ESI – Electronically Stored Information

Electronic Discovery—We Can Help!

Electronic discovery (also eDiscovery, e-discovery, or ediscovery) refers to discovery in legal proceedings such as litigation, government investigations, or Freedom of Information Act requests, where the information sought is in electronic format (often referred to as electronically stored information or ESI).  Electronic discovery is subject to rules of civil procedure and agreed-upon processes, often involving review for privilege and relevance before data are turned over to the requesting party.

Electronic information is considered different from paper information because of its intangible form, volume, transience and persistence. Electronic information is usually accompanied by metadata that is not found in paper documents and that can play an important part as evidence (e.g. the date and time an email was sent could be useful in a FLSA case). The preservation of metadata from electronic documents creates special challenges to prevent spoliation.

At Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman we are acutely aware of the challenges of electronic discovery of our clients and the cost involved when using third party vendors.  As such, we have developed an in-house ESI Practice Group with a full-time ESI & Litigation Management Coordinator who can assist with the preservation, collection, processing, and production of electronic discovery at a reasonable cost to our clients. 

Speak to your HCCW attorney today to find out how we can assist you maneuver through the eDiscovery process.