Despite alternative reproduction methods made possible by Scanning documents, the Copying of documents identified in the Discovery Process is a time consuming but unavoidable activity. Experience has taught us that creating at least one copy of the original documents during the Document Collection phase is a necessity.
Firstly, it is of the upmost importance that all original documents identified in the Discovery Process are kept intact, since they will probably contain evidence which may prove to be the difference between winning or loosing a case. The worst that can happen in a discovery is that original documents containing crucial evidence are damaged or even lost, since the judge may always ask to review the originals themselves. That is why it is wise to copy all original documents in the earliest stages of the Discovery Process and use only copies in the subsequent phases.
Secondly, for various reasons it may prove to be more efficient and economic to scan the documents identified in a discovery. We have learned from experience that it is far easier to scan photocopies of uniform size and proper quality than the original documents themselves. Furthermore, by scanning copies you eliminate the risk of damage to the original documents.
Since the copies of the original documents are used in all subsequent phases of the discovery, it is of the upmost importance that these copies are an accurate and exact representation of the original documents and that the originals are preserved as well as possible. This requires following fairly complicated rules and procedures which we have devised in this area.