Jones Foster Shareholder Robert W. Wilkins Serves as E-Discovery Webinar Guest Speaker

Jones Foster Shareholder and Litigation Practice Group Chair Robert W. Wilkins served as the guest speaker at the Paralegal Association of Florida Palm Beach County Chapter CLE webinar.

Rob presented “Tech Talk for Paralegals: Best Practices for E-Discovery” and discussed important considerations for electronically stored information (ESI) such as why the size of the law firm matters; the types of cases that usually involve ESI (personal injury, construction, business litigation, and employment law); and alternatives for smaller cases.

Key takeaways from the presentation included:

• Choose the right e-discovery vendor based on the scope of the project and cost considerations.
• Meet with clients early in the process regarding data collection and preservation to avoid spoliation and sanctions.
• Involve paralegals at the outset and throughout all stages of ESI to ensure data collection is comprehensive and forensically sound. Meet with the client and IT/custodians and don’t rely on the vendor alone.
• A document review platform is essential (and inexpensive).
• Negotiate an ESI protocol with confidentiality provisions.
• Be aware of data privacy issues (e.g., HIPAA) in all aspects of dealing with ESI.

For additional information or questions regarding e-discovery, data privacy issues, or ESI, we urge you to contact a representative of Jones Foster here.