0:05 – Michael Gibeault

Welcome to TCDI Talks. I’m your host, Michael Gibeault. I’m Vice President of Legal Services at TCDI, and I’m joined today with my colleague, Ned Adams, who’s the Senior Director of Legal Services. And Ned, you just wrote an article, The Never-Ending Data Challenge: Managing Information Responsibly in Litigation. And we’re here today to talk about that article.

0:30 – Ned Adams

Thank you. Glad to be with you.

0:33 – Michael Gibeault

Well Ned, you’ve been here at TCDI for nearly 20 years. How have you seen the data challenges evolve over that time?

0:44 – Ned Adams

Absolutely. Great question. And, in the old days, data would be placed onto a server to be worked with, to be processed and loaded, and over time, TCDI created processes by which data should be treated and stored.

For example, data comes in, potentially over FTP site. That data would need to get checked into evidence. So, you don’t want it sitting on the FTP site–you want to go ahead and remove that from there. And the forensic copy that you make be the only copy that’s living in evidence. From there, it would get processed and loaded into the review application so that users can interact with the data.

1:31 – Michael Gibeault

Okay, well, when you talk about the data coming in from a variety of sources…so, laptops, mobile devices, email accounts…gosh, file shares, even social media. So, how do these devices and platforms complicate the eDiscovery process?

1:49 – Ned Adams

It’s a challenge, for sure. And the different types of data would be handled differently in the sense that they are unique. However, the steps, it’s important to be intentional in that your steps remain the same.

Regardless of the data source, you want to get a forensic copy of that data checked into evidence, and that there are not any other copies on file shares, company file shares, personal computers, or anything like that. The only copy, the one and only copy, needs to be in evidence so that it is preserved and backed up appropriately, and that that there’s no other copy sitting around that increases your storage and increases your risk and your client’s risk.

2:33 – Michael Gibeault

So, with so much data being created at different stages of a case, what are the biggest risks if organizations don’t have a structured approach to managing it?

2:45 – Ned Adams

There are risks at several points in the process. We covered a little bit about when data is coming into TCDI, but what happens with data that’s in progress? For example, production data. You’ve run a production for 100,000 documents, and you need to deliver that production. Is that sitting on a user machine? Is it sitting on a file share? Is it sitting on FTP? Are we following up after it’s downloaded from FTP to remove it from there and any other location?

You want to make sure that your data is checked into evidence, even if it’s a production. After that production has been delivered, you want to preserve exactly what was provided to your client, or opposing, and then have that item checked into evidence.

3:36 – Michael Gibeault

Alright. Well, speaking of processes, in your article you emphasized the importance of having robust policies and controls. So, how should organizations approach data retention policies to ensure that they’re keeping data, but, you know, not too long, but also don’t risk premature deletion?

3:58 – Ned Adams

It starts with a conversation between the Compliance Officer and their organization and the team that’s working with the data to understand and what is…in this case TCDI’s policy for preserving production data or preserving incoming data and how to responsibly store that data. That’s one part of the equation.

The other part is access controls for the data itself. Is it on a common share that the whole company has access to? That’s not a desirable position to be in. You would want it to be where you can control and define exactly who has access to that data.

4:40 – Michael Gibeault

So Ned, in your article you provide a great list of questions that legal teams should ask about their data. Which of these questions do you think organizations most often overlook?

4:55 – Ned Adams

I would say the location of data, because that data can be living in different locations. So, the first questions I want to ask is, is data being stored in multiple locations? One, it’s wasteful. Two, it would probably be against policy or against a policy that you would want to create.

So, having different locations and multiple copies are two of the biggest things that we see in working with our clients. And then of course, access is very important as well. Defining who has access, who should and should not be able to work with that data.

5:29 – Michael Gibeault

Well, and speaking of, many organizations don’t have clear policies, right, for evidence handling or data storage. If a legal department is starting from scratch, where should they begin?

5:44 – Ned Adams

Great question. I think it begins with working with a vendor who has experience in that arena. TCDI has over 30 years of experience in working with client data. It has very mature processes and can help be a great partner for a law department in defining what those should look like.

6:10 – Michael Gibeault

Well, and speaking of that process, let’s talk about the role of automation that it plays in managing litigation data effectively. How can technology…like everybody’s talk about AI and machine learning…assist with that process?

6:25 – Ned Adams

Absolutely. For example, a chain of custody document. You could leverage AI tools to extract information out of the standardized chain of custody so that that gets entered into your evidence intake system without an individual having to do all of the manual typing in and entering of that information. That’s a great starting way to leverage AI in a low-risk way.

6:51 – Michael Gibeault

So, security is always top of mind at TCDI, as it should be too a concern for law firms and corporate legal teams. What security measures should organizations prioritize to protect their litigation data?

7:07 – Ned Adams

Access, access, access. Who has access to your FTP accounts or to your FTP server? Are those being audited? Are older connections or older accounts being removed? Are files that have been sitting on an FTP server for one week or one month, too long for the organization’s policies?

So, those would be some of the type things you would want to look at, right up front to be able to limit the risk in terms of how data is being stored in an organization.

7:46 – Michael Gibeault

So Ned, looking ahead, what trends do you see shaping the future of litigation data management, and how should legal teams prepare for it?

7:58 – Ned Adams

Data sizes will only be getting larger. As much as we wish that they would not, they will continue to exponentially increase, especially in the arena of chat data. So, how can organizations manage the movement of data from client to vendor in a protected and responsible way, and then what is that vendor’s policies for maintaining the security of that data?

8:27 – Michael Gibeault

Well, if you could give legal professionals one piece of advice for handling litigation data more effectively, what would it be?

8:38 – Ned Adams

One place, one access. By that, I mean, you’re not storing multiple copies. You know who has possession of your data and how they handle that. The fewer hands that are on a piece of data, the less risk that’s going to be carried by both the client and the vendor.

8:58 – Michael Gibeault

Thanks for joining us. If you’d like to learn more about how to store and manage data responsibly, be sure to check out Ned’s article. We have it linked next to the video, and we’d love to hear from you and get your thoughts.

9:12 – Ned Adams

Thank you Michael.

9:13 – Michael Gibeault

Thank you.