Handling and processing electronic evidence presents new and unique challenges that are vastly different from working with traditional printed documents. Unique among these is the handling of metadata – document attributes as to creation, modification, authorship, and potentially more based on the application used to create the electronic documents. Metadata may be used for admissibility purposes, demonstrating the chain of custody for a particular piece of ESI. It may also be used in the preservation and review processes, identifying information to be held and facilitating the culling of duplicate documents respectively. Simply opening a file or copying it to another location may modify the hidden metadata. In order to prevent spoliation, proper methods must be used in the collection and review of electronic documents. Similarly, metadata that represents privileged information must be carefully removed prior to production. This can be a complex process requiring deep technical expertise and experience.

How Fios can Help

Fios can help by creating evidence collection methods that preserve potentially relevant ESI without losing key metadata or chain of custody, whether the collection is performed by our skilled staff or by our clients. We also help our clients understand the metadata relevant to the ESI within our clients’ organizations which affect decisions as to the tools and methods used for preservation, collection, and review.

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