Patent ID: 7693866

Claim:
A method in a computer system for analyzing data produced for legal purposes, the method comprising: receiving, from an information system that is external to the computer system for analyzing data produced for legal purposes, a plurality of electronic files that are stored in a hierarchical directory data structure, that are subject to a legal proceeding, and that are produced by at least one party involved in the legal proceeding, said received plurality of electronic files having electronic characteristics that include metadata; recursively extracting the plurality of electronic files from a plurality of paths of said hierarchical directory data structure that is received from the external information system using a plurality of recursive engines, each of the plurality of recursive engines configured to extract a different file type and to cooperate with other of the plurality of recursive engines to extract other types of files; storing the recursively extracted electronic files in a searchable text format in a first server unit, including storing textual content of the recursively extracted electronic files in the searchable text format in the first server unit; obtaining the metadata from each of the recursively extracted electronic files, and storing the metadata in a second server unit, said storing including storing information of said hierarchical directory data structure so as to maintain said hierarchical directory; converting the recursively extracted electronic files to a read-only format, and storing the electronic files in the read-only format in a third server unit; receiving a request for electronic files having a specified text or metadata characteristic; and processing the stored metadata to determine a set of electronic files having the specified text or metadata characteristic, thereby facilitating processing of the determined set of electronic files for legal purposes.