[EDRM Editor’s Note: This article was first published here on April 22, 2025, and EDRM is grateful to Trusted Partner Cellebrite Enterprise Solutions for permission to republish. EDRM is happy to amplify our Trusted Partners news and events.]
Mobile devices are an integral part of our lives and have reshaped how we communicate, work and live. Americans spend nearly five hours each day on their devices. Mobile devices are the silent witnesses to our lives and capture everything from conversations and location history to contacts, financial transactions and health data.
A recent whitepaper authored by Cellebrite and Relativity takes a closer look at mobile data’s significant role in the legal process and outlines what professionals in the field need to know to effectively navigate its complexities.
A recent whitepaper authored by Cellebrite and Relativity takes a closer look at mobile data’s significant role in the legal process and outlines what professionals in the field need to know to effectively navigate its complexities.
Team Cellebrite.
In high-stakes litigation and investigations, these digital breadcrumbs have exposed fraud, confirmed alibis and even determined guilt or innocence. In three recent landmark cases, mobile data played a decisive role in shaping the outcome.
- Theranos’ Downfall: Text messages between Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani undermined Holmes’ abuse defense, revealing a relationship that weakened her claims of manipulation and control.
- The Collapse of FTX: Encrypted Signal messages exposed internal panic, coverups, and deception among FTX executives, ultimately incriminating founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
- Aaron Hernandez’s Life Sentence: Despite no direct eyewitnesses or a murder weapon, text messages and phone calls linked Hernandez to the crime and its aftermath, leading to his conviction.
Navigating Mobile Data Discovery: Key Case Law Insights
The role of mobile devices in modern legal matters are teaching us valuable lessons on defensibility, privacy and the evolving standards impacting mobile discovery.
One example is Maziar v. City of Atlanta, where Michelle Maziar sued the City of Atlanta, accusing it of retaliation for raising workplace concerns. During discovery, Maziar argued that the City failed to preserve key text messages from her supervisor on both work and personal devices. Despite a preservation request sent in November 2020, the City did not issue a legal hold until after her termination in May 2021. The City wiped her supervisor’s work phone and upgraded her personal phone, erasing relevant communications. Maziar filed a motion for sanctions, arguing spoliation of evidence. While the magistrate judge denied the motion, District Judge Steven D. Grimberg found the loss of texts prejudiced Maziar’s case and awarded her attorneys’ fees and costs.
In Measured Wealth Private Client Grp., LLC v. Foster, Measured Wealth sued former employees Lee Ann Foster and Richard Kesner, alleging they stole client information and trade secrets. During discovery, Measured Wealth filed a motion to compel a forensic examination of Foster’s iPhone to obtain text messages and iMessages for a one-year period. Foster objected, arguing the discovery request was overly broad and invasive. US Magistrate Judge William Matthewman granted the request, noting that Foster appeared to have been obstructionist in producing relevant information. This case reinforces that forensic examinations are a powerful tool when traditional discovery methods fail.
US Magistrate Judge William Matthewman granted the request, noting that Foster appeared to have been obstructionist in producing relevant information. This case reinforces that forensic examinations are a powerful tool when traditional discovery methods fail.
Team Cellebrite.
Selecting the Right Tools for Mobile Data Workflows
Managing mobile data in eDiscovery presents challenges at every stage, from preservation to production. Effectively managing the data means teams need to rely on platforms which offer:
- Defensible Preservation: Solutions that automate legal hold issuance, track compliance, and integrate with corporate directories.
- Seamless Collection: Efficient and minimally disruptive mobile collections with remote capabilities.
- Efficient Review and Production: Specialized review capabilities that preserve context, participants, and metadata.
These three key capabilities can be found within the integration between Relativity and Cellebrite. It offers an end-to-end workflow that ensures greater efficiency, accuracy and defensibility at every stage. Effortless mobile collection and processing are achieved through RelativityOne Collect’s integration with Cellebrite Endpoint Inspector and Endpoint Mobile Now, simplifying the traditionally time-consuming and disruptive process.
Legal and eDiscovery teams can collect mobile data quickly and efficiently without taking possession of devices, reducing costs and minimizing custodian disruption. Once collected, mobile data is automatically converted into Relativity Short Message Format (RSMF) and ready for review. RelativityOne’s short message capabilities enable teams to review mobile conversations as easily as traditional documents like emails or PDFs.
Powerful search and filtering tools help locate relevant conversations while slicing capabilities allow teams to extract key portions of conversations into standalone documents for production, ensuring a streamlined and defensible production process.
Mobile data plays a critical role in today’s eDiscovery landscape and as its volume and complexity continue to grow, legal and eDiscovery teams must adopt advanced tools and strategies to navigate these challenges effectively. The collaboration between Relativity and Cellebrite offers a transformative solution for managing mobile data workflows from start to finish, empowering teams with the tools to manage mobile data efficiently and defensibly.
Read the original article here.
Assisted by GAI and LLM Technologies per EDRM GAI and LLM Policy.
