E-Discovery (eDiscovery)
The process of identifying, preserving, collecting, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information in response to litigation or investigation.
E-discovery (electronic discovery) is the discovery process applied to electronically stored information (ESI) — email, documents, messages, databases, and other digital records — in litigation, investigations, and regulatory matters. It encompasses identifying potentially relevant ESI, preserving it (often via a litigation hold), collecting it, reviewing it for relevance and privilege, and producing the responsive material to the other side.
E-discovery is where records management and litigation meet. Organizations with well-managed records — disposed of defensibly on schedule and findable when needed — face lower e-discovery cost and risk, because there is less irrelevant material to wade through and relevant records can be located reliably. Poor records management inflates e-discovery expense and raises the danger of spoliation. The Sedona Conference publishes influential guidance on e-discovery practice.