight of the EDD project will fall on the back-end of the process (to produce the images). Therefore, time management is a serious factor, especially if you want to review the images (i.e., conduct a second review) prior to export. Conversely, if you request images for the initial review, the weight of the EDD project will fall on the front end; that helps expedite final production of deliverables. In any event, allowing adequate time for thorough deduplication, filtering, and review is essential.
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What is “chain of custody”?

It is a detailed account of the location of each document from the beginning of a project until the end. It is important because chain of custody failures—in effect, the mishandling of evidence, including electronic evidence, whether it has been fully recovered or not—can cause a case to be lost.
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What is metadata?

It is the collection of information that identifies when an electronic document or file was created or modified, who created it, where it was transmitted, technical aspects of the file, and so forth. Metadata is critical information “behind the scenes,” and can reveal much more about a document’s history and distribution, with potentially far-reaching implications in a legal matter.
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What is the difference between a hierarchical database and a relational database?

A hierarchical database maintains a one-to-one correspondence between a document and a record of that document. A relational database typically involves multiple tables that relate to one another; in a relational database, multiple records could be “related” to one specific document, depending on the information contained.
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What is the difference between imaging and scanning? How do they differ from OCR (Optical Character Recognition)?

The terms imaging and scanning both refer to the same process: making a photo image of a page with a scanning machine. OCR refers to the process of turning images into text so that the text of the page may be searchable—that is, explored for specific content based on keywords in the document itself.
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What’s the difference between the graphic formats PDF and TIFF?

PDF, developed by Adobe Systems, Inc., stands for Portable Document Format. PDF has become a de facto standard for the exchange of electronic documents and forms. It preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source document, regardless of how the original document was created. PDF files can be shared, viewed, and printed with a viewer application, available free from Adobe Systems. Documents also can be converted to PDF using Adobe Systems software products. PDFs are compatible with a wide range of hardware and software platforms, and are fully searchable when scanned as “image and text.”

TIFF (“Tagged Image File Format”) is an electronic copy of a paper document that contains no embedded fonts, images, and graphics. TIFFs are supported by all major imaging, EDD, and litigation support service providers. The text contents of OCR’d TIFFs are fully searchable, although the accuracy of searches depends upon the condition of the original documents, the quality of the imaging technology used, and other factors. TIFFs are also compatible with a wide range of hardware and software platforms, and future development is not tied to any single company.
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What is "Electronic Evidence"?

Electronic evidence is any computer-generated data that is relevant to a case. Included are email, text documents, spreadsheets, images, database files and deleted email and file back-ups. The data may be on floppy disk, zip disk, hard drive, tape, CD or DVD.
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What is "Computer Forensics"?

Computer Forensics is the scientific process of identifying, preserving, extracting and producing
electronic evidence (including deleted data) on all types of electronic storage media. It is often applied to the most heavily litigated areas today: intellectual property, trade secrets and fraud.

Information can be found in places other than in the disk's file directories and folders. Software tools can extract data from deleted files that haven't been over-written and file fragments that were not replaced by new data when a file is written to the disk.

Simply turning on the computer and searching for data can cause spoliation. D-M has the technical expertise to ensure proper chain of custody and flawless processing of electronic evidence.

Relevant information is prepared in a format that will be easily used and understood in court, either to exonerate or to convict, depending on the case. D-M's methods have been demonstrated to be sound and reliable.
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What is "Electronic Discovery"?

Electronic discovery involves the following steps:

• Identify likely sources
• Gather electronic evidence while avoiding spoliation and maintaining the chain-of-custody
• Make the collected data readable and useable
• Filter the data to achieve a relevant, manageable collection of information
• Make the information available in TIFF or PDF format as part of a database accessible from a Web-based repository.
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What is "Spoliation"?

Spoliation is the destruction or alteration of evidence when an investigation or litigation is in process, or when either may occur sometime in the future. Spoliation applies to data whether it is currently evidence or may become evidenc later. Failure to preserve data that may become evidence is also spoliation in some jurisdictions.
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What typically causes data loss?

Data loss can be caused by mechanical or electrical failure, natural disaster, computer virus, data corruption, computer crime or human error.
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Can deleted data be recovered?

Most of the time, yes. Deleting a file doesn't remove it. The space it occupies is made available for storage of other files. Even files that have been overwritten can often be recovered.
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Can deleted e-mail be recovered?

Email is electronic data just like any other file. Deleted email can often be recovered.
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If a hard drive or computer is damaged, will this eliminate the possibility of data recovery and analysis?

The degree of the damage affects the ability to recover and analyze data. Hard disk drives are securely built and can often survive damage from water or fire. If the drive itself will not run, the disk can be removed for data recovery.
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Will encryption protect my data?

While poorly encrypted data can be retrieved and scrutinized, most proven crypto-systems provide a degree of protection that cannot be overcome. Retrieving encrypted data relies on the cooperation of the people involved. If they refuse to provide their key, there may be no way to gain access to a plain text version of the protected data. However, if the data has been encrypted using options in standard software such as MS Word or Excel, the keys may be derived by using the available software.
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To see what we can do for you, contact your local Esquire representative, or email us at litigation@esquirecom.com.