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E-Discovery | MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 | S3

Our Forensic Accountants Leave

No Stone Unturned
do this themselves. The cost of capturing to a chain, it could indicate a new custodian

and storing these emails is normally based about which the attorney was not previously
on the number of gigabytes they represent.
aware. This could alert the attorney to a
A signiicant e-discovery cost factor is the custodian’s personal email account that had
amount of time it will require for trained been used for business but was not included
attorneys to review and tag for production in the collection emails and may indicate the
those emails thought to be relevant to the need to broaden the collection.
case. The basic operating strategy to mini- Threading can be as hands on as the law
mize these costs is based on the premise irm prefers. The e-discovery provider may
that not every email needs to be reviewed. gather all of the truckloads of emails and store

Some have no relevancy to the case at all them in its data centers or in the cloud and
and many others, perhaps hundreds or more, conduct the threading. As an alternative, the
may deal with a relevant topic but are actu- law irm or corporate legal department can
ally duplicates so reviewers need not look perform the actual threading process them-
at all of them.
selves using the provider’s software.
One method to narrow the number of
relevant emails is to batch them, perhaps
by chronological order, and assign different Custodians Are the Starting Point

Unfortunately, fraud can happen anywhere, and no one is immune. White collar crime
batches to different reviewers. One problem During pretrial discussions, both parties
continues to endanger businesses, and technology eases the way for perpetrators to cover
with this approach is the presence of dupli- typically agree as to the individuals whose
their tracks. That’s why an accountant should be an integral part of your team. Leaving no
cates that may have gotten into different emails should be copied for potential review.
stone unturned, our forensic accountants have the technical expertise necessary to analyze
batches. This could cause multiple review- In e-discovery terms, they are known as “cus-
ers to spend time—and thus money—read- todians.” Some custodians will have several
books and records, detect inconsistencies, and ind and trace hidden or misappropriated
ing the same or similar emails several times. business and personal email accounts that
assets. Isn’t it time you made Israeloff, Trattner & Co. part of your team?
Threading software views emails as a mere they access through their computers, digital
FORENSIC ACCOUNTING • EXPERT TESTIMONY • EMbEzzLEMENT & FRAUd AUdITS
collection of words. It organizes emails to pad devices or their business and personal
bUSINESS LOSS • dAMAGE ANALYSIS
indicate a conversation thread.
cell phones. Some of the folks receiving Mr.

PERSONAL INJURY, WRONGFUL dEATH OR TERMINATION
The attorneys involved in the case can also Brown’s email on their computer may have
MARITAL dISSOLUTION • bANKRUPTCY
ilter and prioritize emails based on key identi-
responded through their business or personal
bUSINESS, PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE & LICENSE vALUATIONS
cell phones.
Companies involved in the litigation can
normally provide a list of business email
Ofices in New York City and Garden City
Email threading can reduce accounts for their employees. Those indi-
1-8OO-945-O2OO
the time required for review viduals as well as custodians who aren’t
employees may also be asked to provide a
Visit us on the web at www.israeloff.com
of emails by as much as 60 list of all their email accounts including per-

percent.
sonal accounts.
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In our example, the goal at this early stage
is to compile a list of Tom Brown’s email
accounts and those of each of the other
iers associated with the emails they are seek- nine people. They hold the raw data being
ing. These might include the sender, recipient, sought. At this point in the process, there is
dates sent or key words in the content or no indication of exactly how many emails are
attachments. This software can electronically associated with each account, though to nar-

scan all of the original emails. It will then row the scope, the attorneys may designate
group them together, including all duplicates speciic dates in which they are interested.
based on threads of communication.
When considering email collections, the
When an attorney is tagging documents devices that individuals use are not as impor-
for responsiveness and non-responsiveness, tant as the location of the servers that host
having emails threaded by conversation can their accounts. It does not depend on where
save great amounts of time. They can often someone works but rather where the email
identify the full content in a chain of emails servers are located.
by simply looking at the final one in the

chain and can make a tagging decision for The Role of International Privacy Laws
the entire chain in mere seconds rather than
needing to review each individual email. The Our hypothetical case involving Mr. Brown
fewer emails reviewed, the less time and cost is being tried in U.S. courts, but the ability
invested in the process.
to gain access to any of the 110 or so emails Be sure to reserve your space in the
Email threading can thus reduce the time potentially being hosted on servers in other
required for review of emails by as much as countries may require procedures that meet
60 percent.
the data privacy laws in those countries.
These laws, which are often more strict than Real Estate Law

A Threading Example
in the United States, dictate how and where
locally stored emails can be collected and & Practice
Let’s break down the threading concept where they can be reviewed.
with a simple example. If Tom Brown sends At this point, relying on the privacy law
an email to 10 people, generating 11 emails, expertise of attorneys and the technical abili-
and all 10 respond and copy the others, that ties of an international e-discovery service Special Broadsheet Section
is 110 emails that are nearly identical. Using provider is essential for a successful email
identiiers associated with Mr. Brown’s emails, review. The attorneys will guide the legal
please contact:
threading software can quickly identify and aspect of the process. A provider will never Farrell McManus
group together these 110 separate email offer legal advice but can guide the task of col- (212) 457-9465
conversations. Threading may also reveal lecting and securely storing from the servers Phone:
additional email addresses for custodians. in question. In many cases these providers [email protected]
If all of a sudden an email thread indicates that may be able to satisfy compliance require-
an additional email address has been copied
ments by retrieving and storing » Page S12