eDiscovery and Hyperlinked Files in Emails: Considerations for Collecting, Searching, and Producing Modern Attachments

Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Class Action and Other Litigation
- event Date
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE webinar will consider how to deal with one of the newest challenges in eDiscovery: modern attachments. Panelists will review what these challenges are, highlight the unique problems that must be considered, offer guidance about ESI protocols, review common objections to producing them and how to overcome those objections, and discuss concerns such as “which version,” broken links, deleted documents, and the state of software solutions.
Faculty

With nearly 30 years of trial experience, Mr. Rosenthal litigates complex commercial, antitrust and false advertising cases. As Chair of the firm's eDiscovery & Information Governance Practice, he also has expansive experience in all areas of electronic discovery, privacy, information governance, and data breach. In addition to Mr. Rosenthal’s litigation and counseling he also acts as national e-discovery counsel for numerous corporations. He is a former steering committee member of Working Group 1 of the Sedona Conference on Best Practices for Electronic Discovery and Records Management, a group of lawyers, judges and vendors focusing on the development of the law regarding electronic discovery and retention issues. Mr. Rosenthal is also a participant in Working Group 6 of the Sedona Conference International Electronic Information Management, Discovery and Disclosure, which focuses on international issues relating to disclosure, cross-border discovery, and privacy.

Mr Austin is an established eDiscovery thought leader with over 30 years of experience providing eDiscovery best practices, legal technology consulting and technical project management services to numerous commercial and government clients. He has published a daily blog since 2010 and has written numerous articles and white papers. Mr. Austin has received the JD Supra Readers Choice Award as the Top eDiscovery Author for 2017 and 2018 and a JD Supra Readers Choice Award as a Top Cybersecurity Author for 2019. He has presented at numerous events and conferences, including Legaltech New York, ILTACON, Relativity Fest, University of Florida E-Discovery Conference, Masters Conference and many local and regional conferences. Mr. Austin has also presented numerous CLE-accredited webcasts.

Ms. McCarroll has extensive experience working as a trial attorney specializing in complex civil litigation, having tried cases in both federal and state courts. She focuses her practice on providing advice and counsel on eDiscovery, information governance, and cybersecurity issues to clients in a wide array of industries, including automotive, transportation, financial services, defense contracting, and pharmaceutical. Ms. McCarroll's litigation background allows her to step into high stakes, multidistrict litigation, and quickly grasp the key discovery issues and needs, develop cost-effective solutions to address the issues and needs, and then lead and manage the implementation of those solutions.
Description
Most ESI discovery solutions deployed to collect, index, and search emails can capture traditional attachments because the file is embedded in the email. “Modern attachments” are not embedded in the emails, but refer to hyperlinks to a separate, external location, often in cloud storage, where the referenced file exists at the time the email was sent.
Most ESI discovery solutions will not see modern attachments. Cloud or linked files can be searched and produced but extra and inconvenient steps are often required to do so. According to Craig Ball and others, means that "relevant, responsive and non-privileged attachments to email aren't being produced because relevant, responsive and non-privileged attachments aren't being searched."
The version of the file that exists at the time of any discovery efforts, however, may not be the version that existed at the time the email was sent, giving rise to ancillary questions, such as which version(s) of the “modern attachment” should be searched or produced? These questions generate significant motions practice as parties object to production “modern attachments.”
Listen as this panel of eDiscovery experts discusses handling modern attachments.
Outline
- How and why the issue has arisen
- Relevant case law rulings
- Common objections to production
- Five assumptions to frame the discussion
- Current available solutions and challenges with each
- Current strategies and practical solutions
- Proposed language for modern attachments in ESI protocols
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What is the difference between modern attachments and links to the web?
- What ancillary issues arise with hyperlinked documents?
- What are common objections to producing modern attachments, and how are they overcome?
- What does it mean to have possession, custody, or control of a modern attachment?
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