Digital Evidence: Admissible Proof That Holds Up in Court

Digital evidence encompasses any electronically stored information — emails, messages, system logs, metadata, digital files, and database records — that can be used as proof in judicial or arbitral proceedings. In Spain, the admissibility and evidential value of digital evidence in civil and commercial proceedings is governed by Articles 299 and 384 of the Law on Civil Procedure (LEC), interpreted in light of Supreme Court doctrine on electronic document integrity and chain of custody. In international arbitration, e-discovery is typically governed by the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration. Digital evidence is inherently perishable: without proper preservation procedures, including forensic imaging and hash verification by a certified expert, courts may reject electronic evidence as unreliable.

Our digital evidence team integrates litigation lawyers with experience in obtaining and presenting electronic evidence, and forensic IT coordination specialists — providing a complete service from emergency preservation to presentation in proceedings.

Why Digital Evidence Requires Early Action

In today’s digital world, almost every significant dispute involves electronic evidence: emails that document the parties’ intentions, messaging conversations that prove agreements or breaches, system access logs that establish who did what and when, or blockchain transactions that record asset transfers. The challenge is not finding this evidence, but preserving it correctly and presenting it in a way that courts admit and give the weight it deserves.

The action window for digital evidence preservation is critical. Log systems rotate frequently, employee email accounts are deleted when they leave the company, social media posts are removed, and cloud servers are deprovisioned. When a dispute emerges, the first priority is always preservation: identifying all repositories of relevant information and documenting their state before any action — including the initial legal proceedings — can alter or destroy evidence. We act in coordination with the litigation and arbitration team to ensure that any interim measures for evidence preservation are processed with the necessary urgency.

Forensic IT Coordination

Forensic IT expertise is a technical field requiring certified practitioners and standardised methodologies recognised by courts. We work with a network of experts certified in the leading forensic tools (Cellebrite, Oxygen, EnCase, FTK) to ensure that technical evidence extraction is methodologically beyond challenge. Our role is legal oversight: defining the scope of collection, ensuring chain-of-custody documentation, and making sure the final expert report answers precisely the questions the tribunal needs to resolve. The combination of technical rigour and legal direction is what produces evidence that withstands cross-examination.

E-Discovery in International Arbitration

E-discovery under the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in international arbitrations is a specialised practice area combining knowledge of arbitral procedural rules with the technical capacity to manage large volumes of electronically stored information. A poorly framed document production request is easily rejected; a correctly calibrated one can be the decisive factor in the proceeding. We advise on both drafting requests and responding to them, and manage the document review process with efficiency and privilege-protection criteria appropriate to the jurisdiction and seat of the arbitration.