White Collar - Collection and Retrieval of Digital Information Are Increasingly Important

Electronic discovery, known in shorthand as "e-discovery," increasingly may determine the outcome of complex litigation, whether business suits or white collar trials. As a result, attorneys who specialize in complex cases should prepare a system for responding to e-discovery requests. Likewise, businesses contemplating either bringing or defending significant lawsuits should retain their digital electronic information in a manner that most easily facilitates research and retrieval. While courts may be sensitive to excessive costs of retrieving information for e-discovery, it is unlikely that judges will show the same sensitivity if a company's faulty IT systems are responsible for those costs. Ultimately, litigants and their counsel are served much better devoting time and resources to the issues of a case rather than devoting time and effort to e-discovery issues that could have been anticipated much earlier.