New U.S. Electronic Discovery Rule Goes Into Effect December 1, 2006

In Electronically Stored Information: The December 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property), Kenneth J. Withers writes about “the expanded role federal judges will have in resolving disputes after December 1, 2006, when amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure addressing the problems of electronic discovery are anticipated to go into effect nationwide” (unless Congress enacts legislation to reject, modify, or defer the amendments).

According to Withers, “These amendments address the myriad issues associated with the discovery and production of information in digital form—what the amendments call ‘electronically stored information.’ The amendments are the result of five years of study by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and an extraordinarily broad, open, and inclusive rulemaking process. They recognize some fundamental differences between paper-based document discovery and the discovery of electronically stored information, and they continue a trend that has become quite pronounced since the 1980s of expanding the role of judges in actively managing discovery to sharpen its focus, relieve its burdens, and reduce costs on litigants and the judicial system.”

Expect to hear much more about this rule and how it may impact your organization’s content management strategy.

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