What is ESI?

What is ESI?

ESI is an abbreviation for Electronically Stored Information and is a term widely used in the eDiscovery world.

Discovery (or Disclosure in England and Wales) is the exchange of documents between parties, usually in the context of litigation which support or undermine parties’ cases. 

It is stating a document exists or has existed and in practical terms this is done by an exchange of lists.

These documents will contain information which is usually stored electronically.

What information does this include?

ESI includes electronic data sources such as emails, Microsoft documents, presentations, databases, voicemail, audio and video files, social media and websites.  

Simply put, ESI is any of the thousands of digital records produced by an average person on an average day.

What issues can ESI cause?

In large companies the amount of ESI can be vast. 

One employee or custodian, the individual recognised to have created or controlled an electronic file, may have several different electronic devices, such as a laptop, phone, or tablet on which they hold electronically stored information. 

This poses a huge problem for companies when dealing with discovery requests in litigation or regulatory matters, or Data Subject Access Requests.

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If you’d like to find out more about how Cleaver Fulton Rankin can help your company with ESI, or learn more about our full range of eDiscovery services, reach out using the contact form below and a member of our expert team will be in touch shortly.