Avoiding sanctions at the E-discovery meet-and-confer in common law countries

Abstract

The rules of civil procedure in common law countries have been amended to better deal with the requirements of electronic discovery. One of the key changes in case management is the scheduling of a meet-and-confer session where the parties to litigation must meet early in the case before any discovery procedures have begun to exchange information regarding the nature, location, formats, and pertinent facts regarding custody and control of a party's electronically stored information (ESI). Failure to abide by the rules and participate in good faith at the meet-and-confer session can have dire consequences for the parties and lawyers involved. The authors discuss the importance of creating and maintaining an ESI data map as a means to demonstrate good faith and effectively comply with the requirements of the meet-and-confer.