Answers to your frequently asked questions about computer forensics in the midst of business litigation.
Business Litigation FAQs
Typically, the best source of email evidence is the email server. While emails may be found in multiple locations such as on a phone, tablet, or computer, those locations tend to hold fewer emails than the server. For example, many phone users have their emails synced for only 30 days, and maybe only six months on their computer. Whereas the email server may have three years or more worth of email. Therefore, frequently the email server is the preferred source of evidence.
An ESI agreement, also known as a discovery protocol, is an agreement between two or more parties in a lawsuit. Specifically, it deals with the processes, procedures, and timeline for how to exchange electronically stored information (ESI). Ideally, the best time to enter an ESI agreement or discovery protocol is at the outset of litigation while complying with Rule 26(f) meet and confer requirements. Commonly, the agreements will cover which devices or accounts, relevant date range, search terms, and data types subject to forensic collection.
There are three ways we collect mobile phone evidence:
- Mobile Phone itself.
- Backups of the mobile phone on the computer.
- Backups of the mobile phone on a cloud service.
Our forensic software and collection procedures are fully defensible. Meaning, we protect your data integrity so you can use it for litigation if needed. We extract images, videos, text messages call logs, notes, voicemail and application data. In addition, we always maintain chain of custody and preserve the integrity of the evidence, so it can be admissible in court.
We are lawyers with a deep technical backgrounds. We can extract financial files (e.g. accounting files like Quicken and QuickBooks), and financial data in databases. If you need a detailed financial review for your legal case, we can recommend a forensic accountant or CPA.
Mobile and computer forensics cost is flat-fee based per device. For example, a phone starts at $875, Computer $1,275, and Email Account $875. You can see all our eDiscovery flat-fees here. The flat-fee services are all-inclusive. Therefore, we don’t charge for phone calls, emails, meetings, or hard drives to store the data.
As an expert witness, we only work with one party in the litigation, because of conflict of interest rules. However, if both sides agree, we can work as a Neutral Third-Party Expert. We help the parties establish a protocol, and then we collect the evidence for both sides, cull out any attorney-client privileged communications, and exchange the data between the parties. The parties negotiate who pays our fees, and is often 50/50.
See the menu to the right for answers to more frequently asked questions you may have to make your litigation preparation smoother.
We can analyze multiple phones, computers and other data for class action cases. We are licensed and experienced trial attorneys, and have a deep technical background (authored books on computer programming and database), so we can help you find the evidence you need. This allows us to be a valuable asset in your class action case, as well as ensuring that you get the results you need. We can even search through hidden data and deleted files. Please contact us today for more information.