Electronic discovery (also called e-discovery) refers to any process in which electronic data is sought, located, secured, and searched with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil or criminal legal case. E-discovery can be executed offline on a particular computer or it can be done in a network. Data of all types can serve as evidence, including text, images, calendar files, databases, spreadsheets, audio files, animation, web sites, and computer programs. Even malware such as viruses, trojans, and spyware can be secured and investigated. E-mail can be an especially valuable source of evidence in civil or criminal litigation as, people are often less careful in these exchanges than with hard-copy correspondence such as written memos and postal letters.

As part of our computer forensic and e-discovery services, we  can retrieve, preserve, catalogue, and analyze electronic data stored on computer hard drives,  servers, e-mail systems, phone systems, cell phones, PDAs and even personal entertainment systems such as  iPods. We can assist in a wide range of matters including financial investigations, employee terminations, litigation support and regulatory proceedings.

Team Effort

FFP’s electronic discovery experts work directly with outside counsel, general counsel, corporate executives, bank examiners, bankruptcy trustees, forensic accountants, fraud examiners, and damages experts to deliver objective advice in all phases of the electronic discovery process.

IT Forensic Services
FFP’s e-discovery team combines specialized technical skills, investigative mindset and practical knowledge to provide the following “total-evidence strategies and recovery” services throughout the litigation cycle: 

E- Discovery 

• Litigation readiness planning
• “Meet & Confer” consulting
• Discovery planning
• Application of Sedona Canada Principles in addressing electronic document production

IT Forensics

• Planning, consulting and execution of court orders, i.e. Anton Piller
• Forensic preservation of user hard drives and/or other storage media
• Deleted and active file investigations
• Password/encryption recovery

 
Data Analysis

• Internal investigations
• Complex litigation
• Enterprise data acquisition and analysis
• E-mail reconstruction and analysis
• Relationship and fact link analysis
• Transaction anomaly detection
• Corporate litigation planning

Success story

A chartered bank retained FFP to assist in an internal investigation of its trading division.  Our mandate was to investigate potential incidences of misconduct including insider trading among bank employees.  We were able to preserve, collect, process, and review email communications and other electronically stored information (“ESI”) within a very challenging time deadline.   We also provided consultation service to both in-house and external counsel.   

FFP collected ESI and email communications for more than seventy custodians, processed the data via keyword searches, de-duplications, and metadata filtering.  We were able to reduce the overall population of the ESI and dramatically reduce the review time of investigators, forensic accountants, and counsel. 

Based on our analysis, the client was able to make sound decisions based on all available information.

If you would like to learn more about our qualifications and experience in this area please contact us at any time.