Many eDiscovery professionals get so wound up in the eDiscovery services they provide, it’s easy to forget why they provide them and how they fit into the overall goal. When it comes to litigation, eDiscovery is only one of seven potential stages to a litigation case. As this article by Cobra Legal Solutions illustrates, for an eDiscovery provider to be proficient, they need to understand that speaking legal in discovery involves understanding seven litigation stages.

Their article Speaking Legal in eDiscovery: 7 Litigation Stages to Know follows up on the initial post in the series on The 4 Languages of eDiscovery and it illustrates how speaking legal in discovery involves understanding seven litigation stages.  Here is the first stage:

Pre-Action Investigation and Preparation: This is what happens before a case is filed. It includes the beginning of a dispute between parties that may eventually lead to litigation, the investigation of facts associated with the dispute and preparation for the potential litigation case, including beginning to understand what evidence (including electronic evidence) you have that might be relevant to the case and what evidence you may need to request from your potential opponent or a third party. While you may not have formally started discovery yet, you do have a duty to preserve ESI if you have a reasonable expectation of litigation, even if the case isn’t filed yet, so you should already be thinking about discovery and the other phases to come.

So, what are the other six potential litigation stages?  I won’t steal Cobra Legal Solutions’ thunder, you can check out the article here on the specifics.  If you’re an eDiscovery professional working in litigation, you should already know them!  Oh, and in their next post, they’ll discuss seven eDiscovery rules that every eDiscovery provider should know and understand. Sevens are wild! Holy craps!  😉

So, what do you think?  Do you agree that, as an eDiscovery professional, speaking legal in discovery involves understanding seven litigation stages? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclosure: Cobra Legal Solutions is an Educational Partner and sponsor of eDiscovery Today

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.