Expert Witness in a Commercial Dispute

The challenge

In a commercial dispute between two companies, one party alleged that confidential documents and client lists had been taken by a former collaborator before the relationship ended. Counsel needed evidence of legal value, not hunches: defensible acquisitions, a repeatable analysis, and a report that would withstand cross-examination.

The difficulties were concrete: devices to acquire without altering the data, logs and metadata to interpret correctly, and a tight timeline set by the court calendar. Any error in the chain of custody could have rendered the evidence unusable.

My approach

I forensically acquired the four relevant devices with recognised tools, verifying each copy by hash and documenting every step in an unbroken chain of custody. Analysis was performed only on the copies, never on the originals.

The analysis reconstructed how files were accessed and transferred, correlating metadata, system logs and removable-media activity into a coherent timeline. I drew a careful line between what the evidence proved and what remained inconclusive, avoiding overstatement.

The findings became a defensible technical report, written in language a judge could follow and with a methodology fully repeatable by an opposing consultant. Under expert witness testimony, the method and conclusions held up to cross-examination.