Leveraging Metadata in Litigation: Preservation Challenges, Relevance, Proportionality, Admissibility, Privilege

Description

Counsel must understand best practices for managing complex metadata. Metadata can be used to authenticate evidence, as substantive direct evidence, and to highlight patterns, establish timelines, and expose gaps in data. Metadata can be embedded in specific files, located on computer systems, or found on remote servers under the control of third parties. Metadata can show the who, what, or when of file creation, revision, deletion, and transfer. Algorithms and artificial intelligence can spot patterns, show how emails fit together, highlight how decisions get made, and reveal behavioral, interpretive, privileged, or strategic information.

Requests for metadata are often resisted on grounds of relevance, undue burden, lack of proportionality, and privilege or work product, so its production should be addressed when negotiating ESI discovery. Some states, such as New York, are creating standard protocols for handling metadata including metadata logs. Counsel must be able to implement proper procedures to avoid inadvertently jeopardizing privileged or counsel's own strategic information.

Listen as our authoritative panel of e-discovery experts offers guidance for attorneys to leverage metadata as evidence in litigation. The panel will discuss best practices for managing complex metadata during investigations, negotiations, and legal proceedings, and for taking advantage of metadata analysis to provide substantive evidence and authenticate key information.