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Electronic Discovery Certificate

College of Sciences / Computer Science and Cybersecurity
Undergraduate certificate

About The Program

Metropolitan State's Electronic Discovery Certificate is a 20-credit program intended for students who have already graduated with an earned bachelor's degree and would like to reshape their skills and knowledge in the field of electronic discovery, or also known as e-discovery. Students without a bachelor's degree in any field are not eligible for pursuing this certificate.

The Electronic Discovery certificate prepares working professionals with knowledge in digital evidence recovery, including assisted review, predictive coding, and digital litigation support. This certificate is beneficial but not limited to the students who earned degrees and work in the areas of Accounting, Criminal Justice, Finance, Health System Studies, Human Resource Management, Human Services, Human Services Leadership, and Administration.

Student outcomes

  • Knows how to articulate and explain the Electronic Discovery Reference Model;
  • Able to perform fundamental electronic discovery tasks through commonly used tools;
  • Familiar with the procedures as well as the basic methods used in assisted review, predictive coding, and digital litigation support;

 

All prerequisite and required courses must be completed with grades of C- or above. Transfer coursework equivalency is determined by the Computer Science and Cybersecurity Department.

How to enroll

Program eligibility requirements

To be eligible for acceptance to the Electronic Discovery certificate, students must meet at least one of the following requirements 1) An earned bachelor degree; 2) An earned two year degree; 3) 30 earned college credits with a GPA of 2.5 or better. All prerequisite and required courses must be completed with a grade of C- or better. Transfer coursework equivalency is determined by the Computer Science and Cybersecurity Department.

Application instructions

To be eligible for acceptance to the Electronic Discovery Post-baccalaureate certificate, students must submit a College of Sciences Undergraduate Program Declaration Form when the following has been completed:

  •  A bachelor’s degree earned from a regionally accredited college/university with a GPA of 2.5 or better.  

Official admission to this program and review of prior course credentials is done directly through the Computer Science and Cybersecurity (CSC) Department with the approval from the coordinator of the program. Students without a bachelor's degree are not eligible for admission for this certificate but advised to pursue the minor in Electronic Discovery.

Apply to Metropolitan State now

Start the journey toward your Electronic Discovery Certificate now. Learn about the steps to enroll or, if you have questions about what Metropolitan State can offer you, request information, visit campus or chat with an admissions counselor.

Get started on your Electronic Discovery Certificate

Courses and Requirements

SKIP TO COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Each student must complete 20 credits for the certificate including at least 12 upper division credits and at least 10 credits from Metropolitan State University. Students are allowed to have up to 8 credits overlapped with their current or previously completed majors or minors within the university or from other institutions. Please work with your academic advisor for having a suitable study plan. All prerequisite and required courses must be completed with a grade of C- or better.

Certificate requirements (20 credits)

+ Core (12 credits)

In this course students learn the fundamental principles and concepts of electronic discovery including the collection, preservation, filtering, processing, review, and production of electronically stored information such as email messages, word processing documents, spreadsheets, and other computer files. Students also learn the relationship between digital evidence analysis and electronic discovery and its role in civil litigation, government regulatory proceedings, and internal corporate investigations. Unique issues involving electronic discovery that arise in international contexts are also addressed.

Full course description for Electronic Discovery I

In this course students learn advanced topics and concepts of electronic discovery, such as the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, Information Governance, Technology Assisted Review, Predictive Coding, electronic discovery of cloud data, electronic discovery of social media data, electronic discovery of mobile device data and instant messages, as well as the use of software technology in electronic discovery. The course will also compare and contrast international electronic discovery issues in a global context, including common law countries and codified civil law countries.

Full course description for Electronic Discovery II

In this course, students will learn the law relating to computer software, hardware, and the Internet. The areas of the law include intellectual property, cyberspace privacy, copyright, software licensing, hardware patent, and antitrust laws. Legislation and public policies on cyberspace technology, cryptographic method export controls, essential infrastructure protection and economic development are also discussed in class.

Full course description for Computer Laws

+ Electives (8 credits)

Any upper division CFS, CYBR, and ICS courses except ICS 499, CFS 499, and CYBR 499 can be used as electives. The approved courses from other disciplines are provided below::

This course provides a conceptual framework to stress the responsibility of accountant, auditor and manager for the design, operation and control of the accounting information system and the needs of information users within an organization. Traditional accounting transaction cycles are organized around events-based information technology. Students learn how the accounting information system records, classifies and aggregates economic events.

Full course description for Accounting Information Systems

This course reviews the purposes, philosophies and organization of the U.S. legal system. It provides an intensive study of the law which governs contracts for services, real estate, employment, insurance, trademark, patents and copyrights. Topics covered include legally binding contract requirements (offer and acceptance, legality of subject matter, capacity of parties and contractual consideration); circumstances which require a contract to be in writing; defenses for avoiding contractual liability; and legal remedies for breach of contract. It also focuses on the articles of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which govern the rights and obligations of parties to transactions involving the sale of goods (Article II), commercial paper such as checks, notes and drafts (Article II), and financing arrangements in which one party gives another a security interest in property (Article IX) and the effects of federal bankruptcy laws on these transactions.

Full course description for Business Law: UCC and Contracts

The behavior of organizations and people in organizations is influenced in a variety of ways by the Constitution, state and federal legislation, regulations by all levels of government, by judicial opinions and by ethical considerations. This course explores selected aspects of the legal environment, including antitrust and fair trade laws, the law of contracts, laws and regulations concerning the workplace and workplace behavior, environmental protections, and ethical standards. Issues relating to franchising and trading in securities are also addressed within the context of the law and ethics.

Full course description for Legal Environment of Organizations

This course addresses the laws that regularly affect day-to-day marketing and advertising practices. Topics include the cases, statutes and regulatory agencies that create liability for advertising copy and layout, and those dealing with acquiring and protecting trade names, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, copyrights and patents, and the laws which define and create liability for unfair competitive practices.

Full course description for Marketing and Advertising Law

This course is designed to expand students' understanding of the roles of criminal court at the federal, state, and local levels. As the intermediate step between law enforcement and corrections, courts are an integral part of the criminal justice system. The course will explore the power and limitations of the judicial branch of government with regard to its role in the criminal justice system, as well as learn about the roles of various court professionals and develop a detailed understanding of the court process.

Full course description for The Criminal Court System

This course examines the operation of criminal justice organizations and provides students with a conceptual foundation to explore the workings of the criminal justice system. Emphasis is placed on understanding internal and external influences on the operations of criminal justice agencies including the people, practices and events that shape criminal justice administration.

Full course description for Organization and Administration in Criminal Justice

This course presents an overview of white collar crime. Students explore theories of white collar crime and corporate criminal liability. The investigation, prosecution and sentencing of white-collar offenders are examined. "Crime in the suites" is compared to "crime in the streets." Issues related to diversity are explored.

Full course description for White Collar Crime

Interdisciplinary Business Knowledge and Skills for Non-Business Majors is designed to provide broad coverage of major business concepts in finance, marketing, accounting, and management and deep coverage of specific skills and knowledge needed as a foundation for applying that knowledge to opportunities in existing or new businesses. Students will learn how to research data within the Metropolitan State library databases to augment their knowledge and skills to evaluate opportunities and existing organizations. The students will be asked to enhance their analytical thinking by asking pertinent questions, determining relevant information, and systematically developing and applying the business processes to make decisions.

Full course description for Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Business for Non-Business Majors

Consistent with current management thought this course examines the importance of human capital in organizations. Human Resource Management theories, trends, policies and practices are studied from a strategic management, decision-making perspective covering staffing compensation, employee development, employee relations, labor relations and related areas. A case study approach is used and outside research is required.

Full course description for Human Resource Management: A Strategic Framework

Key laws, administrative regulations and selected court cases which impact day-to-day, employee-employer relationships are the focus of this course. Students explore formulation of policies and programs that respond to issues such as equal employment opportunity, wage and salary administration, safety and health, employment at will, immigration, drug testing, and labor/management relations in unionized organizations.

Full course description for Employment Law

This course provides students with a beginning understanding of the essential components of successful case management for alcohol and drug counseling. That is, the activities which a counselor engages in to bring services, agencies, resources, and people together within a planned and coordinated framework of action toward achievement of established clinical goals. Specifically the course will focus on, the theory of case management for alcohol and drug counseling, related state and federal laws, the Twelve Core Functions, the Rules of Professional Conduct, and the practice of clinical writing.

Full course description for Case Management for Alcohol and Drug Counseling

This Mitchell Hamline School of Law course is an introduction to the American legal system as practiced in the United States and is taught as a standard law school presentation approach. Students must demonstrate an understanding of the legal methodology used in interpreting the law. To address this, te course reviews the legal practices and describes the process of law, interpretation of the law and doctrinal courses in areas of criminal law, criminal procedures, contracts, and commercial law. This course also includes elements of the law, legal reasoning and writing. Students are given a mix of case law and statutory law, and are shown how the law is applied in factual, hypothetical situations.

Full course description for American Legal System, Reasoning and Writing

A student completing this course understands the process of finding, synthesizing, evaluating, and documenting sufficient and reliable information appropriate to a variety of purposes including upper division coursework, senior capstone papers or professional writing, and communication tasks. Students also explore a number of the contemporary issues surrounding information in society, have opportunities to use and/or visit primary resource collections and learn a variety of research techniques. Specific sections of the course will structure assignments around a course theme identified in the class schedule. Prior themes have included Civil Rights, Holocaust and Genocide, Crime and Punishment, Food, Immigration, and Health Care. Both themed and non-themed sections are offered every semester as are online and in-class sections.

Full course description for Searching for Information

Competence in management and use of organizational and external databases is a skill needed by all business people and critical to management information systems effectiveness, especially in the new era of "big data". This course teaches the development and accessing of internal and external information resources. Topics include: ensuring the availability of appropriate data; interrelating and applying data to typical business problems; normalized database design; protecting and managing information resources; scalability; and compatibility issues.

Full course description for Management and Use of Databases

This course explores a range of moral issues raised by the introduction of new technologies for the production, distribution and use of information -- issues about privacy, surveillance and data-mining, freedom of speech, copyright, computer crime and abuse, justice in access to information, the political and social significance of the Internet, and so on. The course is intended to be helpful not only to information technology professionals, who will encounter some of these issues in connection with their work, but also to anyone who has an interest in the way information technology is changing our lives. Students will study moral theory, professional codes of ethics and a variety of case studies.

Full course description for Ethics in the Information Age

+ General Guidelines
Transfer Courses

Transfer coursework equivalency is determined by the Computer Science and Cybersecurity (CSC) department and is initially evaluated upon admission with updates documented on the Degree Audit Report (DARS). When transferring coursework, please be aware that many universities, community, and technical colleges offer courses equivalent to some of our pre-major courses. Sometimes a course at the lower division at another university or college is equivalent to one of our upperdivision courses, or an upper-division course at another institution is equivalent to one of our lower-division courses. To calculate upper-division credits for the major electives or for university graduation requirements, the status of the course at the institution where the student took the course is what matters.

Prerequisites

Students must be aware of and abide by prerequisites for all courses for which they are enrolled. No student may be enrolled in a course unless they have completed all course prerequisites with a grade of C- or higher. Students will be administratively dropped from a course if they have not met the required prerequisites. For some courses, prerequisites are enforced automatically by the registration system. If your DARS report shows you have met the prerequisites for a course, and the registration system will not let you register, please contact your academic advisor.