ACEDS 2026 FINAL EXAMS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
RATED A+
✔✔Which would be a likely reason for a non-party host to want to produce raw data?
A. confidentiality
B. cost
C. security
D. timeliness - ✔✔B. cost
✔✔All of the following are goals of project management in the context of an e-discovery
project EXCEPT:
A. planning the project
B. controlling resources
C. negotiating with opposing counsel
D. motivating the team - ✔✔C. negotiating with opposing counsel
✔✔Evidence rule 502 protects attorneys from?
A. sanctions
B. prosecution
C. accidental deletion
D. inadvertent production - ✔✔D. inadvertent production
rule 502 sets forth the conditions under which attorney-client or work product privilege is
considered to have been waived. Rule 502(a) explicitly states that waiver is recognized
when it is intentional, while Rule 502(b) stated that no waiver is thought to have
occurred when "the disclosure is inadvertent."
✔✔Under ABA Model Rule 1.1, which states that an attorney's duty of competence
includes "keep[ing] abreast of changes in the law and its practice, who would NOT place
an attorney inexperienced in e-discovery within compliance of the Rule when having to
request or produce e-Discovery?
A. associating with or consulting professionally another attorney reasonably believed to
be competent.
B. acquiring sufficient learning and skill before performance is required
C. consulting with an outside technical consultant
D. having a background in and understanding such benefits and risks - ✔✔C. consulting
with an outside technical consultant
simply consulting with someone who understands technology, however, would be
insufficient, as that consultant would not be able to place the technical aspects within
the legal concepts of what is "in accessible" because of "undue burden or cost," or other
such concepts which merge legal, technical and practical concepts.
✔✔Rule 34 of the FRCP states that data produced must be in what form?
A. PDF form.
B. the format the data is normally maintained in
C. image format with all related metadata
,D. native format with associated hash values - ✔✔B.the format the data is normally
maintained in
Rule 34(b)(1)(C) states that the requesting party may "specify the form or forms in which
electronically stored information is to be produced. Rule 34(2)(D) states that the
producing party may produce the ESI in the form requested (if a form was requested).
Rule 34(b)(2)(E)(ii) states that if the requesting party does not request a form of
production, the ESI "must be produced in a form or forms in which it is ordinarily
maintained or in a reasonably usable form or forms." The format (or form) in which the
data is normally maintained is another form required by the Rules.
✔✔The safe harbor limit on sanctions under the 2006 FRCP Rule 37 protected the
holder of the ESI from sanctions due to data destruction based on?
A. Destruction due to accidental deletion
B. destruction due to malicious third parties
C. destruction due to routine computer operations
D. after a litigation trigger, destruction due to autodelete policies to keep the volume of
email low. - ✔✔C. destruction due to routine computer operations
Rule 37(e) states that "absent exceptional circumstances a court may not impose
sanctions under these rules on a party for failing to provide electronically stored
information lost as a result of the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic
information system." thus this type of destruction of data is protected under the Rule.
✔✔Under Rule 26 of the FRCP, what is not required to be in the discovery plan to be
submitted to the parties (choose two)
A. agreement by the parties to the plan
B. the projected cost of discovery
C. any issues regarding claims of privilege - ✔✔A. agreement by the parties to the plan
B. the projected cost of discovery
rule 26 lists six elements that must be addressed in discovery plan - see notes:
✔✔In order to ensure forensic defensibility the technician should do all of the following
EXCEPT?
A. write protect all files during collection
B. preserve all metadata
C. use only standard forensic protocols
D. maintain a chain of custody record - ✔✔C. use only standard forensic protocols
there are no standard protocols for forensic inspection. the forensic protocol is created
by the parties based upon the facts of the case and employs sound procedures which
will produce reliable information consistently. they are created not only to protect
potentially relevant data but also to reduce/eliminate the risk of disclosure of irrelevant
or protected information
✔✔All of the following are shared network resources EXCEPT
A. sharepoint servers
, B. mail servers
C. file servers
D. configuration servers - ✔✔D. configuration servers
configuration servers are generally only accessed by a few people versus the entire
network. configuration sets the procedures, protocols, inputs and traffic across the
network
✔✔forensic collection is an expensive and often unnecessary collection method.
however it is required to recover which of the following?
A. encrypted data
B. overwritten data
C. unallocated space
D. saved data - ✔✔C. unallocated space
unallocated space is the area on a hard drive where data is able to be written to. It is not
viewable to the typical user, it can contain deleted files or partially deleted files. When a
file is deleted, the pointers to the file are removed, but the data remains within the
unallocated space until such time it is overwritten by another file.
✔✔file metadata will typically include all of the following EXCEPT
A. date file was last modified
B. all locations where the file is physically located
C. creation, time of the file
D. author information, such as their name - ✔✔B. all locations where the file is
physically located
this information would be found within the system metadata
✔✔the most persistent type of data storage is:
A. floppy disks
B. temporary internet files
C. USB flash drives
D. hard drives - ✔✔D. hard drives
unless it is an external hard drive, a hard drive is built into a device and is not easily
removed.
✔✔All of the following are challenges of processing data EXCEPT
A. necessitates validation
B. often requires special software for review
C. reduced upfront expenses
D. requires additional time before review - ✔✔reduced upfront expenses
document review platform is generally more efficient way to review documents, there
are up-front processing costs associated which will be incurred in order to prepare the
data for loading to the platform. these up-front costs can often become a hurdle as
clients struggle to understand the necessity and the costs can vary greatly depending
upon the amount of data, service provider and/or processing tools selected
RATED A+
✔✔Which would be a likely reason for a non-party host to want to produce raw data?
A. confidentiality
B. cost
C. security
D. timeliness - ✔✔B. cost
✔✔All of the following are goals of project management in the context of an e-discovery
project EXCEPT:
A. planning the project
B. controlling resources
C. negotiating with opposing counsel
D. motivating the team - ✔✔C. negotiating with opposing counsel
✔✔Evidence rule 502 protects attorneys from?
A. sanctions
B. prosecution
C. accidental deletion
D. inadvertent production - ✔✔D. inadvertent production
rule 502 sets forth the conditions under which attorney-client or work product privilege is
considered to have been waived. Rule 502(a) explicitly states that waiver is recognized
when it is intentional, while Rule 502(b) stated that no waiver is thought to have
occurred when "the disclosure is inadvertent."
✔✔Under ABA Model Rule 1.1, which states that an attorney's duty of competence
includes "keep[ing] abreast of changes in the law and its practice, who would NOT place
an attorney inexperienced in e-discovery within compliance of the Rule when having to
request or produce e-Discovery?
A. associating with or consulting professionally another attorney reasonably believed to
be competent.
B. acquiring sufficient learning and skill before performance is required
C. consulting with an outside technical consultant
D. having a background in and understanding such benefits and risks - ✔✔C. consulting
with an outside technical consultant
simply consulting with someone who understands technology, however, would be
insufficient, as that consultant would not be able to place the technical aspects within
the legal concepts of what is "in accessible" because of "undue burden or cost," or other
such concepts which merge legal, technical and practical concepts.
✔✔Rule 34 of the FRCP states that data produced must be in what form?
A. PDF form.
B. the format the data is normally maintained in
C. image format with all related metadata
,D. native format with associated hash values - ✔✔B.the format the data is normally
maintained in
Rule 34(b)(1)(C) states that the requesting party may "specify the form or forms in which
electronically stored information is to be produced. Rule 34(2)(D) states that the
producing party may produce the ESI in the form requested (if a form was requested).
Rule 34(b)(2)(E)(ii) states that if the requesting party does not request a form of
production, the ESI "must be produced in a form or forms in which it is ordinarily
maintained or in a reasonably usable form or forms." The format (or form) in which the
data is normally maintained is another form required by the Rules.
✔✔The safe harbor limit on sanctions under the 2006 FRCP Rule 37 protected the
holder of the ESI from sanctions due to data destruction based on?
A. Destruction due to accidental deletion
B. destruction due to malicious third parties
C. destruction due to routine computer operations
D. after a litigation trigger, destruction due to autodelete policies to keep the volume of
email low. - ✔✔C. destruction due to routine computer operations
Rule 37(e) states that "absent exceptional circumstances a court may not impose
sanctions under these rules on a party for failing to provide electronically stored
information lost as a result of the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic
information system." thus this type of destruction of data is protected under the Rule.
✔✔Under Rule 26 of the FRCP, what is not required to be in the discovery plan to be
submitted to the parties (choose two)
A. agreement by the parties to the plan
B. the projected cost of discovery
C. any issues regarding claims of privilege - ✔✔A. agreement by the parties to the plan
B. the projected cost of discovery
rule 26 lists six elements that must be addressed in discovery plan - see notes:
✔✔In order to ensure forensic defensibility the technician should do all of the following
EXCEPT?
A. write protect all files during collection
B. preserve all metadata
C. use only standard forensic protocols
D. maintain a chain of custody record - ✔✔C. use only standard forensic protocols
there are no standard protocols for forensic inspection. the forensic protocol is created
by the parties based upon the facts of the case and employs sound procedures which
will produce reliable information consistently. they are created not only to protect
potentially relevant data but also to reduce/eliminate the risk of disclosure of irrelevant
or protected information
✔✔All of the following are shared network resources EXCEPT
A. sharepoint servers
, B. mail servers
C. file servers
D. configuration servers - ✔✔D. configuration servers
configuration servers are generally only accessed by a few people versus the entire
network. configuration sets the procedures, protocols, inputs and traffic across the
network
✔✔forensic collection is an expensive and often unnecessary collection method.
however it is required to recover which of the following?
A. encrypted data
B. overwritten data
C. unallocated space
D. saved data - ✔✔C. unallocated space
unallocated space is the area on a hard drive where data is able to be written to. It is not
viewable to the typical user, it can contain deleted files or partially deleted files. When a
file is deleted, the pointers to the file are removed, but the data remains within the
unallocated space until such time it is overwritten by another file.
✔✔file metadata will typically include all of the following EXCEPT
A. date file was last modified
B. all locations where the file is physically located
C. creation, time of the file
D. author information, such as their name - ✔✔B. all locations where the file is
physically located
this information would be found within the system metadata
✔✔the most persistent type of data storage is:
A. floppy disks
B. temporary internet files
C. USB flash drives
D. hard drives - ✔✔D. hard drives
unless it is an external hard drive, a hard drive is built into a device and is not easily
removed.
✔✔All of the following are challenges of processing data EXCEPT
A. necessitates validation
B. often requires special software for review
C. reduced upfront expenses
D. requires additional time before review - ✔✔reduced upfront expenses
document review platform is generally more efficient way to review documents, there
are up-front processing costs associated which will be incurred in order to prepare the
data for loading to the platform. these up-front costs can often become a hurdle as
clients struggle to understand the necessity and the costs can vary greatly depending
upon the amount of data, service provider and/or processing tools selected
