I’m new to discovery and eDiscovery. Can you give me a quick overview?
Discovery is the dominant phase of any litigation or investigation, including internal investigations, such as those to prove fraud, or government-driven investigations, such as those related to SEC regulations. During discovery, lawyers review the information associated with a case or investigation and determine whether it is relevant or not. Lawyers also use discovery information to support their case at trial or summary judgment (settlement) or as a basis for asking questions of witnesses during depositions. Today, the discovery phase of litigation includes discovery of electronically stored information (eDiscovery) as well as paper documents. Electronically stored information differs from paper information because of its intangible form, volume, scattered locations, and the difficulty associated with permanently deleting it. Also, electronically stored information is usually accompanied by metadata—such as date stamps and attachments—which is rarely present in paper information.
