Mastering Electronic Evidence And Discovery

"Devoted to finding solutions, i.e., searching for balancing electronic discovery demands with the competing expectations of full disclosure in federal court litigation. From time to time, the author will post commentary, links to important articles and questions designed to hopefully evoke a dialogue on these important issues."

Author: Arthur L. Smith is of counsel at Husch Blackwell Sanders in St. Louis.

Blawg Related Categories: Civil Procedure • Legal Ethics • Trials & Litigation • Evidence

Recent Posts from Mastering Electronic Evidence and Discovery

Is it Time to Rewrite the Rules?
[Ed.'s Note: We're back after a brief hiatus for personal matters. Watch for regular posts again.]There seems to be a growing hue and cry to re-write the discovery rules in FRCP. See for example Mary…
Cooperation Checklist from the Experts
With all the talk about the importance of cooperation in the electronic discovery process, it is interesting to see a checklist of items which some experts believe come within the ambit of "cooperation". At a…
Establishing an E-Discovery Protocol
I have long advocated the importance of successfully reaching agreement on an electronic discovery protocol early in the litigation process as a means of avoiding disputes down the road and minimizing risks of sanctions. A…
Cooperation a Matter of Lawyer Ethics?
Michael Berman, associate editor of the ABA's Litigation News publication, argues that cooperation in e-discovery is an ethical obligation of lawyers. (His article, "Give Peace A Chance," appears in the Winter 2009 issue of Litigation…
Can There Be Cost Effective E-Discovery?
A recent post by David West, a veep of CommVault argues that there are "Smart Shortcuts to More Cost-Effective eDiscovery." Basically, the suggestion of this vendor is that e-discovery be moved in-house, avoiding the sometimes…
It Pays to Know What You Are Doing
There's a brief decision by Magistrate Karla Spaulding from the Middle District of Florida that will probably be overlooked by most of my e-discovery colleagues in the blogosphere and certainly won't have any lasting importance…
Ah, the Metadata Debate
Shannon Kirk & Kathryn Hong, writing in Law Technology News for January 16, have focused their attention on the seemingly unanswerable question: When is production of metadata required in response to a Rule 34 Request…
Seek and Ye Shall Find (Maybe)
Kudos to George Paul and Tom Gilson for a thoughtful article on the pitfalls of search term strategies in electronic discovery, entitled "Seek and Ye Shall Find?" The article provides a useful checklist of precautions…
No Wonder There Are Problems with EDD
From a just released Kahn Consulting survey done in conjunction with ARMA and other organizations:"Less than one quarter of organizations surveyed believe that their employees understand their [governance, risk management and compliance], [records and information…
More on Special Masters and E-Discovery
Jonathan Redgrave has called my attention to an excellent article which he co-authored by Judge Shira Scheindlin focusing on the benefits that may be obtained by generous use of special masters in connection with e-discovery.…