Significance of FRCP in eDiscovery
Preservation of electronic records for litigation purposes has led to the initiation of many compliance regulations, such as the FRCP (Federal Rules of Civil Procedure). Per FRCP rules, enterprises need to instate definitive data retention policies to facilitate the identification and accessibility of relevant data on demand. Culling data for eDiscovery is a complex job, and with data increasing at an alarming rate, the process has become rather perplexing. When enterprises are incapable of producing relevant data in federal court, they are subject to fines and even grave penalties like imprisonment.
Most of the time organizations fail to produce legal data when lawyers are not well-versed in the technical procedures. With varying standards being employed for the purposes of managing, storing, organizing and retrieving data, ESI has become an expensive process. Thus some amendments have been incorporated into the FRCP to review the practices employed and make changes so that legal records are stored in an organized manner and can be accessed without wasting precious time.
The FRCP amendments address very critical issues since it has become extremely important to control costs and save time. For this, identification of the right people from various departments, such as operations, human resources, sales. marketing and technology, is highly essential to ensure a fair trial and a favorable outcome. Another core issue that is tackled here is identifying the location of evidence, such as PCs, personal laptops, iPods, PDAs or any other digital device. Collecting relevant ESI (Electronically Stored Information) can help expedite the case and bestow cost-saving benefits. The FRCP amendments emphasize usage of search methods for culling data effectively and reducing the scope of false positives.
The FRCP deals with the handling provisions of password protected or encrypted files. It specifies how duplicate and near-duplicate documents should be handled when emails are sent to a group of people with identical attachments. The eDiscovery process should help to identify exact documents and limit the number requiring review. Often in enterprises it has been found that it is employees who scheme and are willing participants in illegal activities. In these cases, employees can possibly tamper with evidence. To prohibit such intentional damage to an investigation within an enterprise, the FRCP stresses ways to restrict complete access rights to any employee when it comes to sensitive data.
Another crucial focus is on recovering deleted or concealed files. The FRCP guidelines include the execution of authorized and legal search methods to uncover hidden or erased evidence. It lays down rules on scientific documentation of the findings as well as documentation of chain of custody. Having back-up tapes can be very useful. Thus enterprises must ensure an ongoing schedule for regular back-ups.
The establishment of a standardized electronic discovery litigation support system has helped control the chaotic management of legal procedures known to throw organizations into disarray. With the help of the FRCP, electronic discovery processes are streamlined to enable enterprises to eliminate all wasteful procedures and accomplish positive results.
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