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:
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).