Sacramento Electronic Discovery Attorney

Winning Through Electronic Evidence

Most of the evidence in cases isn't on paper and never will be.

Electronically stored information ("ESI") is spread across servers, back up tapes, workstation hard drives, laptops, home systems, online storage, thumb drives removable media (such as CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives), and handheld devices (such as PDAs, cell phones and iPods). Complicating things, such information is now almost always flowing robustly throughout a "network," in which it has likely been replicated, distributed, modified, linked, attached, accessed, backed-up, overwritten, deleted, undeleted, fragmented, de-fragmented, morphed and multiplied.

Whether the case involves trade secrets, real estate, commercial matters, or is a general civil dispute, there is a respectable chance that the 'smoking gun' will be electronically stored. The vast majority of attorneys practicing today do not take measures to secure ESI of the opposing party. This is partially due to the expense associated with obtaining and searching the electronic evidence, but in most cases attorneys simply do not think to obtain ESI beyond the opposing party's email. This is unfortunate because electronic evidence is just as important as a tangible document and failing to turn over this evidence can have disastrous consequences for the obstructing party.

Getting discoverable data and making sense of it requires plaintiffs' counsel to gain an understanding of where digital evidence lives, the forms it takes and how it's preserved, altered and destroyed. It also entails learning as much as you can about the architecture and operations of the defendant's systems and networks, and how the key players-such as those whose conduct forms the basis of the contemplated claim or suit-interact with a fast-growing universe of digital devices and data repositories.

Attorneys With An Electronic Discovery Plan

The Law Office of David Barrett is prepared to obtain ESI through conferring with opposing counsel or attaining the necessary court orders. Specifically, our office is prepared to do the following:

• Identifying relevant systems and data;
• Compelling preservation of potentially relevant digital evidence;
• Seeking production of digital evidence in manageable formats
• Honing preservation and production through "meet and confer" sessions
• Memorializing preservation and production duties as court orders
• Assimilating, analyzing and using the electronic data produced
• Identifying discovery abuses and seeking the Court's intervention

This office recognizes the importance of ESI and has the ability to take action in this area of evidence collection while most attorneys simply do not think to do so.