eDiscovery Daily Blog

• February 24, 2025

On February 18, 2025, at The Masters Conference in Miami, I had the privilege of speaking on a panel alongside Matt Rasmussen (ModeOne), Alex Lewis (Kuro Group), and Brittany Leonard (General Counsel) to discuss one of the most pressing challenges in eDiscovery today: Modern Data Management.

With mobile devices, social media, and collaboration tools now serving as primary business communication channels, legal professionals must rethink how they preserve, collect, and produce this data. Our discussion explored recent case law, evolving trends, and best practices to stay ahead of the curve.

Key Takeaways from Our Discussion

Mobile Devices: Where the Evidence Lives

It’s no secret that mobile data has become central to eDiscovery. Text messages, chat apps, and even geolocation data often hold critical evidence, but the industry still struggling with the collection of this data. We discussed those challenges, but also some ways to ease this challenge:

• The challenges of preservation, particularly with auto-deletion settings and ephemeral messaging start with proper custodial interviews and understanding communication habits and applications.
• Recent case at CloudNine, including a scenario where a primary executive had a 30-day text deletion policy, forcing forensic teams to recover and reconstruct messages from over 100 of the executive’s contacts devices.
• The Safelite v. Lockridge case, where failing to preserve text messages led to sanctions and an adverse inference ruling.

The key takeaway? If mobile data is part of your business operations, it needs to be part of your legal discovery strategy.

Social Media in eDiscovery: More Than Just Screenshots

Social media platforms present another evolving challenge. Courts are increasingly scrutinizing the authenticity of social media evidence, especially as deepfakes and manipulated content become more prevalent.

One of the most eye-opening discussions was around the Rossbach v. Montefiore Medical Center case, where claims were dismissed due to the inability to authenticate social media screenshots—reminding us all that proper data collection and processing is necessary.

Our panel emphasized that collecting social media data is not as simple as hitting “download.” Each platform has different policies, formats, and retention settings, making standardized collection strategies crucial and it is best to leverage experienced service providers that have the proper platforms to collect.

Corporate Communications: The Rise of Slack, Teams, and Hyperlinked Files

Beyond mobile and social, modern eDiscovery must also account for collaboration tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and cloud-based file sharing. Recent case law highlights just how important these sources have become:

• Lubrizol Corp. v. IBM Corp – Courts ordered the production of Slack conversations with specific message thresholds.
• StubHub Refund Litigation – A case that revealed the complexities of hyperlinked files in emails, prompting courts to reconsider their discoverability.
• Red Wolf Energy Trading v. BIA Capital Management – A cautionary tale emphasizing the need for defensible Slack and Google Suite collection practices to avoid sanctions.

The takeaway? Traditional email review isn’t enough anymore—legal teams must have a clear plan for collecting, reviewing, and producing data from collaboration tools.

Best Practices Moving Forward

As we wrapped up the session, one thing was clear: modern data challenges aren’t going away. Legal teams must:

• Develop comprehensive preservation strategies to avoid spoliation issues.
• Consider proportionality when dealing with high volumes of mobile, social, and collaboration data.
• Leverage AI and advanced analytics to make large-scale document reviews more efficient.

Final Thoughts

As eDiscovery professionals, we can no longer ignore the reality of modern data required as evidence. Mobile devices, chat applications, and collaboration platforms aren’t just an emerging challenge—they’re the new normal.

A big thank you to Matt, Alex, Brittany, and everyone who attended our session for the insightful discussion. If you missed it or want to continue the conversation, feel free to reach out!

Let’s keep pushing the industry forward.