eDiscovery: A New Approach to Discovery in Federal and State Courts

Changes in technology have altered the way lawyers deal with preservation, collection, review, and production of evidence. The electronicdiscovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, effective December 1, 2006, provide a framework for dealing with this new reality.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have been amended to address issues arising from “electronic discovery” or “eDiscovery.” So is this really going to change the way anyone approaches discovery?

In its most basic form, the standard for discovery remains unchanged – the guiding principle is “relevance” (or that which would lead to relevant information). What has changed, however, is the “form” of the evidence we seek to discover. Instead of bankers boxes filled with paper, we face hard drives filled with electronically stored information. That seemingly simple shift from paper to electronic has forced judges and practitioners to rethink their approach to discovery and ultimately has led to the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.