Joseph Naghdi, digital forensics examiner.
Founder and lead examiner of Computer Forensics Lab, the London practice behind e-discovery.uk. Instructed by solicitors, barristers, in-house teams and US counsel on forensic collection, eDisclosure and expert evidence about what digital records do and do not show.
Plate · ExpertPractice
Joseph founded Computer Forensics Lab in London and has led the practice since 2007. The work divides roughly into three: acquiring digital evidence in a way that will survive challenge, reducing large volumes of electronically stored information to the material that actually decides a case, and explaining the result to people who are not forensic examiners, whether that is a client, an opponent or a judge.
Instructions come from commercial litigators, employment teams, criminal defence solicitors, insolvency practitioners, in-house counsel and, increasingly, US litigation teams who need evidence collected in the United Kingdom and produced to a US specification. Matters range from a single handset in a restrictive covenant dispute to multi-custodian disclosure exercises running to millions of documents.
The practice is based in Finchley, north London, and works across the United Kingdom, usually attending site within 24 to 72 hours of instruction. Collection and reporting follow NPCC digital-evidence guidelines and ISO 17025 aligned practice.
How instructions usually arrive
Single joint expert
Instructed jointly by both parties to answer an agreed list of questions on the digital evidence, with a report in CPR Part 35 form.
Party-appointed expert
Instructed by one party to examine devices or accounts, report on findings, and respond to the other side's expert.
Forensic collection and supervision
Engaged to acquire evidence defensibly and to supervise an imaging exercise, with a witness statement on method and chain of custody.
Advisory and scoping
Engaged before proceedings to work out what evidence exists, what it would cost to obtain, and whether it is worth obtaining at all.
How evidence is given
Expert evidence in England and Wales is governed by CPR Part 35 and Practice Direction 35 in civil proceedings, and by Criminal Procedure Rules Part 19 in criminal proceedings. Five principles follow from those rules and are applied to every instruction.
- 01The duty is to the court, not to the instructing party, and that duty is stated in every report.
- 02Findings are reported with their limits: what the evidence shows, what it does not show, and what could not be tested.
- 03Method is recorded so another examiner could repeat it and reach the same result.
- 04Where the evidence does not help the instructing party, it is reported anyway, in the same terms.
- 05No outcome is promised at the point of instruction, and no fee is contingent on a finding.
Written work
The practice publishes a free library of UK eDiscovery and digital forensics guides, a plain-English glossary covering both UK and US vocabulary, and a cost guide setting out how this work is actually priced.
Bring us in early.
Defensibility is built, not retrofitted.
Whether you are responding to a regulator, preparing for disclosure, or scoping an internal investigation, start the chain of custody with a short, confidential conversation.