Electronic discovery, or e-discovery, is a process where one party is given permission to search all electronic files and documents stored by the other party to gather evidence for a trial. It is a time-consuming process that often requires the use of e-discovery software and contract lawyers. E-discovery and evidence gathering often overlap, but evidence can also be collected through other means such as interrogations and paper documents.
In law, discovery is a way for one party to gather evidence against the other that can be used in court during a trial. The connection between electronic discovery and evidence, then, is that one feeds the other: electronic discovery makes it possible to search for electronically archived or digitized evidence. Electronic discovery is a pillar of US law, but it is also permitted with some restrictions in some other countries, including those in the European Union.
Also called e-discovery or ediscovery, electronic discovery is a preliminary investigative process whereby one party is given permission to search virtually all electronic files and documents stored by the other. The driving force behind the finding is the thought that the parties should have unfettered access to all information potentially relevant to the case at hand. Potentially relevant is generally understood as a broad concept. Therefore, the volume of electronic information exchanged in e-discovery (email, digital files and memoranda, online communications and more) can be enormous.
E-discovery can be seen as a means of supporting evidence as it allows lawyers to find, or ‘discover’, information which they can later use in the trial. However, getting electronic results and evidence to neatly correlate can be time consuming. In most cases, the volume of documents and files delivered in e-discovery spans multiple hard drives or more. E-discovery is truly a process of its own. The goal is to provide evidence, but there’s so much more.
Attorneys often hire contract lawyers to do discovery work and usually also employ e-discovery software to help sort and classify files received from the adversary. Sorting work is often boring. However, if it provides information that can help strengthen the lawyers’ case, it was worth it.
E-discovery and evidence go hand-in-hand as e-discovery allows lawyers to find new evidence, evidence that would otherwise have been buried in a digital archive somewhere. Almost anything attorneys find during e-discovery can be used as evidence. Evidence can be presented at trial, used in briefings, and shown to the jury in most cases.
While not synonymous, electronic discovery and evidence gathering often overlap. However, supporting evidence can be gathered in many different ways. Much evidence is found through electronic discovery, but much is also collected elsewhere, such as through interrogations, depositions, and paper facts and memos. Electronic discovery and evidence are related only as far as digitized information is concerned.
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