Whit Andrews

Yesterday, California joined the orderly progression toward more formalized e-discovery rules via an instant law Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger signed without apparent fanfare. You’ll find a substantial amount of excellent research we’ve written about e-discovery on Gartner.com. The first pieces are from 2005 and there’s more than 60 as of now to read (if you read them all, you get a free gavel).  I’m sure there will be more soon, and until then you can peruse the archives of this blog and that of my colleague Debra Logan.

The step was no surprise. We’ll see other states emerge with similar rules in the near term, and overseas, we already saw Australia introduce similar measures. What happens often happens first in California, but not this time. What I wonder is how long it will be until we have some final judgments on issues like search standards.

Update! Handy guide to the differences between Cali e-discovery and the FRCP from Morgan Lewis. (Via @Ledjit)