The flagship engagement
The eDiscovery Playbook®
A living operating manual that aligns Legal, IT, Privacy, Records, and HR around the same defensible steps — so your organization stops improvising eDiscovery and starts running a process that holds up in court.
What it is
A scoped consulting engagement that produces a documented, repeatable, defensible approach to electronically stored information — specific to your data, your systems, and your litigation profile. Built and supervised by a court-appointed expert, and designed so that when your process is challenged, the record is already made.
What it isn't
It is not one of the free “playbook” PDFs vendors give away as marketing collateral. The eDiscovery Playbook® is a proprietary methodology — a trademark of Law & Forensics — delivered as a bespoke engagement, not a template you download and forget.
Inside the playbook
Ten elements. One named owner each.
Every element closes a gap that turns into a spoliation motion, a blown proportionality fight, or a review the other side can pull apart on cross-examination.
Legal-hold triggers & issuance
Written criteria for when the duty to preserve attaches, plus the hold-notice workflow, custodian acknowledgment, and auto-deletion suspension that make it defensible.
Custodian interviews & data mapping
A repeatable interview protocol and a living map of where responsive ESI actually lives — email, chat, mobile, cloud, and the systems people forget.
Preservation procedures
Step-by-step preservation across modern data sources, with the documentation that survives a Rule 37(e) challenge.
Modern data sources
Microsoft 365, Teams, Slack, Google Workspace, mobile, and ephemeral messaging — captured, not overlooked, when the hold lands.
Collection & chain of custody
Defensible collection methods and an unbroken chain of custody that an opposing expert cannot pull apart on cross.
TAR / CAL / AI review workflows
Validated technology-assisted review protocols — the workflow, the metrics, and the validation record that hold up when challenged.
Production specifications
Format, metadata, and privilege-handling specs negotiated to protect the client and to be enforceable against the other side.
Rule 26(f) & 37(e) ESI protocols
Meet-and-confer-ready protocol templates — the terms courts now hold parties to, drafted by the person courts appoint to referee them.
Roles & responsibilities
A named owner for every step across Legal, IT, Privacy, Records, and HR, so nothing falls through the gap between departments.
Disposition at matter close
Defensible disposition when the matter ends — closing the loop without creating the next spoliation exposure.
How an engagement works
A four-phase path, scoped to your litigation profile.
Readiness Scorecard
A 2-minute self-assessment that grades your current eDiscovery posture and shows where the exposure sits. Free.
Complimentary Playbook Review
A working conversation with the expert team to pressure-test your assessment and scope what a defensible playbook requires.
Fixed-Fee Gap Assessment
A scoped diagnostic of your preservation, collection, and review practices against the standard courts apply — with a prioritized remediation plan.
Scoped Playbook Buildout
We build your eDiscovery Playbook® — the operating manual your Legal, IT, and Privacy teams run from, ready to defend.
Engagements are fixed-fee and scoped to your organization's litigation profile. Start with the free scorecard, or request a consultation and we'll scope it with you directly.
Sample
See a redacted eDiscovery Playbook® table of contents.
The full structure of a court-tested playbook, so you can see exactly what a defensible operating manual contains before you engage.
On the record
What retaining counsel say.
“He is the person you want writing the protocol you will have to defend two years later. Nothing in his work product gives the other side a foothold.”
“We stopped treating eDiscovery as a fire drill. The playbook gave our board something concrete to see and our outside counsel something they could rely on.”
“When the judge appoints the same expert other courts appoint as Special Master, the credibility problem solves itself.”
“The readiness assessment found gaps we genuinely did not know we had — in preservation and in our messaging-app data. Fixing them before a matter beat finding out during one.”
“Our review costs became predictable for the first time. The playbook made discovery a process we run, not a crisis we survive.”
“He explains the technology so a jury follows it and an opposing expert can't muddy it. That is rarer than it sounds.”
Questions
About the engagement.
What is the eDiscovery Playbook®?+
It is a proprietary, court-tested operating manual that defines your organization's repeatable, defensible approach to electronically stored information — from legal-hold triggers through collection, review, production, and disposition — with a named owner for every step. eDiscovery Playbook® is a trademark of Law & Forensics; it is a structured engagement built and supervised by a court-appointed expert, not a generic template.
How is this different from the free "playbook" PDFs vendors give away?+
Those are marketing collateral. The eDiscovery Playbook® is a scoped consulting engagement that produces a defensible operating manual specific to your data, your systems, and your litigation profile — authored under the supervision of the expert courts appoint to referee these exact disputes. It is built to hold up when an opposing party challenges your process, not to be downloaded and forgotten.
Who buys an eDiscovery Playbook® engagement?+
General counsel and legal-ops leaders who want defensibility and budget predictability; litigation partners who need a client's discovery process to survive the meet-and-confer and the sanctions motion; and CISOs and IT leaders responsible for legal hold, data mapping, and preservation that actually works when litigation hits.
What does an engagement look like?+
It typically follows four phases: a free readiness scorecard, a complimentary playbook review, a fixed-fee gap assessment, and a scoped buildout of the playbook itself. Engagements are fixed-fee and scoped to your organization's litigation profile.
Will the playbook hold up in court?+
That is the entire point. It is built to the standard courts apply under Rules 26 and 37(e), by an expert who has served as Special Master and neutral in federal and state courts and whose work is cited in more than 500 opinions and articles. The playbook is designed so that when your process is challenged, the record is already made.
How do conflicts and engagement work?+
Every inquiry is subject to a conflicts check and a written engagement agreement. Send the organization name and a short description of your situation, and you will receive a conflict check and scoping response within one business day.
eDiscovery Playbook® is a trademark of Law & Forensics LLC. Law & Forensics holds U.S. federal trademark registrations including FORENSIC PLAYBOOK (Reg. No. 5,184,470) and LAW & FORENSICS (Reg. No. 4,394,126).
Engage
Build the playbook before the complaint.
Every day without a defensible process is a day the exposure compounds. Start the engagement that ends the fire drills.