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Leveraging Metadata in Litigation: Preservation Challenges, Relevance, Proportionality, Admissibility, Privilege

Recent Issues Related to Modern Attachments, Metadata Logs, Privacy, Blockchain, Impact of Artificial Intelligence

A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CLE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

1:00pm-2:30pm EST, 10:00am-11:30am PST

Early Registration Discount Deadline, Friday, January 3, 2025

or call 1-800-926-7926

This CLE course will bring litigators up to date about leveraging metadata in litigation while at the same time preventing exposure of privileged or proprietary information. The panel will review the evolution of metadata, address challenges with discoverability and admissibility, and then discuss recent issues related to modern attachments, metadata logs, privacy, blockchain, the impact of analysis with artificial intelligence, and more. The panel will offer best practices for managing complex metadata during litigation to provide substantive evidence and authenticate key information.

Description

Counsel must understand best practices for managing complex metadata during litigation. Metadata can be used to authenticate evidence, as substantive direct evidence, and to highlight patterns, establish timelines, and expose gaps in data. Metadata can be embedded in specific files, located on computer systems, or found on remote servers under the control of third parties. Metadata can show the who, what, or when of file creation, revision, deletion, and transfer. Algorithms and artificial intelligence can spot patterns, show how emails fit together, highlight how decisions get made, and reveal behavioral, interpretive, privileged, or strategic information.

Requests for metadata are often resisted on grounds of relevance, undue burden, lack of proportionality, and privilege or work product, so its production should be addressed when negotiating ESI discovery. Some states, such as New York, are creating standard protocols for handling metadata including metadata logs. Counsel must be able to implement proper procedures to avoid inadvertently jeopardizing privileged or counsel's own strategic information.

Listen as our authoritative panel of litigators and e-discovery experts offers guidance for attorneys to leverage metadata as evidence in litigation. The panel will discuss best practices for managing complex metadata during litigation and for taking advantage of metadata analysis to provide substantive evidence and authenticate key information.

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Outline

  1. Understanding metadata
    1. Modern attachments
    2. Metadata logs
    3. Blockchain
    4. Impact of analysis with artificial intelligence
    5. Electronic redaction
  2. Using metadata in litigation
    1. Preservation
    2. Discoverability
      1. Relevance
        1. Standards
        2. Relevant in specific categories of cases
        3. Proving existence of document vs. contents
      2. Proportionality
    3. Admissibility
      1. Authentication
      2. Hearsay
    4. Risks and challenges
      1. Protecting privilege, work product
      2. Protecting client data
      3. Privacy issues
      4. Ease of alteration
  3. Benefits

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

  • What can counsel do to reduce or eliminate the risk of inadvertent disclosures with metadata?
  • How can metadata authenticate evidence? How can metadata serve as substantive evidence?
  • What are best practices for demanding the production of metadata?

Faculty

Lewis, Julie
Julie Lewis

President, CEO and Founder
Digital Mountain

Ms. Lewis has over 35 years of experience working in the high technology industry. Prior to founding Digital...  |  Read More

Additional faculty
to be announced.
Attend on January 7

Early Discount (through 01/03/25)

Cannot Attend January 7?

Early Discount (through 01/03/25)

You may pre-order a recording to listen at your convenience. Recordings are available 48 hours after the webinar. Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.

To find out which recorded format will provide the best CLE option, select your state:

CLE On-Demand Video