The duty to locate, preserve, and (when appropriate) disclose relevant electronically stored information (ESI) is a serious obligation for any business today. Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's E-discovery Team is organized to help clients understand and execute these e-discovery obligations, regardless of whether they are currently involved in litigation, or reasonably anticipate future litigation (as a plaintiff or defendant).

When e-discovery duties are ignored, overlooked or disregarded, the results can be disastrous. Recent examples of such cases include:

• A spoliation order against a national brokerage firm that led to a directed verdict on liability issues and, eventually, a verdict for $1.58 billion, including punitive damages.
• A spoliation order that assessed $2.5 million in sanctions against a major tobacco company and precluded it from calling 11 witnesses in a federal trial.
• Orders that directed adverse inference instructions, evidence preclusion, dismissal, default and fines due to loss or destruction of evidence.
• Reversal of a $100 million award to a corporate plaintiff for failure to locate and produce e-mails in a timely manner.
   

Many critical decisions regarding ESI must be made early, before litigation is ever filed. Very shortly after a complaint is filed, courts now expect the parties to be engaged in a collaborative discussion about discovery of ESI. Some decisions are irreversible, including a decision to downplay the need to carefully think through what constitutes reasonable preservation efforts on a case-by-case basis. With respect to ESI, the lack of early planning may result in unnecessary costs, failure to meet obligations under the rules and sanctions. To both combat and prevent these consequences, Buchanan's E-discovery Team:

• Advises clients on potential e-discovery obligations even before they are a party to suit or receive a third-party subpoena.
• Understands clients' e-discovery obligations under the federal, state and local rules. 
• Formulates strategies for requesting and responding to requests for ESI. 
• Realizes the critical and sometimes complex issues regarding data collection, including cost, selection and engagement of vendors, strategies for identifying relevant client data, and technology terms and concepts. 
• Stays current on recent court decisions regarding the use of search terms, spoliation and other rulings regarding ESI.

Buchanan's E-discovery Team also provides and facilitates training to clients on business and litigation issues relating to e-discovery. This includes counseling clients on a business approach to planning for requests for ESI before litigation is reasonably anticipated, threatened or pending. Having written practices and policies in place before litigation arises can save valuable business resources and help to avoid a "fire drill" response imposed by litigation time-constraints. Of course, once litigation is threatened or filed, Buchanan's E-Discovery Team is ready to help clients manage all offensive and defensive aspects of e-discovery.

Electronic discovery can place an enormous burden on businesses in the course of any lawsuit. Buchanan's E-discovery Team helps clients mitigate this burden at every step in the timeline.