As Cimplifi discusses, linked documents is one of the biggest modern data challenges that legal and eDiscovery professionals face today.

In their post titled (wait for it!) Taming Modern Data Challenges: Linked Documents (available here), Cimplifi notes: “A common question we hear is: Do I need to collect linked documents? And if so, do I need to show how they relate to the parent message? The short answer is: it depends. If you don’t have to go down that path, don’t. It’s technically complex, and once you start linking documents to parent messages, you’ll face a host of decisions—each with trade-offs. In light of evolving case law on this issue, there are multiple ways to establish those relationships.”

Linking to documents instead of embedding them in communications is great from a records management and information governance perspective because it reduces data redundancy. You no longer have multiple copies of the same document in different recipients’ inboxes, which improves data hygiene. But it can create problems from an eDiscovery perspective because you don’t have a snapshot of the attached document anymore. When collecting ESI for discovery, that document would have to be separately collected via the link. That document may have been modified or deleted since the link was created – making it difficult to impossible to get to the version of the actual document sent, or any version at all.

So, what is the dispute over nomenclature? And what are the historical collection challenges with linked documents? Find out here, it’s just one click! It’s a linked document, get it? 😉

So, what do you think? How is your organization taming modern data challenges in eDiscovery? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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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.