“Transparency is indeed expensive, but it pales in comparison to the cost to a emocracy of operating behind a veil of secrecy.”

Judge Scheindlin wrote that line in a recent opinion out of the

Southern District of New York.

The case, Nat’l Day Laborer Org. Network v. United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency, which was filed over two years ago, has now engendered

five judicial opinions.

The following list should make the discovery ride a bit less

bumpy:

1. Send out a litigation hold memo;

2. Select custodians and secure their ESI;

3. Search documents of key custodians who are current and

former employees;

4. Specify keywords to identify documents — test your terms

and get help from employees;

5. Seek answers by interviewing employees about where relevant

data may exist (servers, social media sites, email, backup

tapes, etc.);

6. Scribe — document the entire process and don’t hold back

on the details. Include dates, custodian interviews and

responses, keyword selection process, results of searches, and

the names of the people involved in the endeavor. There is no

such thing as too much documentation.