E-Discovery Law Firm

Our Business Litigation Team is Well-Versed in All Aspects of Complex E-Discovery

Attorney Nick OberheidenE-Discovery Law Team Lead

In today’s world, business litigation and e-discovery go hand-in-hand. Complex business disputes involve complex e-discovery by default, and how the parties handle e-discovery can have a major impact on the subsequent stages of the litigation process.

At Oberheiden P.C., our legal professionals have extensive experience in complex e-discovery and information governance. We know how to use the e-discovery process to our clients’ advantage, and we have seen first-hand what happens when litigants and their counsel make mistakes during the process. It is not unusual for mistakes during the process to have a substantive impact on litigation—from triggering pre-trial sanctions to triggering negative inferences at trial.

Our E-Discovery Practice

We have the team and technological resources required to effectively manage all aspects of complex e-discovery in business litigation. Along with our senior litigators, our e-discovery team includes a network of former federal agents across the country who have extensive experience in digital forensics, forensic accounting, electronic surveillance, predictive coding, technology-assisted review, and other pertinent areas. We rely on this experience to efficiently and comprehensively handle e-discovery matters including:

Electronic Record Preservation and Litigation Holds

When facing litigation, companies must take proactive steps to preserve any relevant documents and all electronic data that may potentially be relevant to the dispute in question. This is commonly referred to as implementing a litigation hold. Even for companies of relatively modest size, this can be a substantial undertaking, and it requires in-depth knowledge of both the technological considerations and discovery-related rules involved.

Our senior attorneys and consultants work directly with our clients’ executives, IT teams, and other relevant personnel to preserve electronic records for litigation. We take a structured and documented approach that ensures our clients’ preservation efforts are comprehensive and that they facilitate efficient electronic document production later in the process. We assist with protecting the attorney-client privilege and other privileges as well—which is critical—and which can be extremely challenging when dealing with hundreds of thousands or millions of electronic files.

E-Discovery Response

Discovery is a fundamental aspect of business litigation at the state and federal levels. When litigating a business dispute, there is no getting around producing non-privileged records that are responsive to valid requests for producing documents. As a result, litigants need to be prepared to respond to e-discovery requests—and to demonstrate good-faith efforts to comply if the sufficiency of their electronic production is challenged in court.

We guide our clients through the e-discovery response process as well. We also provide critical advice and representation during the response process, ensuring that our clients meet their obligations while challenging overly burdensome and other improper e-discovery requests as necessary. Our systematic approach facilitates thorough documentation of the response process as well, allowing us to efficiently defend against any challenges to our clients’ response efforts in court.

Identifying Gaps in Counterparties’ Electronic Production

While responding appropriately to counterparties’ e-discovery requests is critical, it is also just part of the e-discovery process. In addition to assisting with our clients’ electronic production, we also scrutinize counterparties’ responses to our clients’ e-discovery requests to identify any gaps in their production. Whether these gaps are intentional or inadvertent, exposing gaps in counterparties’ production can often provide critical leverage before or during legal proceedings.

Here, we rely not only on our e-discovery attorneys’ experience, but also on the experience of the former federal agents in our nationwide network. Many of these former federal agents are experts in digital forensics legal matters, and other critical areas, as discussed above. By meticulously scrutinizing counterparties’ responses to our clients’ e-discovery requests, we are frequently able to identify issues that we can use to our clients’ advantage.

Managing Voluminous E-Discovery

Similar to the litigation process as a whole, managing voluminous e-discovery is itself a matter that requires strategic planning and a dedicated team. E-discovery management has become extremely advanced, and litigants that are not prepared to manage both sides of the electronic discovery process effectively can quickly find themselves overwhelmed. We manage the e-discovery process from start to finish; and, with our team and technological resources, we are capable of doing so regardless of the volume, nature, and location of the electronic records involved.

Using E-Discovery in Business Litigation

Of course, while e-discovery is a process of its own, the ultimate purpose of e-discovery is to facilitate a favorable outcome in litigation. At Oberheiden P.C., our senior attorneys have extensive experience using all types of records obtained through e-discovery to advance our clients’ interests in court. We leverage counterparties’ e-discovery failures in court as well—seeking sanctions, negative inferences, and other appropriate remedies as warranted.

In the end, e-discovery is useless if it does not serve a specific purpose in litigation. We make sure that our clients have the information they need, and that we use this information to its fullest potential. By making effective use of e-discovery in business litigation, we are frequently able to achieve favorable results for our clients that would not have been possible without these efforts.

Dr. Nick Oberheiden

Founder

Attorney-at-Law

Lynette S. Byrd

Former DOJ Trial Attorney

Partner

Brian J. Kuester

Former U.S. Attorney

Hon. Kevin McCarthy

55th Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives (ret.)

Government Consultant

Mike Pompeo

Of Counsel

Former U.S. Secretary of State

John W. Sellers

Former Senior DOJ Trial Attorney

Linda Julin McNamara

Federal Appeals Attorney

Nicholas B. Johnson

Former Prosecutor

Roger Bach

Former Special Agent (DOJ)

Chris J. Quick

Former Special Agent (FBI & IRS-CI)

Michael S. Koslow

Former Supervisory Special Agent (DOD-OIG)

Ray Yuen

Former Supervisory Special Agent (FBI)

Why Choose Oberheiden P.C. for Complex E-Discovery?

Why should you choose Oberheiden P.C. for business litigation involving complex e-discovery? Here is what we have to offer:

Our Team of Senior Litigators – All of the attorneys in our business litigation practice have senior-level experience, including experience handling large-scale litigation at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in many cases.
Our Network of E-Discovery and Forensics Consultants – Our network of e-discovery professional and forensics consultants includes former high-ranking agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and multiple Offices of Inspector General (OIGs).
Our Technological Resources and Capabilities – We maintain the state-of-the-art technological resources needed to conduct voluminous e-discovery, and we have the capabilities required to manage complex e-discovery on a nationwide or global scale.
Our Experience in Litigating E-Discovery Disputes – We have extensive experience litigating e-discovery disputes. As a result, we are intimately familiar with the issues that tend to lead to disputes, how to avoid them, and what it takes to resolve them in a defensible manner.
Our Experience Using E-Discovery to Our Clients’ Advantage – From using key information obtained through e-discovery to using counterparties’ production failures to obtain sanctions and other remedies, we have extensive experience using e-discovery to our clients’ advantage.

FAQs: Using E-Discovery to Your Company’s Advantage in Business Litigation

How is Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Handled in Business Litigation?

Managing electronically stored information (ESI) is a critical aspect of modern business litigation. Both sides will typically need to make voluminous ESI disclosures during the discovery process, and responding appropriately to ESI requests and effectively examining counterparties’ ESI disclosures are equally important. At Oberheiden P.C., we work closely with our clients to ensure that they manage the e-discovery process effectively, and we help ensure that our clients only disclose ESI that they are legally required to disclose. When warranted, we seek confidentiality and other protections as well.

How Can Companies Effectively Manage E-Discovery Requests in Business Litigation?

As the volume of electronic records within companies’ custody continues to grow, effectively managing e-discovery requests is becoming increasingly challenging. At Oberheiden P.C., we have the team, capabilities, and experience required to help our clients effectively manage voluminous e-discovery—no matter how many thousands or millions of files are involved.

When Can (and Should) Business Litigants Challenge E-Discovery Requests?

Business litigants can challenge e-discovery requests on various grounds. When going through the e-discovery process, asserting timely and appropriate challenges is extremely important. From demonstrating that requested ESI is irrelevant to demonstrating that counterparties’ e-discovery requests are overly burdensome, we are able to use several strategies to help ensure that our clients’ e-discovery production burdens are no greater than necessary.

How Can I Confirm Compliance with an E-Discovery Request?

Confirming counterparties’ compliance with e-discovery requests is among the most difficult—and important—challenges involved in the electronic discovery process. How can you ensure that a counterparty has fully complied with its obligation to produce responsive ESI?

This is where Oberheiden P.C.’s team of former federal agents comes into play. With extensive experience in the areas of digital forensics, forensic accounting, electronic surveillance, these consultants are able to lend their expertise to ensuring that our clients have all of the information to which they are legally entitled.

Do I Need an E-Discovery Vendor?

E-discovery vendors can provide valuable services in appropriate cases. When it makes sense to engage an e-discovery vendor, we provide our clients with recommendations and manage the engagement process on our clients’ behalf. We then work directly with our clients’ e-discovery vendors to maximize efficiencies, avoid breakdowns in communications, and ensure that our clients have all of the information they need to litigate their disputes as cost-effectively as possible.

Speak with a Senior E-Discovery Lawyer at Oberheiden P.C. in Confidence

If you would like more information about our e-discovery practice, we invite you to get in touch. One of our senior attorneys or consultants will be more than happy to speak with you one-on-one. To arrange a complimentary consultation at Oberheiden P.C., please call 888-680-1745 or tell us how we can get in touch online today.