Discovery Coordination and eDiscovery

Discovery is one of the most important and costly portions of litigation.  Our trial attorneys are adept at handling all aspects of discovery and understand how carefully managing discovery impacts all facets of a case.   We routinely assist our clients in identifying and navigating the legal, technical, and business challenges posed by discovery in a world where electronic records are proliferating, and protecting proprietary software and databases may be as important as managing a case outcome.

We recognize that successful management of discovery requires knowledge of your business, how you create and retain information, key employees and their roles, as well as the most current legal authority regarding your obligations to preserve and produce data.  We also recognize the importance of preparing a discovery plan to ensure production of documents and data to support your position in litigation, as well as head off anticipated discovery disputes by identifying data sources that should not be produced for appropriate reasons, including proportionality, confidentiality, relevance, burden, and necessity, among others.

In addition to defensive discovery, our trial lawyers also have experience using data analytics and data science.  These tools allow us to identify better information faster to assess and support your defenses in a case.

What we do:

We are proactive in discovery. We develop and implement protocols for handling all aspects of case discovery including case strategy, ESI agreements, protective orders, claw back agreements, deposition protocols, privilege logs, document collection and review, preparing and arguing discovery motions, and preparing and defending key depositions, such as corporate representatives.

We handle the technical parts of discovery. Our trial attorneys have technical experience overseeing the entirety of the document collection and review process.  Based on our early case assessment, we plan and handle the collection, processing and production of information, from full document sweeps to topic-specific, targeted collections. We assist clients in identification of key custodians and data sources, collection of documents and data, developing and instituting litigation hold notices and processes, negotiating ESI Protocols, and retention and management of in-house and off-shore document review teams, as well as contract document reviewers.  We also prepare and defend corporate representative depositions, particularly where the issues implicate large document productions.

We limit discovery costs. We identify ways to limit review of non-responsive documents or custodians through key word testing, predictive coding, and other emerging technologies.  We have experience with all major document review platforms and can provide secure access to hosted databases to experts, in house counsel, or other associated counsel, limiting duplicated efforts and costs.

We keep discovery focused on the merits. We handle tough discovery fights from beginning to end, regularly drafting and arguing discovery-related briefs across the nation.  We educate the court regarding discovery costs and complexities, using our knowledge of your business and the subject matter to demonstrate why overly broad and irrelevant discovery requests will not assist in resolution of the case on the merits.

We understand what we produce and how to use it. Our lawyers gain a thorough understanding of the documents produced well before depositions occur, and understand the importance of preparing witnesses carefully to address issues that arise from the documents.

Representative Experience:

• Act as national discovery counsel for a Fortune 10 automaker in complex discovery matters across the United States, including class actions
• Leverage available client databases and information to provide experts with data needed to support client defenses
• Create key document collections to prepare corporate representatives for deposition
• Create standing document collections for production in litigation regarding common issues or events
• Assist client conducting internal audit in accessing and processing archived data, and using predictive coding to reduce attorney review of millions of documents to 600,000
• Use geospatial data to prove vendor fraud
• Negotiate ESI protocols identifying key custodians and search terms to limit disputes regarding the completeness of document production
• Assist client in a copyright dispute negotiate and obtain access to opposing party’s source code in secure portal to assist client in proving infringement
• Use document metadata to show that date of alleged property damage occurred prior to the statute of limitations
• Assist clients in identifying and preserving all data needed to respond to False Claims Act lawsuits brought by the government and qui tam relators.
• Assist large multi-national clients in defending against overbroad discovery requests implicating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)