This EDRM Search Guide is intended to assist legal professionals who are involved in all phases of e-discovery during the litigation lifecycle.
3.1. Attorneys and Judges
This EDRM Search Guide will serve as a high-level reference point for attorneys and judges seeking to understand how and where search fits into the litigation lifecycle and to develop a background and understanding of search concepts. This EDRM Search Guide will provide specific terminology used in the area of search.
Several sections of this EDRM Search Guide, including Section 5, are particularly relevant for attorneys and judges. Section 5 explains how search fits into e-discovery. Section 6 provides useful commentary regarding common search methodologies used during e-discovery. In addition, Section 7 discusses issues that the legal professional may wish to consider in developing a more successful search protocol, such as technical information and concepts that may help to explain why some searches fail to yield relevant and responsive data, while other searches yield results that appear not to be responsive or relevant.
3.2. Corporate In-House Counsel
Given the trend for in-house counsel to take a more active role in e-discovery, this EDRM Search Guide will also serve as a valuable resource for corporate and litigation in-house legal counsel to develop an understanding of the process, opportunities, and challenges of e-discovery. Section 4 and Section 5 of this EDRM Search Guide describes the search process. Section 6 of this EDRM Search Guide describes examples of how search may be implemented during litigation. The remaining sections of this EDRM Guide provide commentary on potential techniques and suggestions for effective search and search result validation.
3.3. Litigation Support Professionals and Paralegals
This EDRM Search Guide will be a resource for litigation support professionals and paralegals that are primarily responsible for actually performing the e-discovery tasks. The search framework and process outlined in Section 4 and Section 5 of this EDRM Search Guide provide a structure for approaching these e-discovery tasks. Section 6, Section 7 and Section 8 of this EDRM Search Guide describe the various, techniques that can be applied when searching ESI. Finally, Section 9 of this EDRM Search Guide offers some leading approaches for testing and demonstrating the validity of the search process.
3.4. Litigation Service and Software Providers
This EDRM Search Guide will be a valuable resource for litigation support and software providers. Section 5 of this EDRM Search Guide provides a detailed overview of how search fits into the different stages of e-discovery. In addition, Section 5 and Section 6 of this EDRM Search Guide offers a hypothetical use-case scenario to illustrate how search may be implemented during litigation from the perspective of the attorneys responsible for producing responsive information. Section 7 and Section 8 of this EDRM Search Guide explain a variety of different search methodologies and techniques. Finally, Section 9 of this EDRM Search Guide illustrates how search results may be documented and preserved.