Information Management & Discovery Consulting

Define. Implement. Optimize.

Information Management (IM) is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information. Management means the organization of and control over the planning, structure and organisation, controlling, processing, evaluating and reporting of information activities in order to meet client objectives and to enable corporate functions in the delivery of information.

Eleventh Hour assists organizations with defining requirements for managing client evidence and litigation support/discovery information.  We assist stakeholders with developing effective workflow procedures from new matter intake to archive that both protect information, and allow secure access and reporting required to meet legal, regulatory or specific project objectives.

Discovery. Team. Leader.

e-Discovery Management (or e-discovery or eDiscovery) refers to discovery in civil litigation which deals with the exchange of information in electronic format (often referred to as electronically stored information or ESI).  These data are subject to local rules and agreed-upon processes, and is often reviewed for privilege and relevance before being turned over to opposing counsel.

Data are identified as potentially relevant by attorneys and placed on legal hold. Evidence is then extracted and analysed using digital forensic procedures, and is reviewed using a document review platform. Documents can be reviewed either as native files or after a conversion to PDF or TIFF form. A document review platform is useful for its ability to aggregate and search large quantities of ESI.

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 (for example the date and time a document was written could be useful in a copyright case). The preservation of metadata from electronic documents creates special challenges to prevent spoliation. Electronic discovery was the subject of amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), effective December 1, 2006, as amended to December 1, 2010. In addition, state law now frequently also addresses issues relating to electronic discovery.  International jursidictions (outside the United States) are adopting electronic disclosure laws as well to govern the procurement and use of this information.

Eleventh Hour consultants are engaged as the discovery team lead.  We work side-by-side with discovery counsel in procuring and directing resources through the work complexities and schedule of meeting today’s discovery challenges.  Our experiences start with information management, and run from left to right across the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM); from legal hold and preservation decisions to production of electronic and paper-based information.