On January 12, 2005 in San Francisco, the Civil Rules Advisory Committee heard testimony from 15 witnesses. This was the first of three public hearings on the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure relating to electronic discovery. The following are some highlights of the testimony. The complete testimony can be found here. Read More
The first of three scheduled public hearings regarding proposed changes to the FRCP addressing electronic discovery took place in San Francisco January 12, 2005. Fifteen members of the legal community took advantage of the opportunity to publicly voice their views of the proposed amendments.
The diverse group included in-house counsel from corporations such as Microsoft and Intel, private practitioners – including both plaintiff and defense attorneys, and a computer forensic specialist. Participants commented on what they saw as the pros and cons of a series of proposed amendments to the FRCP designed to provide additional guidance to the courts and litigants engaged in the ever-growing area of e-discovery.
Microsoft Vice President & Deputy General Counsel Tom Burt recently submitted comments and a visual diagram to the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, which is currently accepting public comment regarding the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure addressing electronic discovery. Gregory S. McCurdy, Senior Attorney at Microsoft, will also be testifying before the Advisory Committee on January 12, 2005, in San Francisco at the first of three public hearings. Subsequent hearings are being held in Dallas, Texas, on January 28, 2005, and in Washington, D.C., on February 11, 2005.
Written comments to the proposed Federal Civil Rules amendments relating to electronic discovery have been posted on the U.S. Courts website.
On August 10, 2004, the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved for publication and public comment several proposed amendments to the Federal Civil Rules that specifically address electronic discovery.
The public now has until February 15, 2005 to comment to the Secretary to the Standing Committee regarding the proposed amendments. In addition, public hearings will be held at various dates prior to the February 15 deadline, allowing comments to be given via public testimony. The earliest the proposed rules may go into effect is December 1, 2006. For more information on the amendment process and the public comment period, please click here.
In April 2004, the U.S. Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules submitted to the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure several proposed amendments to the Federal Civil Rules specifically addressing the unique challenges of electronic discovery, recommending that the Standing Committee publish these proposals for comment in August 2004. The proposed rules mark the culmination of several years of work by the Advisory Committee and its Discovery Subcommittee examining the issue of whether and how the civil rules should be amended to specifically address electronic discovery issues.
Two Tiers and a Safe Harbor, written by Ken Withers, August 23, 2004, sheds light on the beginnings of the proposed changes to the Federal Rules.
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