Discovery Consulting

Our involvement in the discovery process of litigation matters consists of a deep dive into the matter and information transfer with the legal team to review the efforts undertaken up until the point of our retention. We help to identify the "custodians" of relevant information and work to determine how they rank in priority along with establishing which sources of information may contain potentially relevant information in hard copy and/or electronic form.

Document Retention & Litigation Readiness

DOAR's experience as a leading provider of discovery and trial consulting services has shown that organizations that invest in internal infrastructures to support their litigation efforts can benefit from a review of their best practices to ensure they are aligned with the latest tools, techniques and case law. We are therefore able to provide services to assist corporate clients with an evaluation of its current litigation support and records management practices and determine areas where the firm's litigation readiness plan, data preservation and collection efforts can be improved. A proactive assessment of how data is managed is critical to reducing the risk and cost associated in dealing with electronically stored information when litigation ensues.

Discovery Strategy Planning & Management

DOAR has had a direct impact on the evolution of state and federal rules governing how parties deal with electronically stored information. Our industry specialists have also testified as evidentiary experts in some of the seminal cases dealing with preservation obligations, sampling, cost-shifting, reasonableness and privilege protection/waiver. Our experience uniquely qualifies us to develop and manage defensible, cost-effective discovery strategies. We employ advanced technologies and best-of-breed solutions managed by the industry's top discovery consultants to provide our clients with unparalleled service and quality. Across the industry, DOAR is unmatched in these capabilities.

Meet & Confer/Rule 26(f) Consulting

DOAR's expertise is frequently called upon to help parties in litigation navigate the meet and confer process. While most often on behalf of one party or group of parties, DOAR ultimately assists all parties by facilitating the development of discovery protocols that are balanced and reasonable so that a discovery plan can be agreed to without the need for the court's intervention. DOAR routinely drafts letters, motions, orders and Rule 26 discovery plans that are tailored to the needs of a specific litigation while taking into account the true intent and interpretation of the federal rules of civil procedure. Our experts also act as a neutral rule 26 consultant in cases where the parties want to streamline the process so that discovery can be handled efficiently and cost-effectively.

Expert Witness Testimony

It is one thing to say that one's methodology is defensible, but it is another to actually defend it. DOAR's process and approach has been defended through live testimony, affidavits to the court and regulatory agencies and via depositions as to the defensibility of our preservation methods and document production processes. This also includes the use of sampling techniques to significantly reduce the volume of information and the cost and burden of reviewing and producing that information. Paul Neale, DOAR's President & CEO, also testified before the Federal Rules Advisory Committee re: Proposed Federal Rule of Evidence 502 dealing with inadvertent disclosure and privilege waiver in federal governmental and civil actions. Additionally, DOAR's experts have testified in evidentiary hearings in some of the seminal cases that have defined issues such as privilege waiver, timing and scope of preservation, not reasonably accessible.