Governor Snyder recently announced that he will be releasing emails pertaining to the Flint water crisis (“Crisis”) dating back to 2014. This release is said to include his personal and official email accounts in the hope of providing transparency into his conduct and knowledge in relation to the Crisis. When considering these emails, the public and the Snyder Administration(“Administration”) must consider the methodology utilized in preserving, searching, extracting and producing the data to determine the credibility and defensibility of the content within these emails.

The Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Sedona Conference (“Sedona”), Michigan Court Rules (“MCR”) and The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”) have collectively created a set of industry standards that must be followed or are mandatory depending upon the context of the underlying dispute. Stated otherwise, if a suit has been filed and discovery has commenced parties to the case are bound and must adhere to the…