E-discovery is a specialized discipline that combines forensic computer science, knowledge of the Rules of Civil Procedure, and document-review methodology. The right partner takes you from preservation through production with chain of custody intact at every step.
What a Qualified Partner Actually Does
- Preservation guidance - identifying custodians and sources before anything is lost, and documenting the hold.
- Defensible collection - capturing data without altering it, with hashes and documentation that survive challenge.
- Complete processing - every file type made searchable, with anything unparseable inventoried rather than dropped.
- Efficient review - search and AI coding that put attorney time on documents that matter.
- Defensible production - Bates-numbered packages behind a fail-closed privilege gate, verifiable byte for byte.
The Test: Can They Show Their Work?
Whoever you choose, ask one question: if this process is challenged a year from now, what records exist to defend it? A qualified practitioner answers with specifics - hash manifests, lineage records, audit trails, sign-off gates. That is the difference between a process that is defensible and one that merely went unchallenged. It is also exactly what our platform records by architecture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not just have the client’s IT staff collect the data?
Because IT’s job is to keep systems running, not to preserve evidence. Copying files changes metadata; a well-meaning cleanup looks like spoliation. Defensible collection is hash-verified, write-protected, and documented - a different discipline. See our note on forensic imaging.
What should I ask an e-discovery vendor before hiring them?
How they document chain of custody; how they handle formats that do not parse; whether AI output is separated from native evidence; how privilege is protected at production time; and whether a served production can be re-verified afterward. Concrete answers matter more than brand names.
Does Relevant e-Discovery only handle the technology?
No. We operate the review platform as a managed service on your matter - processing, search, coding, and production - and work alongside your team through the review itself. Firms that prefer to own the infrastructure can have the platform deployed in their own cloud account.