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While newspapers highlight stories of large corporations embroiled in legal disasters for failing to provide courts crucial digital evidence, technology experts and attorneys say small organizations are no less vulnerable to electronic discovery requirements.

A multi-million dollar court case that may effectively tarnish the image of a big company because of an e-discovery slip-up could well wipe out a much smaller business, they say.

"E-discovery is not limited to high-profile cases, it can have significant impact on small businesses as well," according to George Socha, principal of

Socha Consulting LLC, a Saint Paul, Minn. law firm specializing in e-discovery strategies.

Socha was a participant in a virtual round table discussion on e-discovery issues recently hosted by Symantec Corp.

E-discovery refers to the use – in discovery (pre-trial phase) or court cases – of information, in electronic format.

In this context, e-discovery could include e-mail, instant messaging chats, document files, accounting databases, metadata, Web sites or any other electronically stored information that could be relevant evidence in a law suit.

Panelists in the round table were all U.S.-based, but one Canadian analyst said local SMB's are often constrained by lack of resources.

"The impact could be greater on SMBs because their smaller budgets limit their ability to secure e-discovery solutions," said Michelle Warren, senior technology analyst for Info-Tech Research Group, in London, Ont.

She said Canadian firms dealing with American companies should pay close attention to laws on the area being developed south of the border.
In 2006, the U.S. amended its Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require parties in legal disputes to bring up and agree upon e-discovery issues at the beginning of proceedings.

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