Ride the Lightning

POCKET GUIDE TO ESI FOR FEDERAL JUDGES URGES PROACTIVITY

February 13, 2008

In January 2008, the Federal Judicial Center published Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges.  The primary author is Judge Barbara Rothstein, Director of the Federal Judicial Center, along with Judge Ronald J. Hedges (a former Magistrate Judge in New Jersey, now an e-discovery lawyer with Nixon Peabody), and assisted by Elizabeth C. Wiggins, who often educates federal judges and serves as a Project Director and Senior Research Associate at the Federal Judicial Center. The Guide really emphasizes something that we see all too rarely, federal judges being more proactive in the management of e-discovery, specifically raising ESI points to consider rather than waiting for the parties to identify and argue over matters.

Remember my last post, where the judge suggested that someone amongst the attorneys might be spending time in jail if they couldn’t agree? I’ll wager that that tip is not in the Pocket Guide. But it sure was proactive.

The Pocket Guide may be found at http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/eldscpkt.pdf/$file/eldscpkt.pdf

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