Best Practices for Leveraging eDiscovery Workflows During Corporate Divestitures
Divestitures — whether a corporation is selling a business unit or a pharmaceutical company is transferring ownership of a drug — are among the most data-intensive transactions companies face. The acquiring organization must receive all relevant operational, regulatory, contractual, scientific, and historical data tied to the divested asset. This transfer must be complete, accurate, defensible, and delivered on aggressive timelines.
The challenge? Data associated with the business unit or product rarely exists in clean, isolated silos. More often, it is scattered across shared systems, chat platforms, document repositories, cloud environments, and legacy archives. That’s why applying eDiscovery workflows — proven in litigation and investigations — has become one of the most effective ways to manage divestiture data transfers.
Sandline partners with corporate legal, regulatory, IT, and compliance teams to operationalize divestitures using structured, defensible workflows powered by tools like Everlaw, RelOne, and ModernETL 2.0.
Why eDiscovery Methodology Fits Divestitures
Divestitures share the same core requirements as litigation workflows:
- Identifying all relevant data
- Isolating it from the broader enterprise
- Reviewing it for confidentiality, privilege, and regulatory requirements
- Applying redactions where necessary
- Producing the final dataset in trackable, native, and easily ingestible formats
- Maintaining a defensible audit trail throughout
eDiscovery platforms like Everlaw or RelOne provide the structure, defensibility, and transparency needed to manage these steps across massive and complex data environments.
Best Practices for Using eDiscovery in Divestitures
1. Start With a Comprehensive Data Mapping Exercise
The first step is understanding where all relevant data lives. A forensic-driven data inventory allows organizations to scope divestiture data early and avoid downstream surprises. Key data sources often include:
- Email systems
- Document management systems (SharePoint, Google Drive, iManage)
- Chat and messaging platforms (Teams, Slack, WhatsApp, SMS)
- Scientific or lab systems (LIMS, ELN, clinical trial systems)
- File shares and network drives
- Cloud collaboration tools
- Legacy systems and homegrown applications
This process ensures all relevant data categories are accounted for at the outset — critical for both corporate and pharma divestitures.
2. Use Early Case Assessment (ECA) to Filter and Isolate Relevant Data
ModernETL 2.0 and the ECA capabilities within Everlaw or RelOne allow teams to dramatically reduce volume before review by isolating:
- Relevant custodians
- Project teams
- Specific collaboration channels (Slack/Teams)
- Drilled-down date ranges
- Product-specific or business-unit-specific content
- Key terminology and lifecycle events
For example, ModernETL can isolate Slack or Teams channels that directly map to a divested drug program, workstream, or business line — reducing unnecessary downstream hosting and review.
3. Implement Structured Review to Apply Separation Logic
A review phase ensures that only appropriate information transfers to the acquiring company. Typical review layers include:
- Responsiveness review: Confirming the data relates to the divested asset.
- Confidentiality review: Ensuring competitive or unrelated business data does NOT transfer.
- Privilege review: Identifying legal communications requiring withholding.
- Regulatory integrity review: Confirming completeness of scientific or compliance records, especially for pharma.
Sandline’s managed review teams can rapidly scale to support tight timelines, applying rigorous QC/QA to ensure accuracy and consistency.
4. Apply Redactions and Data Segmentation with Automated Tools
Redactions are often required to protect:
- PII
- Privileged communications
- Sensitive business or financial information
- Other business-unit data not included in the divestiture
Both Everlaw and RelOne allow teams to apply redactions directly on native files where needed, supported by automated PII detection, redaction templates, and audit-ready logs.
5. Track Data Lineage and Maintain Audit Trails
Regulators and acquirers increasingly expect transparency into the transfer process. Everlaw and RelOne automatically generate:
- Review activity logs
- Search and filtering histories
- Redaction metadata
- Privilege designations
- Export manifests
- Full chain-of-custody documentation
These artifacts ensure a defensible record of what was transferred, withheld, and redacted — protecting both sides of the transaction.
6. Produce Data in Native, Transfer-Ready Formats (Everlaw or RelOne)
Unlike litigation, where TIFF or PDF is sometimes required, divestitures almost always call for native productions to preserve usability, scientific integrity, and operational relevance.
Everlaw and RelOne support clean, defensible, and highly structured native productions. Best practices include:
Native File Productions
The core deliverable consists of native emails, spreadsheets, reports, lab data, collaborative files, and structured content — all exported directly from Everlaw or RelOne with preserved metadata.
Metadata-Rich Load Files
Platforms can generate CSV, DAT, XML, or platform-specific load files, allowing the receiving organization to immediately load documents into their systems.
Redacted Native Productions
Both platforms support redactions baked into native files where appropriate, enabling:
- PII redaction
- Privilege redaction
- Removal of sensitive corporate data
- Differentiated redacted / unredacted sets
Logical Document Bucketing
Using Everlaw or RelOne to structure “buckets” aligned with business needs accelerates onboarding for the acquirer. Common examples include:
- Regulatory
- Financial/operational
- Commercial
- CMC/manufacturing
- Clinical
- Research & development
- Contracts
- Quality systems
Audit Trails & Transfer Manifests
Comprehensive logs detail:
- What was exported
- When
- By whom
- With what redactions
- Using what criteria
This ensures the dataset is trackable, transparent, and immediately usable for the receiving organization.
7. Build Repeatable Playbooks for Future Divestitures
Many corporations and pharmaceutical companies divest multiple assets over time. A playbook built around Everlaw, RelOne, and ModernETL provides:
- Standard workflows
- Standard platform configurations
- Improved data hygiene
- Significant cost savings
- Reusability of templates, redaction protocols, and QC models
- Faster and more predictable execution on future deals
Sandline frequently helps clients design, refine, and operationalize these playbooks.
In Summary
Divestitures are high-stakes, deadline-driven, and deeply complex. Using eDiscovery methodologies and tools such as Everlaw, RelOne, and ModernETL 2.0 ensures organizations can:
- Identify all relevant data
- Reduce volumes early
- Conduct structured, defensible review
- Protect privilege, confidentiality, and sensitive business information
- Produce complete, native, trackable datasets
- Demonstrate defensibility through detailed audit trails
Whether divesting a global business line or transferring ownership of a pharmaceutical compound, eDiscovery workflows provide the precision, scalability, and accountability needed for a smooth and defensible transition.