The Basics of E-Discovery: Early Case Assessment

What Is Early Case Assessment?

Early case assessment (ECA) is a process to get your arms around all the relevant details early in a legal matter. It includes a broad range of tasks, some of which are not necessarily e-discovery, including:

• The number of witnesses and/or data custodians
• The amount of documents and data subject to discovery
• The legal issues at dispute in the matter
• Initial development of legal strategy for the matter
• Initial calculations of cost and schedule for discovery

What Are the Benefits of Early Case Assessment?

The primary benefit of performing a thorough early case assessment is saving money. By understanding more about the case early in the process, you can achieve significant cost and time savings downstream, across the entirety of the EDRM. In addition to those cost and time savings, ECA allows legal teams to develop a strong strategy. It answers fundamental questions about the matter and helps counsel determine whether they should move forward with this matter or should they consider settlement? ECA supports the FRCP’s stated goal of cooperation with opposing council to expedite the legal process, while also giving you the tools that you need to be able to defend yourself in front of the court.

When Should You Conduct an Early Case Assessment?

The key with conducting an ECA is in the name itself. You should conduct an early case assessment early in the EDRM—and that means prior to collection. With ECA, we want to be able to peek around the corner and take a look at the data. How much data is there? How much of the data is likely to be relevant? Assessing the data early is the key to providing you with answers to these questions before collecting data.  This is important because once you collect it, you're then spending unnecessary money on hosting and very likely on review, as well.

How Do You Conduct an Early Case Assessment?

You can conduct ECA in a variety of ways, each of which contribute to the overall picture of the case. Steps in an ECA can include:

• Interviewing custodians, preferably using technology that automates and streamlines the process.
• Tiering and prioritizing custodians to collect and review the electronically stored information (ESI) that is most likely to be relevant first, and then moving on to secondary custodians.
• Using technology and analytics to understand the contents of the ESI in order to determine the most appropriate legal strategy to take in the matter.

What Are Best Practices for Early Case Assessment?

• Interview custodians early in the process. It helps you get a handle on the data that is most likely to be relevant, as well as identify additional custodians who may possess relevant ESI.
• Tier custodians. Don’t try to grab all the data at the same time.
• Use analytics and reports as a tool for cooperation with opposing counsel. The data should help you argue your case before the court, but it can also be useful in expediting the “just, speedy, and inexpensive” resolution of many matters without proceeding to trial.

With the exponential growth of data showing no signs of slowing down, early case assessment plays a critical and growing role in managing e-discovery activities. An ECA can and will save time and money throughout the EDRM and can even dictate which matters are worth pursuing and which are worth settling.

For more information on best practices for ECA, download Exterro’s Comprehensive Guide to Early Case Assessment today!