E-discovery Best Practices (Federal)

Summary

This practice note discusses the 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Federal Rules) and how those amendments impact e-discovery in federal court litigations. Specifically, this note recommends best practices for litigators in the wake of the 2015 amendments, including understanding the narrowed scope of discovery and increased emphasis on proportionality under Rule 26, cost-shifting protective orders, the advantages of early discovery requests, new requirements for Rule 26(f) discovery plans, objections to document requests under Rule 34, and Rule 37(e) sanctions for the loss of electronically stored information (ESI).