Computer Forensics For Dummies®

Chapter 16. Winning a Case Before You Go to Court

In This Chapter

• Dealing with imperfect evidence

• Dueling with opposing experts

Your ability to be responsive, adaptive, and resourceful is an invaluable asset because surprising things tend to happen that help or harm the case. For example, as e-evidence is found revealing more of the truth, the charges may change, defendants may countersue, or plaintiffs may lose their ability to think rationally. (If you doubt the last item, search YouTube for incriminating videos.)

In addition, clients may have no clue as to why something's important or not from a forensics point of view. Perhaps a reality show about e-evidence would help... . Putting reality into perspective for them is part of the job. Plaintiffs who crave punishing e-evidence, for example, need help seeing the potentially high cost of their line of attack — no CSI script-writers can ensure the outcomes they want. Doing certain tasks discussed in this chapter is beneficial to you and the case in court.

This chapter helps you understand how to move the scales of justice (along with your career) in the direction of a win. We describe how to deal — or duel — with opposing expert witnesses. Topics covered relate mostly to private or smaller cases where you work for either the plaintiff or the defense. Huge cases (international industrial espionage or fraud, for example) are beyond the scope of this chapter, but who knows — you may catapult into this type of case later in your career. ...