The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) is a framework that outlines the stages involved in the electronic discovery process. The identification stage is critical to the success of the entire electronic discovery process.
The identification stage involves identifying and locating potentially relevant electronically stored information (ESI) that may be used as evidence in a legal matter or investigation. This includes identifying the custodians of the data, the locations where the data is stored, and the types of data that may be relevant.
The identification stage can be broken down into several sub-stages, including:
- Legal Hold: This involves issuing a legal hold notice to custodians directing them to preserve potentially relevant ESI.
- Scope of Preservation: This involves determining the scope of ESI that needs to be preserved based on the legal hold notice and the nature of the legal matter or investigation.
- Data Mapping: This involves mapping out the locations and types of ESI that may be relevant to the legal matter or investigation.
- Collection Planning: This involves developing a plan for collecting the identified ESI, including determining the collection method, the timing of the collection, and the resources needed.
Overall, the identification stage is critical to the success of the entire electronic discovery process as it lays the foundation for the subsequent stages of preservation, collection, processing, review, and production of ESI.
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