Electronic Systems Discovery
Our services can dramatically reduce the number of documents necessary for attorney review, and can limit costs that might otherwise arise from e-discovery abuses.
Our services go beyond traditional e-discovery including identification, recovery, preservation, and analysis of systems, databases, and other non-custodial evidence that must be forensically analyzed to reach expert findings and opinions that support or refute key issues in the dispute.
In today’s business world, locating, recovering, and reviewing relevant electronically stored information (ESI) for discovery purposes presents a difficult challenge. Litigators are now confronted with a much larger variety and volume of electronic data than ever before, stored in an ever-growing catalog of devices, operating systems, databases, and file formats. DisputeSoft’s approach to recovering, preserving, restoring, and analyzing such non-traditional ESI can provide a strategic advantage at significant cost savings.
Software, Data, and System Acquisition and Preservation
E-discovery is not just about custodial documents and emails. Complex IT cases also involve discovery of systems and databases, which may be highly relevant to proving or refuting claims of poor-quality software, missing functionality, excessive defects, insufficient testing, misappropriated software, and the like. DisputeSoft’s experts leverage comprehensive technical know-how with a sophisticated understanding of key issues in software litigation to guide our clients through each step of the discovery process. DisputeSoft provides acquisition and preservation services for identifying, acquiring, preserving, and recovering complex IT systems and databases that are outside the scope of traditional e discovery vendor services. We also analyze complex data and stand-up entire systems for inspection and testing. DisputeSoft ensures that we receive the machines and systems needed for expert analysis in an efficient and forensically sound manner.
How We Can Help
Our Services
Our knowledge of software litigation helps us efficiently identify the systems needing preservation. We are prepared to undertake the acquisition of a range of machines and systems, including VMware virtual machines, IBM AIX logical partitions, source code versioning systems, and SQL databases, among others. DisputeSoft uses a variety of tools, including proprietary internal software, to gather information from both physical and virtual machines. We backup and restore databases and then analyze the data for evidence that supports or refutes allegations in the case. Our EnCase certified forensic analysts often generate backup versions and forensic images of such systems, which can be loaded into EnCase to preserve and inventory relevant files.
e-Sift®
At DisputeSoft, we have developed successful tools and techniques that mitigate these costs and meet the challenges of today’s discovery environment. Our proprietary e-Sift® tools can vastly reduce the volume of discoverable material that must undergo litigation support processing and attorney review. We have successfully used e-Sift® to reduce client e-discovery costs by orders of magnitude. We also assist counsel in preparing questions for depositions and interrogatories that are designed to discover how potentially relevant ESI is stored by an opposing party. Understanding how ESI is stored by an opposing party can help limit costs by ensuring that e-discovery efforts are only focused on ESI relevant to a case.
DisputeSoft uses a variety of tools, including proprietary internal software, to gather information from both physical and virtual machines.
Confidential Information and Acquisition Protocols
DisputeSoft experts are familiar with the process of obtaining the certifications and clearances necessary for outside contractors to gain access to client systems or software, and are sensitive to the requirements surrounding confidential information and shared project drives. Our experts adapt to the specific needs of each client to develop situation-appropriate protocols and procedures for each system to be acquired.
In Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Pre-Litigation Investigation, a software dispute relating to a failed implementation of an online health insurance exchange system, DisputeSoft staff directed the acquisition and preservation of a highly‑complex universe of systems used for the development, testing, and troubleshooting of the insurance exchange. These systems included source code repositories, incident-reporting systems, and middleware servers responsible for load balancing and parallelization of user requests. DisputeSoft personnel used these systems to review the underlying source code and determine how much Cúram for Health Care Reform software functionality had been added after procurement, and to extract audit logs containing critical data relating to software defects that prevented the system from working properly upon release.
In another software failure dispute regarding a large-scale software modernization project, DisputeSoft coordinated with and directed the discovery vendor to acquire and preserve systems associated with the failed software implementation, and worked to obtain the relevant systems in a format conducive to examination and analysis. DisputeSoft selected systems that were likely to contain relevant source code, defect data, testing data, and other information related to the failed software implementation. The systems comprised Windows virtual servers, AIX servers, database exports, and file shares containing project data. DisputeSoft instructed both the end client and the discovery vendor to ensure these systems were acquired such that they could be restored for later analysis. Virtual Windows and AIX servers were cloned so that they could be restored to different hardware, databases were exported so that they could be independently reconstructed and validated by software experts. DisputeSoft personnel used these systems to review the underlying source code and conduct a number of analyses, including defect, testing, and requirements analyses, as well as analysis, verification, and validation of third-party reports and assessments.
Experts on Electronic Systems Discovery
Josh Siegel
Josh Siegel has substantial experience analyzing copyright, patent, and trade secret cl…
Nick Ferrara
Nick Ferrara has been an integral part of more than 90 cases, spanning numerous commerc…
J. Todd Trivett
Todd Trivett is a recognized industry expert in Information Technology, providing consu…
Evan D’Aversa
At DisputeSoft, Evan is a Senior Consultant responsible for analyzing source code in IP…