This pocket guide is designed to help federal judges manage the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). It encourages judges to actively manage those cases involving ESI, raising points for consideration by the parties rather than awaiting the parties' identification and argument of the matters. The guide covers issues unique to the discovery of ESI, including its scope, the allocation of costs, the form of production, the waiver of privilege and work-product protection, and the preservation of data and spoliation. As you are reading, you may encounter some unfamiliar terms....

This second edition of the pocket guide on the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI) follows the first-and the related 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules-by more than five years. These intervening years have seen an explosion of civil case law on ESI. This case law interprets the 2006 amendments and sets forth practices that have proved helpful to the courts, lawyers, and litigants in the discovery and evidentiary use of ESI. In addition, with the adoption of Federal Rule of Evidence 502 in September 2008, the federal courts now have a common framework for analyzing privilege...