Case Studies.

A Closer Look At Our Legal Support Services

Cobra Legal Solutions has over a decade of experience using proven methods of legal operation management and efficient strategies. Check out our case studies below to learn about our client’s success using The Cobra System.

International Data Breach

// A major national insurance provider engaged our incident response team to determine the source and breadth of a significant security breach within their server system. Utilizing a combination of forensic and IT investigative tools, we traced the source of the breach back to the Russian mafia. The mob had infiltrated their system in order to wire money from the company’s bank to a shell corporation in Nebraska. Our incident response team found that keystroke loggers had infected numerous computers that had to be identified, quarantined and remediated. During the scope of this engagement, our analysis also uncovered other corporate wrong-doing that was rectified as part of a secondary phase of the engagement.

Data Preservation

// We were engaged by a large financial institution in Canada to preserve and collect a massive amount of electronic data from hundreds of digital assets in fifteen different geographic locations. Because the matter surrounded the purchase of a large financial entity with a looming production deadline, it was important for us to help the client determine which data sources required preservation and to mobilize quickly. We helped the client interview approximately 80 custodians pursuant to the information request and also determined relevant data sources based on a series of custodian questionnaires. The digital assets were collected in a forensically sound manner with minimal disruption to the client and seamlessly delivered to another service provider on a rolling basis for purposes of processing and production. The client reviewed the data and made their production deadline well ahead of schedule. More importantly, there was no threat of spoliation or having to redo the collection, as the client could support its defensibility.

Proprietary Data Theft

// A regional law firm client represented a large medical staffing company that had recently sold its assets to a third-party entity. In the midst of the sale, a number of the staffing company’s employees left and started a competing company. This resulted in a significant drop in the value of the assets to be sold while also violating agreed upon covenants “not-to-compete.”

The law firm called Data Discovery on a Friday afternoon and asked us to collect and preserve various systems and devices at the medical staffing company over the weekend. We deployed our forensic analysts in a matter of hours to do the collection. The suspicion was that the employees who had left the medical staffing company had used proprietary information and had secret meetings on company time to develop their new company. The medical staffing company also believed that they planned to depart with a large number of the staffing company’s customers in direct violation of their employee agreements.

After preserving numerous laptops, desktops, BlackBerries, iPhones, other PDAs and fax machines, Data Discovery proceeded with the investigation. We were able to identify relevant data that our client needed and, using a series of effective forensic techniques and timelines, we were able to turn back the clock and paint a vivid picture of how the systems were used to compromise confidential information. We were able to document that proprietary information was used and that the employees had, in fact, started a competing company using stolen information, time and resources. The results of our investigation led to a settlement between the parties without any harm to our client.

Data Culling

// A manufacturing concern which makes medical devices was involved in several cross-suits with another manufacturer of medical devices involving patent infringement, theft of intellectual property and antitrust allegations. At issue was in excess of $100 million in damages.

Data Discovery was asked to preserve and collect current and historical ESI in support of the allegations underlying the various suits. We collected systems from over 100 identified custodians in a matter of three days with only four forensic experts. We subsequently minimized 2 terabytes of data into less than 150 gigabytes using de-duplication, file extension exclusions, customized keywords and date range searches so that the client could avoid unnecessary ingestion costs into a processing environment. As a result, we saved the client close to $300,000 (even after paying our fees) by reducing the data down to a manageable amount for purposes of attorney review and production.

Litigation Readiness Assessment

// Data Discovery was engaged by a Fortune 500 manufacturer of material goods in the oil and gas industry to provide a strategic assessment of their litigation readiness and to implement a litigation response system as an organized business process. Through our extensive experience in managing complex litigation matters, we established a protocol that helped our client develop their capabilities to respond to discovery demands and analyze potential weak points before they became a liability. Ironically, during the assessment of the organization’s current response system, a major catastrophe occurred that threatened to cripple operations. Our team of expert consultants developed and implemented a plan based on the original litigation assessment that proved to significantly reduce discovery spending, increase efficiencies and mitigate risks within the organization.

To date, Data Discovery serves as custodian of record for the company and expert advisor for all questions and issues related to litigation preparedness and response.

A DOJ Second Request

// When the DOJ hands over a time-sensitive second request that requires the collection, production, and review of large amounts of data, quality must not be sacrificed. We recently completed a significant second request project for a client that allowed us to save them both valuable time and money. A national law firm engaged us on behalf of a large manufacturer that was in the midst of a merger with a leading oil and gas services provider. The second request required that an unusually large amount of disparate data be collected from both companies for the purpose of responding to the antitrust subpoena.

Data Discovery was tasked with collecting and preserving the data from 40 custodians in various U.S. and international locations as well as capturing hundreds of gigabytes of shared folders across various networks. We collected the requisite data, including approximately 800GB of Microsoft Outlook PSTs, extracted live user files using forensically sound techniques and produced all of the data well within the requested timeframe.

Due to the expansive pool of data, post de-NISTing, the client faced significant budget concerns when factoring the cost of processing, review and production to the DOJ in concert with established guidelines. To combat these burdensome expenses, we developed a project plan that used significant up-front culling, extraction, and exclusion by extension techniques. This effectively reduced the volume of irrelevant data and saved the client valuable time and money that would have been spent on processing untold gigabytes of data and the resultant review time necessary to establish responsiveness. As a result of this innovation, the client was able to meet the project deadline and produce the relevant data to the DOJ within established budgets. Many companies are qualified in the basics of forensics collections, yet few have the necessary experience and project management that can be as impactful as exhibited in this real-life case study.

Simultaneous Collections

// A major food distributor engaged our firm through one of our partner companies to assist them in the collection of data relative to a subpoena from the Department of Justice. Our channel partner facilitated the processing piece of the business to cull down the data and put it into a reviewable format. Data Discovery was engaged to facilitate the collection and preservation of electronic data from a series of locations across the United States.

We deployed five forensic analysts to six states across the Midwest for purposes of collecting and preserving a large amount of disparate data in the form of home folders, shared folders, custodian systems and external media devices. A total of 161 evidence items were collected, totaling in excess of 1.3 terabytes of raw data. Working copies of each evidence item were created, live user files were extracted, and the resultant data set was transferred to our channel partner in rolling deliveries for processing. As a result, our channel partner was able to provide a continuous stream of processed data to the attorney team for purposes of review for both privilege and responsiveness. The client was able to comport with all of the DOJ’s deadlines in this matter and the matter was successfully resolved.