Digital Evidence in Civil Litigation

Early identification

Identify likely custodians, devices, email accounts, cloud services, messaging platforms and third-party sources.

Preservation duties

Take reasonable steps to prevent deletion, overwriting, device replacement or routine retention processes from destroying relevant data.

Native evidence

Screenshots and printouts can be useful leads but native files and source-system context usually provide stronger authentication and metadata.

Proportionality

Define date ranges, keywords, parties and issues to control cost and avoid indiscriminate collection.

Expert interpretation

Technical artefacts should be explained with their limitations. Absence of an artefact does not always prove absence of an event.