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Parent-Child Relationship
Practical Law Glossary Item 0-521-0521 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Parent-Child Relationship
Also known as a document family. In e-discovery, a chain of documents stemming from a single e-mail or file. The parent-child relationship exists with various document types, such as:
- E-mails (the parent) and each attachment (child).
- Zip files (the parent) and each zipped file (child).
- Word processing files (the parent) and each embedded spreadsheet file (child).
At the outset of discovery, counsel should negotiate how to handle document families so that:
- Counsel can collect and process electronically stored information (ESI) in a manner that preserves family relationships, if necessary.
- Document families are handled consistently during document review and production.
Typically, if the responsive document is the e-mail, the parent e-mail and its child attachment should be produced as together they represent a complete document. However, if the responsive document is a child (for example, an e-mail attachment), counsel may decide to produce:
- Only the responsive child document.
- The responsive child document and its parent document.
- The entire family (the responsive child document, its parent, and any other children, whether or not they are responsive).