Canadian Lawyer

tech Support By Dera J. Nevin The end of e-discovery No, we don't mean it in a bad way, this article is about how to successfully wrap up a project. A ll e-discovery projects come to an end, eventually. Let's address the end-of-life-cycle decisions and actions that can bring an e-discovery project to a successful close. First is the decision to formally declare the project as "ending." All stakeholders should be canvassed to ensure the e-discovery project can be declared "over." If the project arises from litigation, have all steps been taken to resolve the dispute including the exchange of settlement documentation, or has the final judgment been issued and entered and the appeal period run? Is there related litigation that might require the re-use of existing materials? Is there the possibility of future related litigation? If the project arises from a regulatory investigation, is the investigation over, and can litigation risk be ruled out? Generally, determining if a matter has concluded is both a legal and a business decision and should involve external counsel and the client. As the end of a project triggers certain recommended practices for different stakeholders, the decision it is officially over should be clearly communicated to everyone involved in the e-discovery project. Often external counsel is designated the task of communicating that decision to affected stakeholders. For example, vendors, including experts, need to be told to put pens down on work. In the case of vendors and external review teams, consider revoking document access and winding down the number of accounts available to access hosted review platforms of data. Law 18 J u ly 2013 www.CANADIAN firm litigation support teams should consider whether to restrict access to client and opposing party documents internally within the law firm. Second, but no less important, are decisions involving how to dispose of the e-discovery work product, including client documents. This is a critical, but often overlooked, step. The documents used in an e-discovery project, if not properly handled at the end of the L a w ye r m a g . c o m project's life, can create future liabilities for the client, law firms, or vendors that handled them. That is because documents that continue to exist after the end of an e-discovery project arguably remain under the "care and control" of the client, and may be liable to preservation and production obligations in any future litigation (thereby increasing cost and risk to the client). These risks are best addressed at the end of the

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