The legal landscape has undergone significant upheaval since the advent of technology, with few aspects being more transformed than discovery. Dubbed eDiscovery, this digital shift transitioned law firms and corporations from rifling through bankers’ boxes to scanning through hard drives.
According to an analysis by specialists in eDiscovery at the Association of Certified E-Discovery, this transformation has been essential in keeping up with the exponential increase in Electronically Stored Information (ESI). This shift has inherently changed how legal professionals, whether corporate lawyers or those at Law firms, locate and utilize the crucial documents and information required for their cases.
Decades ago, the discovery process involved linear review through countless boxes of documents, isolated in one designated war room. It was considered a time-intensive and extremely costly process. The arrival of technology, and subsequently eDiscovery, has reduced the time and costs associated with this process. ESI can now be quickly collected, retained, analyzed, and produced via advanced technical tools and software. This has made legal proceedings more efficient, with immediate access to broad swaths of relevant data.
There are multiple segments to the eDiscovery process, including identification, preservation, collection, processing, review, analysis, production, and presentation of ESI. These diverse aspects make it not just a technical operation but also tie in areas of law, compliance and regulatory factors, creating a multifaceted landscape for legal professionals to navigate.
The new frontier of eDiscovery has not been without challenges. While technology has vastly increased efficiency and accessibility, it has also transformed the sheer volume and diversity of ESI that can be considered relevant. This sheer volume has necessitated the creation and improvement of more advanced eDiscovery tools and software, providing new opportunities but also new complexities for legal professionals.
As technology continues to evolve so will eDiscovery, consistently shifting the legal landscape. This ongoing change will necessitate legal professionals to continue to evolve and adapt, ensuring they can continue to effectively perform their roles in an ever-increasing digital world.