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eDiscovery and Lawyers

Iron Contributor

Greetings,

 

I was wondering if anyone has put together a set of instructions/processes that you use to instruct lawyers on conducting their own eDiscovery searches?  I had to do an eDiscovery search for a bunch of mailboxes and terms for our lawyers and was wondering if there are any simplified instructions for lawyers on how to conduct the searches or what we as admins have to do to set it up properly so they can conduct their searches.  Does anyone have their lawyers do their own searches?  What is the best way to set up lawyers to do their job? <smile>

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You should plan eDiscovery cases and set permissions accordingly. Basically you have eDiscovery Admins, eDiscovery Managers, and Reviewers. Admins have full permissions on any eDiscovery case, Managers have only permissions to those cases they create or are members of, and Reviewers can only see and open the list of the cases they are members of.

 

eDiscovery Admin role should be kept inside the organization. You could give your lawyers eDiscovery Manager or Reviewer permissions, depending on what you want them to be able to do. Manager is like giving them editing permissions on the cases they are members of, and they could also create cases. Reviewers is like read-only permission.

 

More info here:

 

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/manage-ediscovery-cases-in-the-office-365-security-complian...

 

That is helpful to know. Thanks! Does anyone have any instructions that they created for the lawyers on how to conduct the searches (create the cases, assign lawyers to the case, how to enter terms, how to find the results, etc)? I am going to see if we have any tech-savvy lawyers in our organization, but if there is any generic, step-by-step instructions that they could use, that would be helpful for us.

Hi @Zeff Wheelock I have trained several legal professionals on accessing the Office 365 Compliance Center for placing mailboxes on hold, running searches, creating hit reports, exporting off PST files, etc., but I don't have a generic set of instructions that I share. I've developed playbooks before but my clients keep them proprietary :)

 

With most of my corporate clients, I'm usually working with in-house paralegals to train them on running the searches. Typically, I find that someone in IT has previously had to run all these searches (which sounds like you are the lucky one for your organization), but I'm constantly working with the legal department to shift that role to paralegals, or a lawyer if necessary. I find that the legal folks know more specifically what they're looking for, so it makes sense to set them up as an eDiscovery Admin or Manager. I get a little pushback from the lawyers sometimes, but I walk them through the benefits of doing it this way. 

 

Let me know if that's helpful, or feel free to reach out to me directly. My LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettburney/

 

 

Firstly, it's essential to ensure that the necessary tools and software are set up correctly to enable lawyers to conduct their searches smoothly. Providing them with user-friendly interfaces and clear instructions on how to navigate through the system can go a long way. Another tip is to offer some basic training or orientation sessions specifically tailored for lawyers. This can cover the fundamentals of eDiscovery searches, including key terminologies and common search techniques. It can give them a good starting point and build their confidence in utilizing the tools effectively. By the way, when I was going through my divorce process, I found a fantastic scheidungsanwalt München https://www.familienrecht-ratgeber.com/de/scheidungsanwalt/fachanwalt-scheidung-muenchen.html who helped me tremendously. They made the whole journey much smoother, and their expertise was invaluable!
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best response confirmed by Deleted
Solution

You should plan eDiscovery cases and set permissions accordingly. Basically you have eDiscovery Admins, eDiscovery Managers, and Reviewers. Admins have full permissions on any eDiscovery case, Managers have only permissions to those cases they create or are members of, and Reviewers can only see and open the list of the cases they are members of.

 

eDiscovery Admin role should be kept inside the organization. You could give your lawyers eDiscovery Manager or Reviewer permissions, depending on what you want them to be able to do. Manager is like giving them editing permissions on the cases they are members of, and they could also create cases. Reviewers is like read-only permission.

 

More info here:

 

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/manage-ediscovery-cases-in-the-office-365-security-complian...

 

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