Recent amendments to the federal discovery rules and comparable state court developments demand both strategic sophistication and technology competency in tackling electronic discovery issues. Our team has tremendous breath of experience in e-discovery and complex litigation. Husch Blackwell attorneys have served as national e-discovery counsel on numerous cases. We also serve as a resource for all of our attorneys to ensure that Husch Blackwell delivers cost-effective discovery management in all of our cases.
Our e-discovery group is an interdisciplinary team of attorneys and information technology professionals who have been at the forefront of e-discovery, with active involvement in the Sedona Conference and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure amendment process. Our attorneys and experts also contribute to numerous legal publications and present regularly at national e-discovery conferences.
Since long before the adoption of the E-Discovery Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on December 1, 2006, Husch Blackwell attorneys and experts have been intimately involved in electronic discovery issues, including the negotiation of protocols for the identification, preservation, collection, retrieval and production of electronic evidence; managing the preservation, collection and review of electronic data; prosecuting and defending discovery motions; and managing issues pertaining to computer systems, from simple desktops to enterprise-wide networks to retired systems and legacy data.
We manage all aspects of e-discovery, including:
- Discovery planning and Early Case Assessment
- In-house experts who can work with the client’s IT personnel to identify data sources, offer technical preservation and collection options, and communicate with courts and opposing parties concerning data sources and production options
- Identification and preservation of data
- Implementing legal holds
- Data collection, processing, & screening
- Document review plans
- Selection and management of discovery vendors and forensic specialists
- Analysis of data accessibility
- In-house capabilities for data format conversion, filtering, screening and production
- Nationally recognized and technologically savvy e-discovery counsel to help clients through the increasingly important discovery battles involving electronic evidence
Litigation Readiness & Legal Hold Processes
The discovery of electronically stored information is a burgeoning challenge in the litigation arena. A party to a lawsuit or the recipient of a subpoena may be seriously disadvantaged if ill-prepared to address these issues. Through our firm’s multidisciplinary expertise, we assist clients in coordinating their customary business records and data management practices with litigation readiness processes, putting them ahead of the curve when litigation or regulatory matters arise.
We advise clients concerning the potential risks and challenges of litigation and help clients build and manage effective legal hold systems. We also develop strategies and systems to enable rapid and cost-efficient response to discovery demands, while minimizing the risk of inadvertent loss of relevant documents and the consequent threat of court-imposed sanctions. Our services include:
- Proprietary Data & Practice Mapping by our in-house computer forensics and e-discovery experts
- Development of litigation readiness plans
- Training and educating client employees
- Legal hold process design
- Preservation & collection plan strategies
- Orphaned & legacy data source processes
