Last Year’s Cases; This Year’s Practices

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the February meeting of the Minnesota Association of Litigation Support Professionals chapter. About 50 people gathered for lunch and learning, sharing in a retrospective of ediscovery case law in 2016. This was a chance for me to “go deep” into the facts and holdings of some of the foremost judicial opinions in the past year and, for me personally, the experience was enjoyable. In full disclosure, I have been asked to speak at MALSP on this topic in years past; however, the assignment never grows monotonous. Each year there are always interesting and meaningful developments to discuss, with no shortage of captivating facts.

In addition to examining Bard, Gilead Sciences, CAT3 and Hyles, we talked about how the decisions of 2016 will shape ediscovery law and practices in 2017. There was great consensus that in 2016, courts and parties were finding their footing applying the 2015 FRCP amendments to ediscovery. In 2017, it is anticipated that courts will be off and running, digging into thornier issues as parties make stronger arguments for and against proportionality under Rule 26(b)(1) and sanctions under Rule 37(e). At the end of 2016, I published an article focused on both of these topics and more. As you prepare for ediscovery in 2017, be sure to take five minutes and read “How This Year's Experience With the New Rules Will Shape Next Year's Ediscovery.”